Praying mantis babies

The other day I was sitting outside talking with my daughter.  I saw something move, and it was a tiny baby praying mantis.  

My daughter put out her hand and the praying mantis baby jumped onto her hand.  Praying mantis are quite jumpy when they are so tiny.

Baby praying mantis

I figured it looked like it was first instar, so I looked around and found an egg case that was hatching!  These guys are really cool and I enjoyed being able to watch some emerge from the egg case.  I love praying mantis.  

We moved some away from spider webs and put them in the lemon tree, there are plenty of places to hide and should be lots of small insects in the lemon tree for them to eat.  

When I say we moved them, I mean they jumped onto my hand, I walked over to the lemon tree, and they either walked or jumped onto a leaf.  They are very delicate, you can't grab them or you would crush them!

Baby praying mantis hatching while we watched

I don't have much else to say about praying mantis.  I grow everything organically so really appreciate having these around eating insects for me.  Hopefully some of them survive and eventually find their way to my vegetable garden.