27 September 2012

brown mantis

Another crawly critter my kid recently caught. Brown preying mantis. It's currently living in the mesh-sided bug house, for just a few days so we can enjoy observing it. Been feeding it grasshoppers, crickets, moths and flies. Keeps the kiddo busy catching food for it! I lifted it out on a stick to take some pictures- it liked to hang upside down mostly but I rotated a few of the photos to view it rightside-up.
This last pic is my favorite:

2 comments:

Jeane said...

The mantis died. My kid said she saw little worms crawling out of its body. I wonder if it was ill or infested before we caught it- now that I look at the pictures it had a very swollen abdomen compared to the other manti I've photographed over the years.

chrisa511 said...

:( So sad that it died!! But wow what a gorgeous bug!! It's abdomen does look swolen..I thought that in the first picture. I've never seen a mantis down here in Louisiana. Only one I've ever seen was when I was up to visit Debi in NY.