# cocoon?



## Grampa Don (Mar 5, 2020)

I found this stuck to a rag in my garage today.  Anybody know what it is?  The squares are one inch.  I put it in a covered dish to see what comes out.

















Don


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## Pecos (Mar 5, 2020)

I don't know, but I am not eating it!


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## Catlady (Mar 5, 2020)

How big is the whole thing?  I'm sure I'm wrong, but it looks like a wasp nest (but those are at least 3 inches long/wide).  If you keep it in a covered dish, won't whatever is inside die from lack of oxygen?


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## fmdog44 (Mar 5, 2020)

"E.T. call home."


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## Catlady (Mar 5, 2020)

I WAS wrong, this is what  wasp nests look like

https://www.google.com/search?q=was...UnGTQIHVYCDzUQ7AkoAXoECBIQCw&biw=1920&bih=916


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## Lee (Mar 5, 2020)

A wasp nest is mud covered so not that.

Looks like some kind of seed pod maybe.


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## Ruth n Jersey (Mar 5, 2020)

Wow! That should be interesting to see what pops out. 
Maybe a piece of screen wire over the top would work better and also put the container back in the area where you found it to duplicate the same temperature. 
Keep us posted.


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## Catlady (Mar 5, 2020)

If no one here knows, post your question here and send them your picture

https://ask.extension.org/ask


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## Grampa Don (Mar 5, 2020)

It's about one inch long.  I'll make sure it has air.  It is stuck tight to the cloth and it was inside my garage, so I don't think it is a seed pod.  I did a google search on the images, but didn't turn up anything.  I'm now thinking it might be some kind of spider egg.  It will be fun to see what comes out.

Catlady -- Thanks for the tip.  I'll try them.  Oops, I tried the link and it said they are not accepting questions from California. ???  Are we on a black list?

Don


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## Catlady (Mar 5, 2020)

Grampa Don said:


> It's about one inch long.  I'll make sure it has air.  It is stuck tight to the cloth and it was inside my garage, so I don't think it is a seed pod.  I did a google search on the images, but didn't turn up anything.  I'm now thinking it might be some kind of spider egg.  It will be fun to see what comes out.
> 
> Catlady -- Thanks for the tip.  I'll try them.  Oops, I tried the link and it said they are not accepting questions from California. ???  Are we on a black list?
> 
> Don




Sorry, Don, I asked for Arizona after I posted and it told me and it said there are no experts in Arizona.  I know there is some app where you post the pics and it tells you, but can't find it for you.


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## Grampa Don (Mar 5, 2020)

Catlady said:


> Sorry, Don, I asked for Arizona after I posted and it told me and it said there are no experts in Arizona.  I know there is some app where you post the pics and it tells you, but can't find it for you.



I wonder if I lied and said I was someplace else it would work.  Maybe California doesn't have any experts.

Don


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## Ken N Tx (Mar 5, 2020)

Grampa Don said:


> Maybe California doesn't have any experts.
> 
> Don


Sorry Don no politics....j/k


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## Catlady (Mar 5, 2020)

Here's another website, all about bugs, hope it's not another dead-end.

https://www.whatsthatbug.com/?s=cocoonshttps://www.whatsthatbug.com/?s=cocoons


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## Grampa Don (Mar 5, 2020)

I sent a photo to a website called ask an entomologist.  Maybe they will know.  I'll also try whatsthatbug.

Don


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## Catlady (Mar 5, 2020)

Grampa Don said:


> I sent a photo to a website called ask an entomologist.  Maybe they will know.  I'll also try whatsthatbug.
> 
> Don


Make sure you post the answer.  I looked at all the cocoons on Whatsthatbug and didn't see any like yours.  (


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## Catlady (Mar 5, 2020)

I know well what a black widow nest looks like, they love to use my Desert Tortoise's burrow, nice and dark and cool in there.  They don't bother her, she has crocodile skin.  LOL


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## Pepper (Mar 5, 2020)

The last picture elicited this response from Google Images:
Net-winged insects

*Description*
The insect order Neuroptera, or net-winged insects, includes the lacewings, mantidflies, antlions, and their relatives. The order consists of some 6,000 species. Wikipedia

Scientific name: Neuroptera


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## Judycat (Mar 5, 2020)

Did you ever see the movie Alien?


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## Grampa Don (Mar 5, 2020)

Judycat said:


> Did you ever see the movie Alien?


Yes!  I'm keeping my face away from this thing.  

Don


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## Catlady (Mar 5, 2020)

Judycat said:


> Did you ever see the movie Alien?



Or ''The Invasion of the Body Snatchers".    My mouth was wide open in shock when Donald Sutherland started pointing and shrieking at the end.    I liked the character so much!


