Here’s What to Do If You Find a Strange Pod on Your Christmas Tree
Having a live Christmas tree for the Holidays is a tradition for many families, but sometimes it means unknowingly welcoming wildlife. Before making it to the lot, trees make temporary homes for birds, squirrels, and bugs especially sheltering from cold weather. This means its a fairly common occurrence for guests to tag along and end up in someone's living room. Like this Kentucky family who found an owl in their tree!
I have some friends who were traumatized by a BAT that had taken up residence in their Christmas tree one year. Pure chaos ensued as the gremlin flew around the house and the family members ran around either hiding from it or trying to chase it out the door.
Evansville Christmas Tree Had Strange Pod Stuck to it
In one of my favorite bug Facebook groups (Yes, there are multiple. I am a huge bug nerd, no shame!) I remember a post by a woman in Evansville. She found a strange pod on the pines of her live Christmas tree and shared a picture of it with the caption:
"Found this on our Christmas tree. Native? Best way to protect it until spring? Evansville Indiana USA"
It looks like a burnt marshmallow to me!
One of the commenters went straight into panic mode, "Mantises! 10000000 mantises!"
While the other calmer contributors swiftly identified this mysterious growth as a Chinese Mantis Ootheca. "Put it outside or it will hatch and you will have hundreds of baby mantises all over the place," one of them suggested. OK, so maybe not a million, but still -A LOT- of mantids.
The Missouri Department of Conservation says:
"Most mantids live for only about a year. They hatch in spring and spend the rest of the growing season eating, growing, and molting. They mate and lay eggs in late summer and die when it freezes. Eggs overwinter in egg cases (ootheca)."
While they are considered non-native, there is not enough data to determine that they are "invasive" or harming our local ecosystem. That is a common but inaccurate myth.
What to do if you Find a Brown Pod on Your Tree
Because the Oothecas are made to survive in cold weather, they will also sense whenever the weather turns warm for spring. If left inside, they will think your heated home is the changing of seasons and will hatch Because of that, there are two safe options unless you are equipped to nurture a couple hundred Mantis babies and keep them from eating each other. Yes, they will do that if they don't have enough food!
1. Cut off the branch the Ootheca is attached to and put it somewhere outside. Preferably under a bush or some leaves somewhere. It will safely hibernate so the babies can grow until the proper time to hatch.
2. Cut off the branch and place it in a jar in your refrigerator and then put the branch outside in the spring.
Have you ever found a wildlife surprise in your Christmas tree? What did you do? Share your story with us on the WBKR App.
LOOK: 20 of the biggest insects in the world
Gallery Credit: Andrea Vale