NatureFest in Humble, Texas

Event: NatureFest

Location: Jesse H. Jones Park and Nature Center

Time: March 6th, 2010

Recently, Anita who is the park naturalist requested me to co-host a booth for the NatureFest. The booth is called ‘Spineless Encounter’. Since I have plenty of Chinese mantis and Carolina mantis hatching out recently I thought it would be cool to give them away to visitors as the weather in Houston has finally warming up (~70F). My son Kenneth decided to come along helping out too.

Reporting to Anita that morning.



Kenneth was still busy putting the free mantis in deli cup but there are visitors checking up on us soon.



Here is our booth ‘ambassador’, a very active Texas unicorn mantis female.



And it doesn’t take our friendly ambassador very long to make her first impact. She’s an instant star!



Adults love our ambassador too



Even the senior citizen thinks our ambassador is adorable



Jill, who is the park volunteer, was wary initially when I show her our ambassador.



But it doesn't take very long for one to accept our ambassador. Jill seems cool with her soon.



Now Jill is happily showing our ambassador around

Guys think she is the coolest mantis ever seen. Pretty amazed with our ambassador.







Ladies think she is adorable! Our ambassador is quite popular by then.



Some mommies are pretty daring and let our ambassador crawled all over

Some mommies introduce their kids our ambassador.





Some mommies want to keep a photo with our ambassador



Some of the younger friend needs their mommy help in making friend with our ambassador



Definitely, younger friends found her irresistible, so our ambassador has many friends soon.

She’s too hot! Continue making lot of friends haha!









Sometimes she makes a few friends at the same time



But sometimes things get out of hand when too many visitors want to make friend with her and I bet she gets confuse with all the new friend’s names!



Well some kids think our ambassador is a little ticklish!



Some were too scare to look at her….. No worry she won’t bite.



Some will only look if the parent is holding our ambassador

Most of the visitors think our ambassador is beautiful and want to take her home!









No no no, the ambassador is staying! But anyone making friend with our ambassador gets a free mantis. Yay!!







Some couldn’t wait and want to play with the new pet soon.



Surprisingly, most visitors have no idea on baby mantis food. But I prepare a simple caresheet for everyone taking a new pet home.



Actually, anyone thinking of taking a free mantis needs to take a mantis quiz. Well, as my plan was to give away every mantis, it is as good as free.



Note: please don’t laugh at my drawing I wanted to make it look as cartoon as possible

Some kids think the little mantis in the deli cup is cute.



Oh there is actually another ambassador in our booth, he is a Madagascar hissing roach which is my co-host Anita’s pet.





Part of the mantis related exhibition items, some are freshly pinned native species made recently. I lost some of the wings during the show bummer… can’t blame the little fellas (too young to read).



Kenneth busy showing some creepy crawlies to other visitors



Visitors checking out the little Chinese and Carolina mantis. Busy…..



If I remember correctly this little girl is checking out the dragonfly larvae in the water.



Some other bugs on the booth, there are black widow, scorpion, crayfish, shrimp, other mantis, etc.



Couple of fresh water shrimp loaded with eggs.



Rebecca, you might not remember this but Anita told me her husband got this from you haha! A dead leaf mantis!



She also asked me about the mysterious mantis you gave her. Well it looks like Creobroter sp. but I have no idea what species it is still a nymph ….. geez Rebecca, your mysterious mantis is keeping everyone’s brain working haha!

Soon there is lunch break so Kenneth and I checking out other booths



I was supposed to give Erin a shield mantis for the museum exhibition so I stop by her table. She was busy hosting the table representing the Houston Museum of Natural Science.



And there she is her favorite giant katydid!



Moving on there were some tables with lively animals







A cool looking gecko



This guy is showing visitors a good size corn snake



Some hunting ‘trophies’

Some tables show skins and and bones









Some show dangerous reptile…… well it is a baby gator



Some show harmless repltile



Houston Zoo showing skins and bones…. Guess they are from the deceased animals in the zoo.



A cool Texas horn lizard…can you see it?



Kenneth and I find this baby owl pretty cute! Poor thing must be sleepy (they are nocturnal).

Moving to another booth, I was terrified to see a little girl holding a blue crab! (they pinch hard!)



But she shows me half the pinch is gone and she even put her finger in between the pincher… oh well.



Moving to the Rehabilitate Center and saw this baby possum. There are some visitors around but this possum is sleeping like a baby, or just playing dead!





Next was this man-made pond for fishing. Saw lot of bass there but didn’t try out



This booth showing finger prints of different wild animals



And that was when my camera went kaput bummer!! And we were not even through half of the booths.... gah! Anyway, after the lunch break we went back to our ‘Spineless Encounter’ booth and stayed for the rest of the day. It was nice to see many visitors show interest in praying mantis and it felt good leaving the event knowing that there are now more people familiar with this cool insect.

Very cool Yen! Sort of like the Bugfest event I do. I recall the Unicorn mantis being a big hit at Bugfest too.

Yep she is a hit, i was worried she might get abuse but everyone seems to handle her alright. Infact i think my dried specimen get the brunt of the abuse instead bummer.

Looks like a good time! Wish there was stuff like this in Denver.

Wonderful series showing your booth and the crowd's reactions! The other booths were interesting too. Too bad your camera conked out. Everyone I show my mantids to seem to really like the female Phyllovates chlorophaea also. You picked a perfect girl for your ambassador. Thanks for sharing the pics with us... I really liked the captions and explanations with them too. I'm also glad you are helping to familiarize the public with mantis species. Giving away the little native nymphs was a great idea. Maybe some of those who encountered your booth will become mantis hobbyists in the future, thanks to you.

You are a truely a good citizen, spreading mantid love.

So cool!! Seems like a lot of fun.

Awesome photos Yen and and even more awesome jacket!

As always, Yen, a great photo essay. I hope that your camera has recovered from the excitement and is well again (dead battery? ). Fairs like this are also a nice antidote to the Texas "rattler roundups" like the one held in Sweetwater each year. Great job!

Excellent, Yen! Thank you for sharing your experience with us all!

Wow! Yen, looks to have been an awsome time! You must feel great promoting the hobby. Great work!