How to Kill a Mantis

For some gardeners, praying mantises may pose more of a threat than a boon to their garden. Though generally considered a gardener's friend, mantises are known to eat hummingbirds and other small animals, impaling them with their spiked forelegs. Mantises can wreak havoc on your hummingbird sanctuary, hanging from the feeder and waiting for a hummingbird to come too close. Since mantises keep down other harmful insect populations like aphids and ticks, you may want to leave them alone. When they become a problem, however, it's necessary to remove or eliminate them.

Gloves
Box with lid and air holes
Boot
Hoe or sharp garden utensil
Broom

Instructions

- 1
  
  Praying mantises may grow between 2/5 of an inch to 12 inches in length.
  
  Remove the mantis without killing it if possible. While wearing gloves, grasp the mantis at its center. Keep your hand back behind its spiked forelegs and mouth at all times. Entomologist Sandra Phelps warns that a mantis can impale hummingbirds, voles, mice and other small animals and can seriously injure your hand if you are not careful.
- 2
  
  Relocate the mantis when possible.
  
  Place the mantis in the box and cover it with a lid. Phelps suggests checking with another gardener who might want the mantis or your local library or school or other places that might take in local wildlife for classroom observation.
- 3
  
  The praying mantis is one of the hummingbird's natural predators.
  
  If the mantis is on the hummingbird feeder or the bird bath, knock it aside. Do not try to crush it while it is on the feeder or you may break the feeder.
- 4
  
  You can step on larger mantises, but that is only for the non-squeamish.
  
  Step on smaller mantises quickly to kill them.
- 5
  
  Any edged garden tool with a long pole attached will work.
  
  Use a hoe or sharp garden utensil to decapitate larger mantises.
- 6
  
  Ants will dispose of the mantis' body.
  
  Brush the insect's body off the garden pathway and into the shrubs or flowers.

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