Pretty green visitors ...

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H2Ogal

Betta Be Good to Me
Mar 16, 2010
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Memphis, TN
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Deborah
A couple weeks ago, I looked up to see a lovely green katydid on my desk lamp (home office). Sorry, I didn't manage to get a picture of her before carrying the lamp shade outside to release her ... but today, I got a picture of this lovely creature.

FYI, she's a lot smaller in real life. :)

PrayingMantisOnLamp.jpg

PrayingMantisOnLamp.jpg
 

H2Ogal

Betta Be Good to Me
Mar 16, 2010
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Memphis, TN
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Deborah
Wow, I've never heard of anyone getting bit by a praying mantis!

I do love them. The largest one I've ever seen was several inches long, with a body thicker than a pencil and a head the size of a nickle. Gorgeous creature but, to be honest, darned scary at that size. I loved the way she would turn/tilt her head to look at us, but it also made me wonder if insects aren't planning to kill off all our kind one day. :22_yikes:
 

Taysius

Research first, buy later.
Nov 10, 2009
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Jennifer
They are really cool since they seem to actually look you in the eye.
 

jackiomy

Lover of Oddballs
Jul 6, 2008
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San Diego, CA
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Jacki Wilson
This spring they had mantis egg cases at the local nursery and I wanted one s0o bad!
 

H2Ogal

Betta Be Good to Me
Mar 16, 2010
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Memphis, TN
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They are really cool since they seem to actually look you in the eye.
Exactly! And I'm quite sure they're thinking something. Just sort of afraid of what it might be. :)

EDITED TO ADD: By the way, when I released her, it took a while to get her off the lamp shade. No matter how I positioned it, she wouldn't move to the leaf/plant, just kept reorienting herself on me! Amazing. I wonder if they recognize eyes, in some way, since we just ended up staring at each other for a minute. I finally had to pick her up on a stick to transfer her to a plant. She didn't like that at all and quickly clambered off the stick and onto an azalea. Hopefully, will be eating something soon, growing large and leaving me an egg case or two!

This spring they had mantis egg cases at the local nursery and I wanted one s0o bad!
I would love to get one and just put it in a garden ... not that I have a garden, exactly. More like a flower bed my landlord stuffed full of all sorts of incompatible stuff over the years, and a bit of yard with bermuda grass, crab grass, various volunteers, and, um, millet. Oops. Turns out most of the birds in my area ignored the millet in favor of the other seeds in the mix, so I had a lot of sprigs. And they're really tall! Luckily, the millet didn't come back after mowing ... Oh, golly, I'm hijacking my own thread. Back to topic: Yes, I'd love to get a mantis case and get to see the young ones in the spring. I bet they do a lot of eating each other, however. Not sure if I want to view that. Or do I?
 
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countrychick

Save a horse, ride a cowboy
Feb 2, 2009
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somewhere in the sticks
Every year we have a nest of mantis in my front garden. Never ever have I heard of them biting, I handle them and have never been bitten. They are alot of fun to watch.
 

Fishfriend1

Fishlover Extraordinaire
Dec 11, 2009
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Southeastern PA
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Mr. Palmer
I love mantises! I used to find their cases on my bushes out front, and every year they woyuld hatch and get in everything! Screens didn't stop them, neither did playfull cats, and not even the stupid spiders living in the attick could catch them. They still come out every once in a wile, but my mom ripped out the bush, so no more mantises... i have been bitten by one b4, that only happens if you (like a moron) try to hold it by the chubby part of its body. If you just let them crawl over your hand they don't mind at all. And it is cool how they look you in the eye, its like their saying "Leave me alone, im just eating bugs." or "Sup?" and i love it. If any creature deserves to be awesome its the mantis!
 

H2Ogal

Betta Be Good to Me
Mar 16, 2010
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Memphis, TN
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Deborah
I checked the girl yesterday a couple of times. About an hour after her release, she was hanging on the bottom of a leaf pretty much where I'd left her, ready for prey. She zeroed in on me with that famous head tilt, we locked eyes for a moment and then she just returned to her zen master/hunting ninja pose. An hour later, I checked again and she'd caught something. Awesome.
 

Death Pony

AC Members
Feb 7, 2009
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Fredericksburg and Newport News, VA
Wow, I've never heard of anyone getting bit by a praying mantis!
I've been bitten by one before! It was a really angry male. He was in a parking lot, so I picked him up to save him from getting run over. He looked me in the eye, sunk his claws into my finger, and started to chew my finger. After I released him by a bush he attacked my foot, wings spread and everything. It was funnier than it was painful.

Mantids make great photo subjects! I've never had one run away from the camera before.
 
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