robot•jumping•rope

this is elizabeth, the carolina mantid or Stagmomantis carolina we discovered - and most likely saved from a natural frost-induced death that very evening - on the back deck in early October.

she’s resided in a large glass jar atop the fish tank since that time, eating about 2 crickets (her favorite food - as you can see from the above photo, she prefers to disembowel them, er, “rear first” - and of course i’d say disembowel - what do you expect from a girl whose significant other draws dead bunnies and expects people to hang them above the sofa?) per day (although she does enjoy a quick snack of japanese beetle now and again) and entertaining this household more than you could imagine.

we were unfortunately not in attendance at her early fall (and possibly carnivorous) mating session, although there has been far too much speculation on the nature and outcome of that particular party (did she eat him? and if she did, was it head first? was she full of crickets and so benevolently let him go? and - my favorite - what is mating, mama?). whatever occurred, it was apparently successful, as she has produced 4, yes 4, beautiful egg sacs carefully attached to the sticks we put in the jar. they’ve been placed in separate containers, naturally, for as you probably have guessed, mantids are among the more cannibalistic in the insect underworld.

she once escaped - flew out - and we were shocked because we weren’t sure she could fly with the egg-swollen abdomen she was sporting at the time. we figured that cat had at her or she made it past the screen door the baby can never slide shut, but at the end of the day there she was, clinging to the moulding near the ceiling, probably worrying about the dearth of crickets in our kitchen.

would you believe she’s actually almost cute, with her small triangular head that tilts toward you when you press your nose to the glass. i swear when she was dining the other day the look she gave me was “lady, do you mind? i’m noshing here.”

we don’t know how long she’ll survive into winter, but she’s provided us an opportunity to gather much new information on a common little species we might have otherwise ignored. well done, elizabeth. and thank you.

more here

and great insect photos here

and have you heard of this place?