praying mantis

Unless you are a male mantis... they are great bug eaters. Get the egg cases earlier in the spring next year.

We had a female outside our office door for a week or so, she turned a cool gray color. Kept stealing from the spider's web.

John!

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote:

I buy a couple of egg pods every year, usually in March or April (Northern CA). I usually see them a couple dozen times per year. Sometimes they are grey/brown, sometimes they are green. I wonder if they change color based on their surroundings? I usually see one or two very large ones early in the year - apparently surviving through winter.. If you've seen one I bet there are more. If there's food for them they will stick around. If not, they'll go elsewhere. Also I've heard they will hunt each other - don't know if that true or not.

Yes, it's true...

Unfortunately.

And the females always bite the males head off during the mating act, but the decapitated body continues to mate.

Insect sex is wierd. ;-)

I was going to buy some last year but could only find cases of the oriental mantis rather than the native American one. The orientals are commonly raised in captivity and are much larger. I've seen pics of them with caught hummingbirds. I don't know if they survive a northern winter, but I bet they do in the south.

And human sex isn't?

ROFL!!! No kidding!

Glad someone else sees human sexuality as the biggest joke in the universe. ;-)

I know Mark Twain did.......