Praying Mantis

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

All of a sudden I have them all over my yard.  Scores of them.

 

Don't know much about them but Dad used to gather them for his garden.  Said they were good luck.

 

Fascinatingly ugly little critters.

[Pat Riot]

There’s a conspiracy nut at my shooting range that claims the disappearing butterflies, bees, lightning bugs and praying mantis are a sign the world will end soon and mankind is doomed. 

I took great joy in showing him videos and photos I took of butterflies and lightning bugs this year. Of course my photos and videos “were doctored” according to him. 
I can’t wait to tell him about the plethora of praying mantis in Prescott Valley, AZ. 

 

 

 

[Blackwater 53393]

Mantids, (the plural) are carnivores.  They eat nearly anything that they can catch and overpower. Spiders, aphids, ladybugs, roaches, crickets, and even small birds, lizards, and frogs!

 

Their mating behavior is unusual in that the female rips the head off of the male during the act.

 

They generally reproduce in the thousands. I once encountered a batch of new hatchlings that had just been born. They were on the roof and hood of a small red station wagon that I owned. The car was a very, very brilliant red, but the top surfaces of the car were completely green!  
 

 

[Michigan Slim]

My wife found an interesting object in the bushes on the front of our house. She brought it in and put it in the kitchen window. It stayed there for quite a while, forgotten -until they hatched! Hundreds of the cutest little mantids crawling everywhere! My mother-in-law came over and helped move them all outside.

[Stump Water]

14 hours ago, Blackwater 53393 said:

Mantids, (the plural) are carnivores.  They eat nearly anything that they can catch and overpower. Spiders, aphids, ladybugs, roaches, crickets, and even small birds, lizards, and frogs!

 

Somewhere out there on the innernets there's a video of one catching/eating a hummingbird.

[Rye Miles #13621]

I haven’t seen one in years! 

[Crazy Gun Barney, SASS #2428]

Gotta watch out for those things, especially when they get too big!

 

 

[DeaconKC]

4 hours ago, Crazy Gun Barney, SASS #2428 said:

Gotta watch out for those things, especially when they get too big!

 

 

I'm gonna have to find this movie!

[Crazy Gun Barney, SASS #2428]

I just watched again it last week.  It showed up on a new Pluto channel called Universal Monsters.  This one cycles through the rotation on Svengoulie too.

[watab kid]

On 9/8/2025 at 9:57 AM, Pat Riot said:

There’s a conspiracy nut at my shooting range that claims the disappearing butterflies, bees, lightning bugs and praying mantis are a sign the world will end soon and mankind is doomed. 

I took great joy in showing him videos and photos I took of butterflies and lightning bugs this year. Of course my photos and videos “were doctored” according to him. 
I can’t wait to tell him about the plethora of praying mantis in Prescott Valley, AZ. 

 

 

 

send them to my gun club we have lots of butterflys , bees , ....not seen lightning bugs lately but there never were an abundance of those here when i moved here in 82 , back in iowa , kansas , nebraska - there were always lots of them , 

 

ive seen a dobson fly this year in my yard , they are not overly common , but no praying mantis , 9 did see a locust a couple days ago , but they are rare as well , 

[Widder, SASS #59054]

I caught one in my garage last summer.  It was as big as my hand.

 

I placed it in a large bush in the back yard.    Its believed they are good luck to have around.

 

..........Widder

 

[Pat Riot]

39 minutes ago, Widder, SASS #59054 said:

 Its believed they are good luck to have around.

As long as you’re not the male mate of that Praying Mantis.

[Oak Ridge Regulator]

I had a lot of them this year in the field, collected a few and put them in my tomato garden, I dident have a single tomato worm this year and everyone else had lots of worms. Great little bug hunters

[Will Kane]

On 9/9/2025 at 11:25 AM, Crazy Gun Barney, SASS #2428 said:

Gotta watch out for those things, especially when they get too big!

 

 

Never fear. Peter Gunn and Paul Drake took care of’ em.