Chinese Mantis in Texas

in #nature6 years ago

I made a friend.

28061553_10209826808540650_6299039991861806485_o.jpg

This is a Chinese mantis. It's not native to my home state, but they were accidentally introduced to the states in Philadelphia a long time ago and spread out to other territories from there. Due to their being sold as natural pest exterminators for gardens these days, they're here to stay.

This one was born on my friend's indoor back patio and he's been hand feeding her and many of her siblings since they hatched in September (a rather late in the year hatching). Obviously she's fully grown now, but due to her being hand fed and handled from day one, she's quite docile. Normally a wild mantis will happily fuck your day up if you stick a finger near them, but this one was perfectly content to simply walk onto my hand and hang out.

Also, I did mention she was used to being hand fed.

28161453_10209830773879781_2159140275663956530_o.jpg

Here she is giving a cricket a big hug and a kiss.

Sort:  

My experience is that even the wild ones are docile 90% of the time.

Where you at mate? I found you through this post, but seems it was your last post!

I'm a fellow Texan, though currently banished to the frozen hinterland of Michigan. Take care!
Peace

I never found the egg purse from the mantids I saw last summer. I sure hope there were plenty that were successful and we will have a lot active in the garden this year!

I really like this kind of insects. They look like little ninjas. On vacation in croatia i found a mantis, took it on my hand and was scared as fuck as it suddenly climbed up my arms in such a high speed.

Thanks for sharing!

World of Photography Beta V1.0
>Learn more here<

Thank you for participating in #animalphotography

You have earned 5.05 XP for sharing your photo!

Daily Stats
Daily photos: 1/2
Daily comments: 0/5
Multiplier: 1.01
Server time: 21:17:38
Account Level: 0
Total XP: 63.90/100.00
Total Photos: 12
Total comments: 2
Total contest wins: 0
When you reach level 1 you will start receiving up to two daily upvotes

Follow: @photocontests
Join the Discord channel: click!
Play and win SBD: @fairlotto
Daily Steem Statistics: @dailysteemreport
Learn how to program Steem-Python applications: @steempytutorials
Developed and sponsored by: @juliank

AAAHHH it looks like he is biting you in the picture AAAHHHHHHHH

She's not.