Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

Very cool to have in your yard    I remember in 3rd or 4th grade, a classmate's pet praying mantis had babies that he brought in (about this size) and we all got to take 1 or 2 home in little clear plastic cups with plastic wrap over the top. Unfortunately, shortly after I made it home, mine climbed to the top, fell to the bottom of the cup and never recovered.

Going back through my photos of several years ago, I came up with these:

A fully mature Praying Mantis that is devouring a Hawk Moth, which is about the size of a small Hummingbird, that it managed to capture:

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Then about two weeks later in the same tree, there is seen a ripe female Praying Mantis depositing eggs in a hard casing that was still obvious a few years later. May or may not be the same Praying Mantis from the prior pictures, but I'm thinking that the eggs don't necessarily hatch out anytime soon, and may take years before they do:

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Amazing creature to be sure .... and their "sex life" is perhaps even more astonishing, but I have no photos to reveal that oddness. Just be glad you are not a Male Praying Mantis!!!

 ... and now finally the last two:

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Enjoy!