Don called me outside to the back porch the other day to see a visitor. "Bring your camera," he advised.
This was the visitor:
This lady seemed wary of all the attention she was getting, but praying mantises are always calm, cool, and collected.
She s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d out and climbed onto Don's circular saw, which was lying on the porch.
Eventually I scooped her onto a stick and brought her into the garden.
I got distinctly hostile vibes from her, y'know? I think all praying mantises are hostile by default.
"You lookin' at me?"
But that's okay. She can be as hostile as she wants in the garden.
Now go forth and conquer.
Interestingly, Older Daughter found this beauty in her shop just a few hours later. 'Tis the season for praying mantises, it seems.
Beautiful. Praying Mantises used to be an endangered species. I don't know if they are anymore. We have them here also. I just like to watch them.
ReplyDeleteWe have tons where I live, usually they are pretty calm and timid, but they can bite if provoked or if they think something is food. I always go barefoot in the summer and a couple years back I was standing on the sidewalk, and out of nowhere a male praying mantis landed on my little toe and chomped down super hard and wouldn't let go. Don't know if he thought my toe was a female or a food item, but man those suckers can really bite hard, my toe was throbbing for a couple hours and was completely bruised. Never had any others bite me and I'm constantly handling them, but apparently if they want to bite, they can really chomp you.
ReplyDeleteThe John Wicks of the bug world! I had a neighbor who used to purchase ootheca by the dozen. Although we live over an acre apart, I'd have hundreds of mantises settle into my mini farm in waves over the growing season.
ReplyDeleteWhen we lived in Tx hubby's car was light gray and in summer would be covered in praying mantises. All I know about them is that when done mating the female bites the head off the male. Guess that's their form of divorce.
ReplyDeleteOne summer we had a hummingbird feeder and I noticed a praying Mantis setting an ambush for a hummingbird, later one had been caught and was being eaten on the ground right under the feeder. I caught the PM and relocated to the far corner of the garden!
ReplyDeleteThey sell the egg sac/nest at gardening stores so when they hatch they can get to killing. They are great for a garden.
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