Z got a cup of praying mantid eggs -- two egg pods, each containing approx 50-200 mantids -- for her birthday. The directions said it could take 2-6 weeks to hatch, dependent on temperature, and yesterday one of them did (two and a half weeks from arrival)! I thought it was an awesome experience letting the mantids crawl onto your finger, either to lift them to a nearby branch or some would take advantage of a gust of wind and jump. The neatest part was watching them eat: one of the first ones I concentrated on caught and ate an aphid! Now we're eagerly waiting for the second one to hatch, and our butterflies to emerge from their chrysalises.
