the newcomer

Last week I moved some stuff away from the back fence (garage sale time!) and found a good sized female mantis trying to run away from me. I caught her and put her in the critter keeper. Later that evening we had a sudden rainstorm and a pretty green male flew right into me. Since we are running out of room at Chez Mantis, I decided to pop him in with the female and see what would happen. They circled each other a bit but seemed to settle in on the lid of the keeper in their own separate spots. I left to have dinner and when I got back I saw the green guy on the back of the newcomer....headless. Yep, she ate his head clean off and he was still grasping on to her. I don't think they mated but that's not quite the point. SHE ATE HIS HEAD OFF.


The newcomer now lives on Mint Plant Palace while Nigel is more than happy on the ficus and Walt is in the retirement home also known as the critter keeper.

THE NEWCOMER NEEDS A NAME! She is a she for sure and is very light brown. Post your suggestion in the comments and I'll pick one from there.

Walt

In mid-September, Walt was spotted at Disneyland by Auntie Julie and through the miracle of technology, a photo and directions to her location were forwarded to me since I also happened to be at Disneyland that day! I found Walt deep in Toontown and popped her in an empty cup. She survived the trek home and began sharing Mint Plant Palace with Nigel, alternating days in the critter keeper.



Walt never mated or laid eggs that we know of, I think that may have happened at Disneyland. A week ago, she went into full defense mode, tracking us carefully even as we just walked by and striking every chance she got.


While her beautiful stance was appreciated, she never fully let her guard down until one day she just sort of stopped moving altogether, with her wings still spread out. I think she may have been stung by a bee, or she's just getting old. I moved her to the critter keeper and waited for her to die so I could pin and frame her. (think of it as insect taxidermy) But Walt didn't die, and she began moving a little better day by day so I put her back out on the plant. She's way too slow to catch any prey on her own so Saturday night I caught a big, fat moth and fed it to Walt with a pair of medical tweezers. Yep, I hand-fed an insect. It was pretty gross but of course I got pictures! They're pretty blurry but YOU try feeding a praying mantis with one hand and taking photos with the other ;)

Yikes, when I look at it now, you can really see the little face of that moth as it's being eaten, can't you?

mantids on youtube

yeah, we're definitely gonna try this with Nigel (and Walt) probably tomorrow. I can't help myself, I just have to see it! (warning, graphic!)



praying mantis eats hummingbird while mating. I don't like this one so much, so I'm just gonna pretend that the hummingbird was already dead when the mantis got to it.



meet another pet praying mantis named Hannes! Hannes is eating cooked chicken in this video.