# Mantid n00b



## -MK- (Jun 7, 2009)

Hey all, my name is Mike. I've always been fascinated by the praying mantis. I had a huge one a few years ago that lived in the sedum plants in my back yard for pretty much the entire summer. I first found it while mowing the lawn one day. All of a sudden, there was all sorts of commotion in the sedum as I mowed close to it, so I shut off the mower to investigate. Hiding out behind the row of plants was a huge green praying mantis, looking a bit stressed out. I put on some gloves, picked it up, and moved it to another row of plants where I'd already mowed, moving it back to where I found it once I finished mowing.

With its bright green stalks and pink flowers, the sedum provided perfect camouflage for the mantis, which was green with a big pink belly. It would hang upside-down and be nearly invisible. I used to walk right up and feed it grubs that I found while gardening. I miss having a praying mantis standing guard over my yard, so I've decided to try my hand at raising some this summer. The little guy in my avatar is one of the current babies.


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## PhilinYuma (Jun 7, 2009)

Welcome from Arizona Mike! By now, I guess that you feel comfortable handling the little buggers without gloves!


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## Rick (Jun 7, 2009)

Welcome Mike.


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## revmdn (Jun 7, 2009)

Welcome to the forum.


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## hibiscusmile (Jun 9, 2009)

Hi MK, sorry I missed you when u came on, the pic looks like a little frenchman with his hat on :lol: . hey welcome from OHIO!


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## [email protected] (Jun 9, 2009)

[SIZE=14pt]Wellcom from Danny in P-town Colorado[/SIZE]


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## Katnapper (Jun 10, 2009)

Hiya, Mike! And welcome to the forum... very nice to have you here.  I think encounters with wild adult female Chinese mantids have brought more people into the hobby than anything else. These gals deserve lots more credit than they seem to get sometimes! One of them got me into mantis keeping also.  They really are very personable and warm up to people fairly quickly. I'm glad the one you mentioned chose your back yard to call home. ^_^ Best of luck with your mantids this year... hopefully you'll have lots more than just one.


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