People are sharing their horrifying experiences of clumps hatching in their Christmas trees
If you don't want your Christmas to turn into Halloween, you might want to check this out.
People online have been sharing their horrifying experiences of clumps hatching in their Christmas trees:
You may have noticed a warning doing the rounds to check your Christmas trees for clumps - and if you find any, to remove them immediately.
Advert
Although they may look like innocent pine cones, be careful, as you may have just stumbled on something far more gruesome.
A man named Daniel Reed was on hand to explain more about the unusual issue.
Sharing a picture of a huge light brown mass, he wrote: "If you happen to see a walnut sized/shaped egg mass, on your Christmas tree, don’t fret, clip the branch and put it in your garden.
"These are 100-200 preying mantis eggs! We had two egg masses on our tree this year. Don’t bring them inside they will hatch and starve!"
Yes, these innocuous-looking lumps are actually praying mantis eggs and if you don't get rid of them in a safe way, you could end up with the green insects all over your festive baubles.
If you assume this issue is uncommon, you might want to take a look at the number of Twitter users who have come forward to share their experiences.
As said by one: "Our Christmas tree apparently had a nest of praying mantis eggs and it hatched and now a thousand praying mantises are in my living room."
Another wrote: "I’m taking my Christmas tree down (I know it’s late) but I see this small acorn like thing on a limb and now I see a bunch of these dudes come out...preying mantis? Help!"
Not everyone was grossed out by the infestations, however, with one person even introducing one of the little critters as their new pet.
"Remember the praying mantises that hatched on my Christmas tree? Meet 'Manny'," they wrote.
Another chimed in: "An unexpected turn in my coup day was discovering that the Christmas tree had brought in an eggsack of praying mantises (that had since hatched).
"Did you know that baby praying mantises come out looking exactly like they do as adults except really really tiny?"
A third who was quite frankly ecstatic about the whole thing commented: "Omg. The craziest thing happened today!
"While we were un-decorating the Christmas tree, I discovered a bunch of little bugs on our window sill - Baby Praying Mantises!!! So cool!!!
"I guess an egg hatched in our Christmas tree. They were everywhere!"
Guess if you're into that sort of thing it's just another present under the Christmas tree - quite literally.
That being said, others have warned users to take the situation seriously, with one writing: "These mantis are actually VERY invasive.
"They are native to Asia and eat both bad AND good bugs. They have been seen killing humming birds.
"While I would never go out of my way to kill a mantis, I wouldn't recommend saving them. They honestly do more harm than good."
The Trusted Pest Management told people to shake their real Christmas trees outside before placing them in their homes to avoid a bug infestation.
That way, you don’t have to spend the holidays with any creepy crawlies lingering around.
Daisy Phillipson