A social media user has warned others to check their Christmas trees for clumps which could cause a very nasty problem if left alone.
As people prepare for the festive period, millions of Christmas trees will come indoors to be decorated with colorful lights and other decorations, with a reported 25-30 million real trees being sold in the US each year.
Lovers of real Christmas trees are being warned, however, about a potential threat the festive evergreen could bring.
In a viral post, Daniel Reed informed others to look out for "lumps" on their trees that resemble pine cones. These are easily concealed and don't look too out of place amongst the greenery.
These lumps could be fairly sinister, as he warns that it could be a sac of praying mantis eggs, which if hatched, could cause a very nasty infestation within a home.
In the post, Daniel 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 [sic] mantis eggs!
"We had two egg masses on our tree this year. Don’t bring them inside they will hatch and starve!"
The post has been shared over 185,000 times with people flocking to the comments to reveal how they encountered the egg sacs.
One user said: "Missed one on a tree one year [...] left town for 4 days [...] returned to babies all over... took hours to get them out," and another added: "We found two on ours thanks for the post I didn't know what they were."
A third person penned: "They are completely harmless and very good for the environment. Please do not harm them."
As Daniel mentioned in the original post, anyone who finds a clump that is a suspected egg sac, should clip that branch and place it safely in the garden so the insects survive without invading the house.
As stated on the National Geographic website: "Praying mantises are predatory insects named for the look of their folded forelegs, which are held close together as if praying."
There are over 2,500 species of praying mantis and they are generally harmless to humans.
That doesn't mean hundreds should be allowed to roam the house, however!
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