Praying mantises are one of the most fascinating beneficial insects you can find in an Australian garden. Their distinctive folded front legs and patient hunting style make them easy to recognise, and unlike many insects, they won’t damage your plants. Instead, they feed on a wide range of common garden pests, making them a welcome visitor for many gardeners.
Whether you’ve spotted a praying mantis in your backyard or are looking to attract them naturally, understanding how they live and what role they play can help you create a healthier garden. In this guide, we’ll explain what praying mantises eat, how they help with pest control, how to encourage them into your garden, and what you should know before using them as part of a natural pest management strategy.
Are Praying Mantises Good for the Garden?
For most home gardeners, praying mantises are considered beneficial insects because they naturally feed on many common garden pests. Unlike chemical insecticides, they hunt insects without damaging your plants or leaving harmful residues behind.
However, they are generalist predators, meaning they don’t only eat pests. A praying mantis will catch almost any insect it can overpower, including beneficial insects such as bees, butterflies and ladybirds. Because of this, they should be seen as one part of a healthy garden ecosystem rather than a complete pest control solution.
What Do Praying Mantises Eat?
Praying mantises are opportunistic hunters. They sit quietly on plants and wait for insects to come within reach before striking with their powerful front legs.
Common prey includes:
- Aphids
- Caterpillars
- Beetles
- Grasshoppers
- Flies
- Moths
- Mosquitoes
- Crickets
- Small spiders
Large adult mantises have also been observed catching small frogs, lizards and even tiny birds, although this is uncommon.
How to Attract Praying Mantises Naturally
If praying mantises already live in your area, making your garden attractive to them is usually more effective than buying egg cases.
To encourage mantises to stay in your garden:
- Avoid broad-spectrum insecticides.
- Grow a variety of flowering plants that attract insects.
- Leave some shrubs and taller plants for shelter.
- Keep parts of the garden undisturbed over winter so egg cases are not accidentally removed.
A healthy garden with plenty of insect life is much more likely to attract praying mantises naturally.
When Do Praying Mantis Eggs Hatch?
Female praying mantises lay their eggs inside a protective foam-like case called an ootheca. Each egg case can contain well over 100 eggs, depending on the species.
In Australia, the eggs usually hatch during spring once the weather begins to warm. Tiny nymphs emerge looking like miniature adults and immediately begin hunting small insects.
Many will not survive to adulthood, which is why females lay such a large number of eggs.
Should You Buy Praying Mantis Egg Cases?
Praying mantis egg cases are sold by some garden suppliers as a natural form of pest control.
While they can help introduce mantises to a garden, results are often mixed. Young mantises spread out quickly, and many are eaten by birds or other predators before reaching adulthood.
If your garden already supports a healthy insect population and avoids chemical pesticides, wild praying mantises will often arrive on their own.
Life Cycle of a Praying Mantis
Praying mantises have a simple life cycle.
- Eggs are laid during late summer or autumn.
- The eggs overwinter inside the protective egg case.
- Nymphs hatch in spring.
- As they grow, they shed their skin several times.
- Adults appear during summer and continue hunting until cooler weather arrives.
Most Australian praying mantises complete their life cycle within a year.
