They may be hard to find among the vegetation as soon as they hatch, but it is VERY easy to find the egg cases of mantids, like this one…
Mantid egg case
… where I work at Prairie Ridge. In Arizona, I had to work to find mantid egg cases and I was always super excited when I did. In the Raleigh area it seems like every other tree has a mantid egg case on it! A few days ago, one of my coworkers saw the first new mantid sitting on top of its case among those we have gathered in the garden, one tiny, perfect little Chinese mantid. There are likely millions more about to hatch at Prairie Ridge alone. Just one more sign that spring is coming – and that I’ll have a lot more new bug photos and stories to share soon!
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The Dragonfly Woman 
Cool! I hope you get some good shots when they hatch!
Tried to get one today but was unsuccessful. Sigh…
Post pictures of the baby mantids! I love those guys.
Will do – if I can manage to get any shots of them. So far I have been unuccessful…
Those cases look so much more ‘fluffy’ than here in AZ. Maybe the spp here have to protect the eggs more from dehydration. I’ve yet to see any Chinese Mantids here
Yeah, maybe. They don’t have to worry about dehydration much here!
you are so great because today my son and I looked at your photo, and went out and found one on our property! He is soo excited and told me I was the best mom ever :) Now he’s on wikihow trying to figure out how to take care of it…..thank you!
Thank you so much for sharing! I’m thrilled you were able to find one of your own!