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## Judycat (Mar 5, 2020)

Praying mantis egg case looks similar.


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## Catlady (Mar 5, 2020)

@Judycat - You might be right, especially the ''spine'' looks the same.

I used to like Praying Mantis until I found out they can grab a hummingbird and eat it.  EWWW!  I love hummers and one visits my yard daily, he loves my yellow Chuparosa.


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## Grampa Don (Mar 5, 2020)

Judycat said:


> Praying mantis is egg case looks similar.View attachment 94167


I think you've got it.  I've seen praying mantis around here lately.  If it hatches I'll try to get another photo.  Thanks.

Don


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## Judycat (Mar 5, 2020)

Not in your house hopefully. There will be more than one praying mantis in there.


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## Catlady (Mar 5, 2020)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/hummingbirds-beware-praying-mantis-killers-1.4203443



*Praying* mantids are fast and *can* snatch a *hummingbird* out of the air. It's rare, but it's gruesome. A *praying mantis* lurks on a *hummingbird* feeder, watching carefully as a *hummingbird* hovers near the sugary water.


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## C'est Moi (Mar 5, 2020)

Lee said:


> A wasp nest is mud covered so not that.
> 
> Looks like some kind of seed pod maybe.


Just a small correction, but wasp's nests are not covered in mud.  They are very thin material, almost like tissue paper.   




A dirt-dauber or mud-dauber has the mud nest.


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## Pepper (Mar 5, 2020)

Ugh, I don't like bugs.


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## PopsnTuff (Mar 5, 2020)

Looks familiar as we get these underneath our overhang outside in the summer....pretty sure it's a bees nest.....


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## win231 (Mar 5, 2020)

Sautee in olive oil, add onions & garlic.


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## SeaBreeze (Mar 5, 2020)

Judycat said:


> Praying mantis is egg case looks similar.View attachment 94167


Sounds right Judycat!


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## Gary O' (Mar 5, 2020)

Judycat said:


> Did you ever see the movie Alien?





Grampa Don said:


> Yes! I'm keeping my face away from this thing.



Best check on it
Seems something might be hatching....


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## Grampa Don (Mar 5, 2020)

Oh Lord no!!


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## Grampa Don (Mar 5, 2020)

Here's my praying mantis incubator.  I read that it takes from 4 to 12 weeks for them to hatch.  The hard part will be thinking of names for all the little buggers.






Don


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## Gary O' (Mar 5, 2020)

Grampa Don said:


> Oh Lord no!!


Hey...stuff happens


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## win231 (Mar 5, 2020)

So that's where those pods from "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" went.


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## Grampa Don (Apr 9, 2020)

My babies have hatched.  There are nine so far.  It has been exactly 5 weeks since I found the egg case.






It's raining right now.  Tomorrow it's supposed to clear off and I will release them.  Hopefully they won't eat each other in the mean time.

Don


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## Pecos (Apr 9, 2020)

Grampa Don said:


> My babies have hatched.  There are nine so far.  It has been exactly 5 weeks since I found the egg case.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Don, some of us have odd hobbies, but this is a new one for me. Maybe this virus is getting to all of us.
… and I hope they don't eat each other either. LOL


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## Ken N Tx (Apr 10, 2020)

Praying mantids are perhaps the most famous example of ****** cannibalism, which is common in insects, spiders, and other arthropods. The assertion that their copulations necessitate this action, however, is false, as the bulk of mantid copulations do not end in decapitation.


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## Em in Ohio (Apr 10, 2020)

Judycat said:


> Praying mantis egg case looks similar.View attachment 94167


I agree - that's what the mantis egg sacs look like in Ohio.


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## Em in Ohio (Apr 10, 2020)

Catlady said:


> https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/hummingbirds-beware-praying-mantis-killers-1.4203443
> 
> View attachment 94175
> 
> *Praying* mantids are fast and *can* snatch a *hummingbird* out of the air. It's rare, but it's gruesome. A *praying mantis* lurks on a *hummingbird* feeder, watching carefully as a *hummingbird* hovers near the sugary water.


I used to purposely move mantis egg cases to my garden until I heard about this.  I stopped doing that when I saw this in a video and stopped refilling my hummingbird feeders /-;  There are plenty of other food sources for both, but I found these videos very disturbing.


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## Grampa Don (Apr 10, 2020)

Here they go to face the world.  I don't think these guys will get big enough to bother a humming bird.  But, the aphids had better watch out.






Don


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## Judycat (Apr 10, 2020)

Grampa Don said:


> Here they go to face the world.  I don't think these guys will get big enough to bother a humming bird.  But, the aphids had better watch out.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Good bye and good luck. Be fruitful and multiply.


