1500-6000 Live Ladybugs: Organic Garden (Free Praying Mantis Egg Case) For Sale -

Each Bag of 1500 Ladybugs Purchased Will Include a FREE Praying Mantis Egg Case!

Organic Garden Biological Control: 1500 Live Ladybugs Per Package (coverage 1500 Sq. feet, per-package)

Adult and Larva (Keefers Photobucket)

THESE LADYBUGS HUNGRY, FRESH AND VERY ACTIVE!

As an Entomologist/Botanist, with 10 years of horticultural experience and 15+ years wholesaling beneficial insects believe me when I say there is a lot of misinformation on about beneficial insects. We offer a one stop shop for bugs and information. Even if you end up buying from someone else be sure and read the information we provide to increase your success and set your expectations. Any and all support for what we do is greatly appreciated!

What you need to know about summer ladybugs is that at this stage of their lives they are not ready to lay eggs, but they still need to eat. So if you plan to use them for pest control you need to make several small releases on a consistent basis. Consider them hungry teenagers, because they are even more likely to eat and run. This is why it is important for you to purchase a larger quantity of ladybugs so you can continually release them to maintain balance.

Ladybugs should be used as a means to biologically control aphids. Although they eat other soft bodied insects, they do so in a non-reliable fashion. Look carefully at the plants that have aphids and you will most likely see ants hard at work tending to their aphids in the same manner in which a dairy farmer tends to his cows. Ants protect aphids, making it difficult for ladybugs to feed. In order to improve the success of the ladybugs you need to make an attempt to control the ants. A good earth friendly product to use is Tanglefoot for insects. You simply create a barrier at the base of each plant that the ants cannot cross. Did you know that a simple blast of cold water will eliminate 80% of aphids on a plant? Once they are dislodged they will not survive. This is a good way to knock down a high aphid population before releasing ladybugs.

If properly prepared, packaged and timely shipped you should never receive a noticeable amount of D.O.A. Ladybugs. Dead on arrival ladybugs are due to inexperienced shipping. This results in unnecessary suffering for all of the ladybugs due to heat stress. Shipping extra ladybugs to compensate not only exacerbates the problem but increases the suffering.

Why buy from us?

The professionals who collect our insects on a daily basis are conscientious about the environment and never over harvest ensuring healthy future populations. Our ladybugs are of the highest quality; sorted for viability, cleaned, hydrated and packaged on the same day they are shipped to you. We know how to properly ship beneficial insects; with environmentally-friendly packaging and icepack ensures a cool and heat stress free ride for the Ladybugs in transit.

We are also centrally located and minutes from an international airport with a post office that is open 7 days a week, allowing for quick shipping, and short transit times anywhere in the continental United States. When the weather gets warm we ship at night ensuring the first leg of transit occurs during the coolest part of the day.

Performance Expectations:

The simple fact that Ladybugs are living creatures means that the majority will disperse when they are released properly. The small percent that stay are the most important, often laying their eggs and leaving the pollen, nectar and aphids for their offspring and moving on to feed. This is what you want to occur; the larvae are the ones who really eat the pests. We provide suggestions to increase the probability that the ladybugs will stay, but there is no guaranty. Making several small releases is another way in which a gardener increases the odds of establishing biological control. I have customers that buy ladybugs on a weekly basis for several weeks to establish them in their gardens. I have had some customers have good response on their first try, but not always. Using ladybugs to control, means balance in the garden, not elimination of all pests.

How and when are Ladybugs collected?

Ladybugs live for one year. They are born and spend their first three months (March, April & May) in the immense agricultural fields below the Sierras eating aphids and nectar. As weather warms (June), the Ladybugs migrate in mass to the cooler mountains to feast on pollen and nectar, building fat supplies to overwinter. During this time they are easily collected for storage and sale. After overwintering, at the end of their life-cycle (February), adult Ladybugs return to their birthplace to feast on aphids, mate, and lay eggs completing their life-cycle.

Life-cycle information:

Upon hatching a Ladybug larva will eat an average of 400 aphids. During this phase, it resembles a tiny black, six legged alligator with orange spots. After 3-4 weeks, it attaches itself to a leaf or twig and enters the pupa stage. After another week, a hungry young adult emerges; ready to resume feeding on pest insects. As adults, Ladybugs may eat another 5000 aphids, and in a few weeks, they will start depositing eggs in clusters of 10-50. In good years several generations may be produced. Ladybugs\' have voracious appetites and quick reproduction, which allows them to quickly clean out their prey.

