AAH WTF MANTIS!

[MidKnight]

Alright, so I was lying in my bed just now, trying to fall asleep, right? Y'know, hard day, long day tomorrow, getting some rest before it's 2 AM, the usual.

So. I was lying in my bed, when suddenly...






I jumped out of bed and promptly ran around the room muttering "The fuck?" and trying to find my glasses.

Once I found them (and once my heart rate slowed down to something normal), I captured the, erm, whateveritis in an ingenious enclosure fashioned from a CD spindle and a hardcover book.

I decided to take some pictures and then let it outside. Here is one that turned out nicely:

I did some sloppy editing on these pics to hide some things in the background. Pardon the weird-colored blobs!


When I finally took it outside and let it go, it was a very thankless mantis!


Those arm-things are sharp!

[Wombat]

i luv mantis, was breeding them, great animals.

u lucky bastard u dont need to buy them

[oksnoop2]

I find your story to be cool brother.


Really though nice find. It is rather lucky you did not accidently crush it.

[knorke]

yea nice find though it rather found you.
they are quite rare too.

[Panda]

That is great! Mantises are awesome.

[Coresair]

Mantises rare? Where I live we have little babies EVERYWHERE certain times of year, and the big ones are usually in the bushes around the house.

They are neat though, I used to play with them non-stop when I was a little kid. You must have pissed it off to get it to attack you though, from my experience they are fairly docile and don't really give a shit what you do with them if they aren't hurt/trapped.

[MidKnight]

Really though nice find. It is rather lucky you did not accidently crush it.

The thing was like 4 inches long! Crushing it would be really hard!

Mantises rare! Mantises rare?

Around here, they aren't very common. This is the second one I've seen hereabouts in the last 6 or so years.

They are neat though, I used to play with them non-stop when I was a little kid. You must have pissed it off to get it to attack you though, from my experience they are fairly docile and don't really give a shit what you do with them if they aren't hurt/trapped.

I had to trap it to take it outside. When I was releasing it, it didn't want to go (outside's cold and dark, go figure) an started walk/hop/flailing up my hand, so I had to shake it off. That's probably why it scratched me.



When I was little, I really loved mantes. I would read all about them, and I really wanted to own one as a pet. I'd go exploring around the house in the springs, but I could never find one.

But seriously! Those guys are the coolest insects ever! they have frickin' razor blades on their arms! Isn't that crazy!?!?

[Panda]

It looks a lot like the European Mantis (Mantis religiosa)

Bug Guide

But seriously! Those guys are the coolest insects ever! they have frickin' razor blades on their arms! Isn't that crazy!?!?

They're supposed to be good for gardens and can turn their heads 180 degrees. They're patient and great hunters and use their front legs to catch their prey.

The females bite the heads off of their mates while they're mating too so that they can increase their chances of getting pregnant and having healthy offspring. It's like she's saying, "Sacrifice yourself to me!" This does not deter males from mating, as they will continue mating and will become more proficient at it after she bites their head off. Very interesting creatures, mantises.

[PicassoCT]

Smoth, watch for your head! She has plans.. i can tell reading the last post.

[Coresair]

I used to have a terrarium full of different colored (just shades of green/blue/brown) manti I found and liked when I was young. I remember really being curious why some were eating the others, then I saw the eggs...none ever hatched in captivity but it sure was neat to watch for a little kid.

I also used to keep a huge garden spider and her egg cluster in another cage, I think the eggs hatching and me waking up with tiny garden spiders everywhere is why I no longer care for spiders....(I used to be cool with them, pick them up and stuff).