13 April 2009

mantis mania

about a month ago, lara brought us an interesting cocoon/pod thing that she found while clearing out a garden bed. she knows we love stuff like that. it looked like a wad of that foamy stuff you spray from an areosol can, to seal cracks in walls. very cool. we poked it, sniffed it, shook it, and wondered, then stuck it in the corner of our kitchen, and kind of forgot about it.



easter morning, i noticed a baby praying mantis walking across carl's cosmas translation. i pointed it out to him, and then started wondering where it might have hatched from. i thought of the pod from lara, and looked over to see hundreds of baby praying mantis flowing out that foamy thing! they were everywhere!





i collected as many as i could, and took them out the garden. it was a bit cold, but i think they did fine. i put some on the seedlings in the office, thinking they could catch some of the tiny bugs flying around there. i misted the plants with water, and one of the mantis went right up to a droplet, and put its face in it. guess he was thirsty! some of them have died by now, but there are still tons in our house. i'll go to grab the scissors, and a mantis will jump off.



i've heard that finding a praying mantis in the house means good fortune. if so, we've got it made.

5 comments:

Actchy said...

This post is amazing.

Malke said...

It reminds me of that scene from Charlotte's web (which we've read here many times over the last year) where Charlotte's babies emerge from the egg sack and then float away saying "goodbye! goodbye!" I wonder how long you'll be finding them in the house? They get bigger, you know!

Thanks for sharing!

Anna said...

A baby mantis is probably the cutest bug in the history of bugs. If this was in *my* house, though, I'd be a wreck! It reminds me of the time when I became paralyzed in a friend's pond-side expanse of lawn, when I realized that hundreds of tiny baby toads were underfoot...

stan the yoga instructor said...

i agree with actchy.

dig this chick said...

oh that is so cool and your photos of the little dude are fab.