Mantis

I'm getting downright lazy.  Here's 3 mantises in my garden.

Almost Grown-Up

Just an update

Mantis Update

Just some of the mantises hanging out.  Sorta wish I had a shot of one that is still little.  His head looks really big relative to his body. 

a Mantis and her Molt

I've got to get a better camera.  My canon powershot is a good all around camera but getting it to focus where I want it too is problematic.  I took a dozen pictures trying to capture this mantis nymph and her discarded skin below.  I cropped it so it shouldn't be too hard to find in the bottom slightly right of center part of the photo but I know I can get a clearer shot.  If I am still obsessed I'll try when it is a bit brighter out.  This molt hung from all 4 limbs off a mint leaf.  Of the handful I have seen this is the only one like this.  Others were on the dirt or hanging by 2 legs.

At any rate I got this clear photo of the mantis hanging out.  Perhaps she is getting used to me.

Misinterpretation

I saw this and thought that this mantis was dying.  I was so wrong

After seeing another hanging just like that I relaize that this mantis is MOLTING.

WOW!

I figured something out as a result of this... I think.
Little mantises with fat bodies are close to molting.  Once they molt their bodies are skinny.  At least that is what I have noticed.  When they are older it becomes gender specific.

Baby Mantii

Spring is the time of renewal.  And so today I saw about a dozen mantis nymphs.  These are the 2 best pictures I took.

Almost a fortnight ago Sally passed.  I miss her but life keeps going on.  It seems as though some lives could last longer but there's always life be it old or new.

It's almost spring

And I have started working on the garden.  It's mostly ugly so I don't like taking photos, vain gardener that I am.  So far I have seen honeybees scouting for flowers.  I felt bad that I only had 2 scattered crocuses blooming, which they did not seem to find.  I also saw my 1st ladybug, on of the asian variety, but a ladybug just the same.  I also found 3 praying mantis eggsacks.  I can't remember their technical name but if you click on the mantis label below, you'll find that word as well as mantis uh... reproduction.  My narcissus are sprouting too, including some thalia bulbs I planted which may or may not bloom well after being exhausted like that.

I have great aspirations for my garden but it's going to take a few weeks before it starts to look good again.

Saw A Mantis this morning

But I didn't take pictures. I feel like I overdid that especially the reproductive aspect but really it could have been worse. I now know that it is possible for mantises to mate more than once because I witnessed it, and by that I mean female mantises.

They were all AWOL for about a week until this morning. I am not sure if it was Rasputina or Sylvia but the mantis is female and green. I sorta think it is Rasputina. I still have not seen any eggs though there should be some soon.

Claude and Rasputina

Claude(formerly Claudius) is quite the lover. This shows him with Rasputina shortly before they actually mated. He takes his time.

Here's Claude the morning after. The little seeds are fennel.

Rasputina is in the same spot, almost hidden in plain sight

Just in case you haven't been following this blog this week, this is the SECOND liaison that Claude has had this week. He mated with Sylvia a few days before.

Mantises After

Claudius survived. I gave him the wrong name. Maybe I'll just call him Claude.

Sylvia is as hungry as ever.

Still hasn't laid her eggs. I wanted to believe it would happen sooner.

Praying Mantis Romance

Here's some nature. Claudius found Sylvia in her usual spot and well, these 4 pictures say enough.

They stayed like this for hours. As far as I can tell Claudius left Sylvia unscathed. I thought she might eat him but google sources tell me usually that does not happen. I also figured out that these are probably Chinese Praying Mantises.

I will be looking for an egg sack, also called an ootheca. Hopefully Sylvia will lay it close by.

Obscure Mailbox, Bumblebee Eater, Cypress Flowers, Rainbow Peppers

My mailbox is getting hard to find.

Sylvia likes to eat bumblebees. If you look closely at the leaf next to her arms, you'll notice a couple balls of pollen from a bee's hind legs. I guess she doesn't like pollen. I get mad at her but she can't help it. Mantises will eat anything that moves.

I stills get a kick out of these flowers and the lacy leaves.

Rainbow peppers are very pretty and VERY hot.

Mantis Mania

This morning I saw 3 mantises! I am so pleased.

Yesterday I found this shedded mantis skin which makes me believe that the mantis without wings and the winged mantis are the same.

 

I feel like this mantis is my friend. I decided to call her Sylvia. The skin is hers.

 

This second mantis I have dubbed Rasputina.

 

I named this third mantis Claudius. I think he might be the same as the brown one i saw earlier who was missing an arm. I think they regenerate limbs. If I am wrong I might have 4 mantises in my front yard.

 

More Mantises

I am back from vacation and everything looks good except for more weeds. I found out this morning that I probably still have at least 3 praying mantises in my front yard. I only saw 2 this morning but the other is probably hidden.

The thing is that this morning one of the mantises I saw has fully grown wings and the one I photographed in its spot a few days ago did NOT have wings. HMMM. Anyway, here is the mantis from a few days ago. I am not getting up right now to photograph the one sitting on the ichiban right now. Perhaps the mantis grew wings in 4 days?

Here's my cabbage mantis who contrasted quite nicely with this red cabbage. She is AWOL this morning.

This mantis is this morning's surprize. It is missing an arm and is brown instead of green. I have no idea why this is so, I mean the color difference.

This final mantis is not from my garden. It is from my vacation. It was pretty tiny and seemed annoyed by me while my garden mantises are indifferent to me. I believe that this is a carolina mantid.

I don't know much about mantises but I think they are cool.

Mantises

I have seen 3 different mantises in my front yard.

This one is the smallest.

I think this mint mantis is the largest but it's hard to say.

This one seems to get around a bit. I guess you can tell by the shape which one is largest. I tried to show them each at about the same size.