Connie is a dutiful mother and enjoys teaching her children about life and the world around them. So, while outside gardening one day, she was very pleased that this praying mantis decided to drop by to be a guest lecturer for that day's lessons. No doubt the kids enjoyed being able to interact and marvel at one of the coolest insects around (and mantids know they're cool, which kind of annoys me).
I just hope that during the lesson that the mantis didn't bring up the whole mating ritual where the female bites off the head of the male. That kind of material should be reserved for high school on up.
Thanks for the photo, Connie.
Oct 7, 2007
Guest Lecturer
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15 comments:
Looking at 1 mantid is cool, but looking at hundreds struggling to walk across your carpet, hanging from the wall and ceiling, etc. is gross.
So my boyfriend decided it would be cool to hatch praying mantids. He brought home 2 egg sacks. I'm dumb and thought since they're big bugs, only a few come from a sack thing. Much to my horror, they hatched. Hundreds of these gross little things were crawling all over our living room. He managed to capture them and put them in an empty fish tank. Eventually, only the strongest 4 survived by killing off and eating the others.
Of the 4, 3 died from overheating. Actually, they exploded from the heat. It was so gross. Their butt area exploded and all their innards leaked out :( blegh.
The last guy, well, I was really mad at my bf and sprayed it with Raid. RIP little mantid. Sorry I killed ya. That's my mantid story.
Well, I WAS going to respond in a cherry, pleasant way, seeing as how I love these guys.
But then I read Laura's story.
Aaand now I think I'm going to throw up.
*salutes*
Thanks for that one.
I think they're cute and don't belong here....and Laura....
Lolz...I don't condone abusing mantids bc ur mad at ur bf but seriously...funny stuff.
OMGosh Laura! I was freaking out when I looked down and saw this little guy hanging onto my shirt! I couldn't believe my daughter picked it up.
Their eyes totally creep me out *EWWW*
Anyway, thanks for posting them, I love ugly overload! :D
Mantids are really cool critters. I had also already several species in care, for example the bizarre Blepharopsis mendica. You can often read that the females eat the males during or after mating, but it seems, that this occurs mainly in captivity, where the male has no possibility to escape. I´ve seen a documentation about a study in Spain, and during a very long time they could find only one single female which actually ate its mating partner.
It's never right to kill an animal because you're mad with its owner. That's shameful.
In other news: Mantids rock. They're one of the most alien creatures on this planet.
Aww! He's cute. I love the little head tilts.
They are cute in a non-infestation not in my apartment green sort of head-tilting way.
They don't 'bug' me, I won't 'bug' them.
MANTIDS!!! <3 <3
They run a very close second in my heart to spiders.
Dear, dear wombat - of COURSE they are superiour. They are the only insect that can fully articulate those magnificent heart-shaped heads of theirs.
Laura - THAT was a tragic story! It's actually illegal in some areas to interfere with mantid eggs becasue they are some important to pest control. I may sound a bit harsh here but is there some reason the babies weren't released upon recapure? It would have been so easy to avoid all the pointless death.
I only ask 'cause, I just really LOVE these guys and I just can't understand such a waste. :(
Connie: Good on ye! My mom did this sort of thing with me all the time. She didn't want a girl that was afraid of harmless creatures. However, now she's sure she's created a MONSTER because of my enduring love of creepy-crawlies. ;) You're a good mom.
The first time I found a little green juvy mantis, I cried. I was in University and we don't have them where I live. I was in awe of finally coming face-to-face with one. :D
Jade - well, I wasn't going to get into details but since you brought it up, yes, it was bad of me and I was ashamed I did that. That said, my boyfriend had gotten drunk and bruised me in several places. I was so angry that I lashed out. Domestic violence and bug cruelty are both wrong I suppose.
Arachnophile - They sell the egg sacks at his work (a plant nursery) for a natural garden pest repellant. He was just very intent on keeping them as pets, even though I told him repeatedly to let them go free.
Well, I can appreciate how cool they look though and I do like the fact that they are a natual help in gardening against pests.
Well Laura, since you brought it up...
You should have spared the poor mantis and used the raid on your loser bf.
I'm afraid many of us have such dark stories in our past. As a kid, I cremated ants with a magnifying glass. Now, ants are far from my best friends, but I won't go out of my way to harm them, and will take pains to avoid doing so.
As for criticising Laura, "Let he who is without sin ..." etc. It's the inner ugliness inside all of us, whether we can own up to it or not. Much uglier than some funny-looking critter.
I would like to echo Jack's sentiments here. Laura was in a bad spot at that moment. I'm sure that mantis, wherever its little insectoid soul now abides, understands.
Sorry Laura, obviously that was a pretty nasty situation all-round.
A prof from my university and a grad student I knew did research in mantid behavior to find out if male mantids are more likely to avoid being eaten or to help females to eat them. In some species, being eaten *could* give his off-spring a slight advantage (usually by increasing the number of eggs fertilized or by giving the mother extra energy)... they discovered that the males almost always avoided risky situations where they could get eaten... they can have more babies by avoiding being eaten today and finding another female some other day. He who flies away today lives to mate another day!
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