Mantis Egg Case

 
While Kai, Rowan and I were cleaning up the back yard in preparation for the spring we found two preying mantis egg cases attached to a watering hose (the kind that seeps water along its length). I propped the hose off the ground in the hopes they were still viable and hadn't been eaten by earwigs. A few weeks and we should see.

It would be great if so, I keep hearing that it's too cold for the large mantids to reproduce here. We have a very small version that does just fine, but they aren't as dramatic as those emerald green giants.

I think the egg cases look a lot as if they're covered with reptile scales.