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## Liberty (Apr 10, 2020)

Grampa Don said:


> I found this stuck to a rag in my garage today.  Anybody know what it is?  The squares are one inch.  I put it in a covered dish to see what comes out.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Think its a praying mantis egg cocoon.  We get them every year on the swimming pool filter.  Love them as they eat aphids and grasshoppers and other good for nothing that I know of insects.  They will hatch when the weather gets warm if you put them in a protected area - fun to watch them hatch.  Here in the Texas Gulf Coast/hill country area, they hatch in may and grow big in August if the bugs are plentiful.


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## Grampa Don (Apr 10, 2020)

Here's a closeup of one.  Pretty little guys.






Don


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## Liberty (Apr 10, 2020)

Grampa Don said:


> Here's a closeup of one.  Pretty little guys.
> 
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> 
> ...


Word to the wise...don't leave them in your garage.  Once hub and his dad went fishing and cracked the windows on the car...when they came back the whole car was jumping with baby praying mantises.   Best to put them in a sheltered area in a nice ventilated area.  When the egg starts to hatch its "Katy bar the doors"!


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## PopsnTuff (Apr 10, 2020)

Thanks for sharing all this @Grampa Don and others who joined in.....the pics were great and its true we learn something 
new everyday


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## Em in Ohio (Apr 10, 2020)

Grampa Don said:


> Here's a closeup of one.  Pretty little guys.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I had a 6" one in N.E. Ohio last fall that had settled in on my window screen by a butterfly bush.  I loved seeing him there, until I started researching them and found the videos of them eating hummingbirds - My hummingbirds are only around 3 and a half inches... and I like them more!


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## Grampa Don (Apr 10, 2020)

Empty said:


> I had a 6" one in N.E. Ohio last fall that had settled in on my window screen by a butterfly bush.  I loved seeing him there, until I started researching them and found the videos of them eating hummingbirds - My hummingbirds are only around 3 and a half inches... and I like them more!



The ones around here are the California Mantis and only get about 2 inches long and are bright green.


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## Keesha (Apr 10, 2020)

That was such an enjoyable & educational read. Cute little fellas. 
Great photos too. 
Thanks.


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## Keesha (Apr 10, 2020)

Grampa Don said:


> Here's a closeup of one.  Pretty little guys.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Fabulous photo !


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## Liberty (Apr 11, 2020)

Grampa Don said:


> The ones around here are the California Mantis and only get about 2 inches long and are bright green.


Yeah, I thought everything was bigger here in Texas, but we don't have 6" praying mantis - if so think I'll move out...lol.  The grasshoppers are bigger then the praying mantis, glad the mantis can still eat them!


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## Ken N Tx (Apr 11, 2020)

Liberty said:


> I thought everything was bigger here in Texas


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## Liberty (Apr 11, 2020)

Ken N Tx said:


>


Ah, come on "Kenster" ...you're an old Texan and you know its not the bite bug that's our official "bird bug"... its the Cockroach.  Remember those official roach races they used to have, when Big "D"always  won with that huge one they entered, and they finally  disqualified the roach - found out it was an import from Brazil!!!


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## Grampa Don (Apr 11, 2020)

I found a bunch more hatched this morning and turned them loose in the flowers.  They keep coming.  Here's a couple photos showing how they emerge from the sac.  It takes a while for their legs to extend.











Don


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## Grampa Don (Apr 11, 2020)

One of my little guys looking for dinner.






Don


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## Liberty (Apr 12, 2020)

Boy are you lucky Grandpa...with all those Mantis, you won't have to worry about grasshoppers or aphids or other nasty bugs in your posies.
I need a bunch in my Cannas...every year the grasshoppers munch on them.


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## drifter (Apr 13, 2020)

Grampa Don said:


> One of my little guys looking for dinner.
> 
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> 
> ...


That shot is a keeper for sure.


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## Ruth n Jersey (Apr 13, 2020)

That is really neat! Have you any idea of how many hatched? I would think the birds would get a good many of them while they are young. I'm glad you held onto it they certainly do help control the nasty bugs.


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## Grampa Don (Apr 13, 2020)

Ruth n Jersey said:


> That is really neat! Have you any idea of how many hatched? I would think the birds would get a good many of them while they are young. I'm glad you held onto it they certainly do help control the nasty bugs.



I have no idea how many.  Yesterday there was a mess of them.  This morning there are 8 more.  I think it's slowing down.

I expect there will be a high mortality rate.  I've seen ants on the flowers and I'm sure they will go after them.  I've dropped them in three different spots, so maybe a few will get lucky.  If they had hatched in my garage where I found the egg sac, I doubt whether many would.

Don


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