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An interesting critter hanging out around our deck....
William81
Member Posts: 25,420 ✭✭✭✭
This is the biggest praying mantis I have ever seen. It is over 5" long and spends most of the time on and around a window near out deck.
Comments
Imported version
Native American version are smaller
Asian inports are like your buddy and larger
We give them all a pass even give them room to roam
Will add thank goodness there not big enought to look at us as food they are get it done no mercie hunters
Whoa,,
I see a few of these along with walking sticks around my place this time of year. They seem to like the warmth of our house siding.
I'd take an uneducated guess that your nice specimen is a female Frank. The males don't get a chance to grow this big!
Great pic. We have them that big around here but I haven't been able to get a good photo.
They are fantastic creatures, they look like Martians.
Most likely the female. (they are larger than the male type.)
They look weird when they are flying.
I've seen the females eat the head off their mate. (maybe due to his performance)
More info here about such.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/praying-mantis-hanky-panky-is-way-weirder-than-you-think
Maxwell observed that in about a quarter of the encounters where a male approaches a female, he gets eaten. The most dangerous times for him are when he’s approaching the female and during the mating act itself. When they are done, if they survive, the males simply fall off the females or fly away.
You’d think that getting partially devoured would be a turnoff for a male mantis, but it’s not. About half of the males that are killed while attempting to mate are decapitated, but continue on to finish the job without their heads. Maxwell unofficially refers to these males as “headless horsemen.”
They will kill Hummingbirds, so if you have feeders you'll want to move them or take them down to keep it from setting up camp on it.
Wow, that's huge.
Very interesting critters but they have always creeped me out, (maybe it's those creepy eyes) they just look sinister ……………….. and they do bite.
They bite, but not humans.
We have raised a bunch of em. You should see the egg sacks when they hatch, hundreds of TINY mantis running around. Its neat.
I kept a couple of them in a large jar with a branch to crawl on. I fed them flies and moths. Fun to watch them stalk and catch them. They lived a long time then just lost interest in eating and died.
Step on them, if not a native insect.
Way back when while I was stationed down in Texas, I took a large Mantis and a scorpion and put them together in a jar. All my buds took bets on which would come out victorious in the epic battle!
The Praying Mantis lived the longest but succumbed within about a half hour after the scorpions demise. It had turned from a dark green color to a blackened gray shade at the end.
They get close to a foot long total with front legs in SE Asia & tropical Africa, watched one nail a huge butterfly. Quite interesting. Also, some have cells with adaptive coloration like chameleons.
The itty bitty ones really have a heads up approach, act like they are ready to attack the world.
I've seen the big ones different color than just green.
Take a few minutes Watch some YouTube videos
They seem to fear nothing and will anything they can get control of even things that were trying to eat them
Why I say thank goodness there not large enought to harm us LOL
Hey Frank, I found his cousin trying to get into my garage…
They must be taking over, they are everywhere !!! 😲
Religious bug, interesting😇
They should fight.. my money is on the stick.
He looks hungry for mantis blood.
The stick bugs are cool too
Had one ride around in my truck with the windows open once for a day and a half.
Somebody told me that it was good luck or bad luck, cannot remember which.
It was good luck, you're still among us
uh, yes they do bite. had one somehow get in my house. pretty neat bug so i gently grabbed it by the middle portion of body to let it go outside. instantly it bent around and bit my finger to the point of drawing blood. i got it outside unharmed. but it still hurt
Agree they do bite
i have been bitten many times
Yes i know better but gettingoff the lawnmower to relocate them or taking one away from the cats it happens
Like I said they have little to no fear and are very aggressive. mercelles hunters they eat prey alive holding what ever it is in their front legs which hurt also and very strong
Like spiders we give them a free pass and relocate them if needed
Some times the males do get away but not uncomom to have their head chewed of while mating
talk about a tought date That would be it
evidently no second dates