Illinois, Check Your Christmas Tree For These Brown Spots Immediately

A lot of us have our Christmas trees up but you may need to search through the ornaments for one particular thing.

I love having a live Christmas tree in the house. Sure it sheds a lot but it makes the house smell like a fantastic evergreen forest. If you got a live Christmas tree in your house, you likely know the feeling, but there's something you need to keep an eye out for. And no it's not your psycho cousin who's had too much eggnog.

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The Ick Factor Of Live Christmas Trees

Remember the scene in "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" where a squirrel runs loose in the Griswold house because it was in a tree that Clark brought in the house? This is kind of the real-life version of that but it's honestly more gross.

Look through your live Christmas tree for brown things like this:

If it looks to you like a walnut-sized nest, that's because it is. Those are hundreds of praying mantis eggs. One woman on TikTok just recently shared her experience with finding praying mantises in her Christmas tree, and her house being flooded with the bug.

@andeekitty Beware of the real trees. #realtree #christmastree #prayingmantis #prayingmantisoftiktok #christmastreefail #faketreenextyear ♬ It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year - Andy Williams

They like camping out in a Christmas tree. Hey, it's warm, it's cozy in your house, why not? If you do find one of these in your tree, don't freak out.

You're advised to simply snip off the branch that it's on and take the branch and nest outside. You don't have to burn down the house or the tree, it's just praying mantises.

Happy ick hunting.