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?