Abandon Ship !

[Digger]

Posted pictures of my nymph condos a day or two ago. Now I can't locate the images !

Had all the condos stacked under a table on the deck in case of rain. Storm it did. At 12:30 am, I went out to make sure all was ok. I lifted up one of the condominiums - it was heavy. FILLED with rain water !

I called the Coast Guard and went into emergency mode, running each container into the kitchen and carefully removing the lid. Every nymph survived - even in houses that were over half filled with H2O. Thankfully the stocking liners (on the top covers) make superb gripping surfaces. So every house was dismantled, dried and re-inhabited. Some of the L1s were shaken up. But most of the L2s thought it was a great adventure and were chattering wildly about it.

One of the last condos to be emptied had an L1 runt in it - clinging upside down to a tiny twig. Without thinking I said, "Hey ! How ya doin' little buddy?" Thus it struck me a second later to name him "Gilligan." If it's a she, perhaps "Jill."

 

[Mvalenz]

If it's a girl why not Ginger or Mary Ann or Eunice "Lovey" Wentworth Howell?

 

[hierodula]

how about magellan?

 

[Krissim Klaw]

I say go with Gilligan either way. Mantises don't have silly gender issues with names like us humans. If you want a gender neutral name however you could always go with S. S. Minnow after the ship on Gilligan's Island that stranded them there. Minnow sounds like a name a little runt would have. XD

I'm glad everyone made it through the storm okay.

 

[agent A]

last year my neighbor took my toadlets and left the cage out in the rain during a storm, i had to hop their fence to go save them

luckily they weren't hurt

 

[sally]

Posted pictures of my nymph condos a day or two ago. Now I can't locate the images !

Had all the condos stacked under a table on the deck in case of rain. Storm it did. At 12:30 am, I went out to make sure all was ok. I lifted up one of the condominiums - it was heavy. FILLED with rain water !

I called the Coast Guard and went into emergency mode, running each container into the kitchen and carefully removing the lid. Every nymph survived - even in houses that were over half filled with H2O. Thankfully the stocking liners (on the top covers) make superb gripping surfaces. So every house was dismantled, dried and re-inhabited. Some of the L1s were shaken up. But most of the L2s thought it was a great adventure and were chattering wildly about it.

One of the last condos to be emptied had an L1 runt in it - clinging upside down to a tiny twig. Without thinking I said, "Hey ! How ya doin' little buddy?" Thus it struck me a second later to name him "Gilligan." If it's a she, perhaps "Jill."

the pics are on my hatch thread. Glad you saved them! How about Edmond Fitzgerald lol

 

[hibiscusmile]

wordy! where were all the warning sirens? Gotta go talk to the mayor about this!

 

[Coneja]

Everyone died on the Edmund Fitzgerald, though.

That must have been terrifying... I can only imagine the horror you must have felt picking up that first container to find it filled with water. So glad everyone is okay!

 

[Digger]

Thanks to all for the excellent naming suggestions for the runt survivor! Coneja: yeah; I had a real "sinking" feeling as I lifted the top of the first flooded house. Mostly expected an H.P. Lovecraft-esque scene of bloated bodies and antennae tips sticking out of the waterline. :boat:

 

[dgerndt]

Wow, I'm so glad everyone was okay! Mantids are tough little buggers. They're still surprising me on just how tough they really are!! I guess that's why there are so many species, all around the world.