Attracting Ladybugs:

Ladybugs are attracted to a variety of umbrella shaped flowers as a source of pollen and nectar. Some plants to consider incorporating into your garden are Queen Anne’s lace, cilantro, tansy, yarrow, caraway, fennel, cosmos, coreopsis, dill and fennel.

Praying Mantis

Praying Mantis Egg Case (coverage 1500 Sq. feet)

PRAYING MANTIS; THE TYRANNOSAURUS REX OF THE INSECT WORLD!

Praying Mantises are considered a favorite insect of school children and gardeners alike. Why, because Praying Mantises are an impressive garden predator. They feed on most garden pests including caterpillars, aphids, wasps, flies, and crickets. Praying Mantises will not feed on vegetation. As ambush hunters praying mantises will not control a given pest species.

Praying Mantises are purchased as brown walnut sized egg cases, which contain an average of 200 eggs. These eggs patiently wait for natures cue to hatch. Upon hatching, the young nymphs emerge from their protective winter cocoon, dropping into the nearby vegetation with nearly a trace. A mantis’ healthy appetite allows them to grow to an astonishing size of four to five inches in length.

Praying Mantises are particularly funfor children. It is possible to keep a single Mantis in a terrarium or suitable container to observe their impressive hunting skills. Feed your new pet, aphid laden leaves or small insects each morning. After a week or so release your pet outdoors; a thick shrub makes a good home. With luck, you may find your very own egg cases next fall.

Hatching Your Egg Cases:

Hatching your egg case requires 3 very important things; the correct temperature range, the correct humidity range and time.

Hanging your egg case: Thread the needle through the very apex (pointed end) of the mantis egg case. This is a suitable area in which you can thread your cotton through, without damaging any eggs. Alternatively if it is still attached to a twig, then you can thread the cotton through the twig. Once the threading is done, tie off a 2 or so inch loop and now you’re ready to hang it up for incubation. The front of the ootheca can be easily defined by a narrow row of tiny flaps running down the middle of it. This is where all the baby nymphs will emerge, so it is important that this area of the egg case remains clear of objects.

Outdoors find a protected area out of direct sunlight, like a shrub or bush and hang approximately 2 feet from the ground. Now you need on average 4 weeks of hot sticky summer weather for your egg case to hatch. Be patient in can take as long as 8 weeks. If it is hot but not humid you can help things along by misting your egg case 2 or more times daily. When hatching occurs, the nymphs will slither out of the row of flaps and hang from a silken string about 2 inches below the egg case. From here they will dry out and climb up onto the egg case and disperse into the surrounding vegetation, this will occur over a two hour period. Now you will have an egg case that appears unhatched and baby mantises that are masters of camouflage. This is when I usually get an email asking why an egg case hasn’t hatched. Is it possible that your egg case did not hatch? Yes, but not if the correct temperature, humidity and time requirements were met.

When first scouting, it may take up taking a good hour gently moving foliage around to find them, as time goes by you will become better at it. As days go by they will disperse and be thinned out by each other and other predators like birds. So out of an entire egg case you will most likely have 1-3 mantises that reach adulthood. The cool part is that once you have located a mantis it will always be in the same location, that being said you will still have trouble finding it each time.

If this is your first time I recommend bag hatching indoors so you have proof that your egg case hatched and can see what the nymphs look like. Indoors you have more control, but hatching requires more setup. Tape the thread to the inside of a paper lunch bag so your egg case is about 4-5 inches from the bottom. Next fold the bag down to the tape and close with a paperclip. Next you will need a source for heat and a source for humidity. Humidity can be accomplished by misting the egg case with one spritz daily; the heat source can be purchased as a heating pad at your local pet store, or on the cheap place the bag on top of and towards the back of your refrigerator. You need to maintain constant 75-77°F and 70-80% humidity. These conditions are ideal and will definitely cut down on hatching times. Once your case hatches take the bag outside and sprinkle it amongst the vegetation.

Speed Hatching Recipe:

Indoor speed Hatch: place the egg into a 32 ounce clear container with a single layer of plain white paper towel in the bottom, spray mist with distilled / purified water and keep the egg at a constant 75 to 77 degrees. The eggs will hatch at room temp, about 70 to 72 degrees F but the higher temps 75-77 will speed the incubation of the eggs. Spray mist every 3-4 days with one light mist of only purified water. The increased temps also speed the growth of mantids. Constant temps above 77F may cause failure.

2011 Praying Mantis Egg Case Hatch in St Paul, MN

End of Summer Full Grown Adult in My Back Yard!

I hope you have found this information useful and look forward to helping you keep your home free from pesticides. Happy gardening!

Best Regards,

Cass Hanson

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