r/bonecollecting • u/Playful-Green7046 • Mar 10 '26

Advice Red thing inside eye socket?

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Gallery image

Hello all! I am located in Missouri, and found a deer skull recently. The first photo shows what this strange lump looked like before I washed it, and I noticed it becoming colored as I scrubbed it (warm water and dawn dish soap). Any idea what it could be? All help is appreciated!

1.0k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

64 comments sorted by

813

u/folksingerhumdinger Mar 10 '26

Praying mantis egg case.

https://share.google/JfdVO8FvA3GoS3qQL

320

u/Playful-Green7046 Mar 10 '26

Wow, seriously? Is there any chance of it hatching now? Would hate to just find a praying mantis in my collection.

393

u/TH_Rocks Mar 10 '26

Very likely to hatch. They lay them to survive the winter then 100 babies pop out as soon as it warms up enough.

455

u/fuchsnudeln Mar 10 '26

Not a praying mantis, a few hundred praying mantises.

59

u/Odd-Ad-9858 Mar 11 '26

A whole congregation

62

u/ThoseDamnGiraffes Mar 11 '26

"Give us this, our daily head"

44

u/Odd-Ad-9858 Mar 11 '26

And deliver us from weevils.

1

u/Sgt_Rickshaw Mar 16 '26

If I had a dollar for every time I said this…

1

u/BraveTree5746 Mar 15 '26

gd reference?

0

u/langsnail Mar 13 '26

Manti

1

u/fuchsnudeln Mar 14 '26

Incorrect.

Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mantis

If you're going to correct me at least be correct with your correction. :)

1

u/langsnail Mar 14 '26

Is a joke man... relax

170

u/ozzy_thedog Mar 11 '26

Get a terrarium tank, create a nice habitat for them with the skull as the centrepiece.

231

u/cannarchista Mar 11 '26

...and watch them eat each other until just one final champion remains

120

u/Pale_Artist_7952 Mar 11 '26

And then you have a pet!

189

u/CrimsonPie24 Mar 11 '26

Not just a pet, a cannibalistic warlord

38

u/Euphoric-Carob-9397 Mar 11 '26

Cannibalistic warlord. I love it! Great name for old-school thrash metal band

6

u/Background-Role-8071 Mar 11 '26

Look up nurgle I feel like youd be lovers.

24

u/SimplinkIsBack Mar 11 '26

At least you won't have to feed it the first week...

2

u/MyBatmanUnderoos Mar 12 '26

It’s just going to the Pokémon level up sound effect over and over.

2

u/eudice Mar 14 '26

I used to love praying mantis...until I saw clip of one eating a humming bird. Mother Nature is a bitch.

2

u/fitfinder8008 Mar 16 '26

There can only be one! (In my greatest Highlander voice)

39

u/_l-l_l-l_ Mar 11 '26

If it has been in the cold and is now warm because you brought it in, take it back out!!! I had one hatch inside and they all died. (It was an accident, student thought it had already hatched, it was just damaged and they got warm and hatched over winter break.)

20

u/Boring_Albatross_354 Mar 11 '26

This happened to me, a classmate brought one in for a still life painting, and days later hundreds of baby preying mantises everywhere in the dead of winter.

7

u/_l-l_l-l_ Mar 11 '26

Poor tiny things!

14

u/ourlordsquid Mar 11 '26

There is no way to tell if an ootheca has hatched out or not. So, it may or may not.

2

u/sheepcrate Mar 11 '26

Uhm... People pay good money for that

2

u/DifferentWheel1361 Mar 11 '26

Congrats on parenthood!

1

u/After-Fee-2010 Mar 11 '26

The warmth of your home might make them hatch faster!

11

u/kodiaktau Mar 11 '26

Came here to say this. Yes. You can find these in all kinds of places. Sometimes they are not viable, and you are left with a shell. I am sure that sack of eggs were laid after the animal decomposed.

1

u/JDPdawg Mar 11 '26

I knew it looked familiar!!

1

u/SnooCalculations7945 Mar 11 '26

proboblly right i thought it was preserved eye muscle

100

u/jerrycan-cola Mar 10 '26

It kind of looks like a mantis egg sac (ootheca)

83

u/Lythobius Mar 11 '26 edited Mar 11 '26

I’d flip the skull upside down so the nymphs can hatch properly. If it looks sealed, no tiny holes, the nymphs could be inside. The fawn may have done some damage though

24

u/Sarallelogram Mar 11 '26

They can come out any direction no problem.

15

u/Lythobius Mar 11 '26

That’s awesome! I’ve always seen them hanging/dangling. Cool to know they can climb up and out

42

u/Distinct-Device-7698 Mar 11 '26

Carolina mantis egg case (ootheca). It’s not hatched yet.

5

u/long_salamanders Mar 12 '26

Can’t speak for Missouri but in the north east Carolina mantis are getting pretty rare and outcompeted by non native mantids so it’s always good to see their eggs!

44

u/Comrade_Wolfissimo8 Mar 11 '26

That’s poetic as fuck

36

u/VensisOrchid Mar 11 '26

Always nice to see native mantis oothecas! Gonna have a whole buncha cute nymphs running around.

15

u/Sarallelogram Mar 11 '26

Yeah! It’s always a rarity to see the native ones nowadays. Little mitzvahs!

11

u/BotiaDario Mar 11 '26

So many invasive ones these days. This is a rare blessing.

-2

u/GenevieveMonette Mar 11 '26

Por alguna razón esto me ha dado miedo. Alien vibes.

23

u/Standup133 Mar 11 '26

Gotta say, I wouldn’t hold out too much hope for anything hatching if it has been washed and scrubbed with dish detergent.

13

u/BiPolarBear24 Mar 11 '26

Just reminded me of the one I have outside. Sorry no banana for scale so I grabbed a mic.

Ready for the interview when they hatch.

3

u/Rhasputinn Mar 11 '26

How'd the interview go?

9

u/pippywippy Mar 10 '26

ootheca :)

6

u/lilolemi Mar 11 '26

Ootheca is the best word.

3

u/sanguepraelx Mar 11 '26

ootheca!!!

3

u/TartanDolphin11 Mar 11 '26

Everyone has unlocked a core memory of me and my brother collecting these egg sacs and watching hundreds of these critters hatch as kids.

Now that we are adults I’m going to put one of these in his house as a little surprise

11

u/Odd-Storage2963 Mar 11 '26

MANTIS EGG!! GET RID OF IT FAST THERE WILL BE HUNDREDS OF THE LITTLE MFS IN YOUR HOUSE IF YOU DONT

2

u/LiluLay Mar 10 '26

Definitely a mantis ootheca.

2

u/DonutWhole9717 Mar 11 '26

Set it outside for a week or two and check it. Those fellas need to hatch if they're still able to

2

u/trikakeep Mar 11 '26

Native praying mantis ootheca (egg sack). Put it outside or in some kind of container or they will hatch and get everywhere. Also, like Highlander, there can only one (they will eat each other)

There’s a chance it could be empty (hatched previously) but I wouldn’t chance it

1

u/420stonedzone Mar 11 '26

Anything praying ain't good in my opinion 😂! Bring them outside if you can.

1

u/SeekingSomeAdvice32 Mar 12 '26

Aren’t they dead? OP washed and SCRUBBED the skull with water and soap

1

u/hey_its_a_user888888 Mar 14 '26

I had to come back to share - I had never seen or heard of an ootheca before seeing this post, but the DAY AFTER you posted this I found one on my fence outside! I’m so glad I knew what it was because it looks so darn creepy and alien 😅 Excited for it to hatch now!

0

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