It was the nightmare before Christmas.
A shocked woman brought new meaning to “Christmas prayers” after a biblical plague of praying mantises infested her holiday pine ahead of the yuletide, as seen in a video that’s scared up 4.3 million views on TikTok.
“That time our tree hatched a million friends,” wrote user Andrea — who goes by @andeekitty — in the caption to the creepy crawly clip. “Only a fake tree from now on.”
An accompanying photo compilation shows the woman’s Christmas tree, whose branches are teeming with baby praying mantises like a decoration Jack Skellington would leave the kids in “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”
In light of the infestation, Andrea warned viewers to “beware of real trees.”
The TikTok commentariat was similarly revolted by the spine-tingling discovery with one aghast gawker writing, “New fear UNLOCKED.”
“‘The fresh pine smell ain’t worth this,” said another.
A third quipped, “The tree really said, ‘Let us pray.’”
However, others felt that the woman was lucky she got infested with praying mantises, which are known to consume household pests, and not another type of bug.
“Ummmm that’s actually so cool I’d prefer mantis over spider any day,” declared one viewer.
Another recounted a chilling tale of venomous arachnids colonizing their holiday evergreen, writing: “Mine [Christmas tree] was filled with brown recluse spiders with a bunch of babies. My whole house was covered and my puppy was bitten on his nose and died within 2hrs.”
Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for mantises to set up shop in people’s Xmas trees.
The predatory bugs are known to lay their eggs on a variety of plants, including Christmas conifers, which could possibly shelter them from the frigid winter weather and even predators.
Due to the warm temperatures inside the house, the mantids will think that it’s springtime and start to hatch, according to experts.
This can present major problems come hatching time given that each egg sac — known as an oothecae — can contain up to 200 eggs,
In order to prevent Xmas from coming early for the insects, experts advise that people check their firs thoroughly for cases before bringing them into the house. The oothecae are generally light brown, 1.5 inches long and resemble a glob of drywall insulation foam.
No need to freak out — or call the Xmas-terminator — if one does find mantises stalking about the Christmas tree, however.
“If you do have an emergence of praying mantis nymphs in your home due to an unseen ootheca, do not panic,” said Sydney K. Brannoch, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Washington who wrote a thesis on the creatures.
“Gently sweep them up, using a broom and dustpan, into Tupperware before placing it into the freezer (to euthanize the mantis nymphs) or to transfer to a terrarium to feed and play with until the summer when you can release them back into the wild.”
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