Thief in cp garden!

[elgecko]

I've been calling this praying mantis my pet now for 4 weeks.
I first spotted him on my sliding glass door 4 weeks ago as a small, maybe 1 1/2" long baby before I left for work. I told him to be careful of all the CP's I have growing on my deck. I looked around when I got home from work and noticed him hanging out in my planters of pansies. He has stayed there for 4 weeks, getting bigger. Now 3" long.
Today when I got home and checked on him, I did not see him in the pansies. I was shocked to see him living dangerously on my Sarracenia purpurea that has several VFT growing in the pot as well. I'm sure he is way to big to be caught by a VFT now. He stole this meal from my Sarracenia purpurea and I snapped this picture of him eating it.
I guess he found that the easy way to get a meal was to caught the flies that are drawn to the nectar of the plant.

 

[rattler]

cute lil guy i wish we had them here.

Rattler

 

[The Griffin]

You can get mantis egg sacks from Dean Cook. I love them. To look at, not eat...

 

[elarwhis]

Praying mantises are so neat. I had one as a pet once.

 

[nepenthes_lover]

I have one to!

 

[Slizarus]

Ditto

I caught more than one in Los Banos, and even a few in Malaysia believe it or not

 

[rubrarubra]

lol - that's really funny!

 

[Kirkscoastalcarnivores]

those are awesome!

 

[RamPuppy]

I think phil can probably get you some as well if you call him. not sure..

 

[elgecko]

I've got one here I could trade for CP's!

No, I would not do that.

 

[PlantAKiss]

Wow...awsome photo! He looks like he's the size of Godzilla.

He certainly found a good spot among the purps...easy meals. Praying mantis are cool. I like how their heads swivel. I see them every now and then...usually babies.

 

[Jason Wong]

Yeah, I once found a 3 incher in my shoe *shiver*. Don't want to think about what would happen if I had put them on...

I think that was in Chiangmai, Thailand. There seem to be loads in southeast asia, heck, once I found one in my garden trying to beat up my dog...

They are actually quite cool, but an insects nightmare. Quite like cps.

 

[schloaty]

Very cool photos!

 

[Starman]

What a cutie!

Dino

 

[jhaluska]

One summer, I got egg sacs and I grew praying mantises from eggs to adults catching all the insects myself in a net. In my opinion they are the best insect pets.

 

[Tamlin Dawnstar]

"He" is more likely to be a "She" . Male Mantis' usually lose their heads right after mating in a sort of instant divorce when the female lops it off right after sex.

 

[Bugweed]

EGAD!!!! WOTTAWAYTAGO!!!!!!!

 

[elgecko]

Quote[/b] (Tamlin Dawnstar @ Aug. 02 2004,12:48)]"He" is more likely to be a "She" . Male Mantis' usually lose their heads right after mating in a sort of instant divorce when the female lops it off right after sex.

This is just a little juvenile about 3" and the wing have not even developed yet. The adults I see around are usually 5" - 6".

 

[goldtrap2690]

Praying Mantis's are so cool . They like to hang around in my yard and I see them almost everyday . Some are big , some are small , some are green some are brown but there all cool . I always befriend them and theres this one lil guy that likes to hang around my sarracenia because flys always like to land on them and he always catches some .We even get to video tape him while he's eating the fly alive . It's like watching the animal planet ! The coolest thing I've discovered one time was when I found 2 praying mantis's in a bush of vines and they were mating , but the odd part was that they were still mating with the males head gone , cool huh , love hurts ;P

 

[jimscott]

Do they eat aphids? If so, this would be a good tradeoff.