Another wild mantis catch

[Ghostie]

Went back today to my sisters/moms to see if we could dig up more mantids from the bushes to mate.

I spent a half hour looking and couldn't find any.

Then my sister walks up and spots a big one! :lol: She has "The Eyes" I guess!

I can't see the dang things even with my clear vision.

Oh well aside from not being able to spot them I now have three of them!

I'm pretty certain two are female! I need me a male!

Also included pics of the bushes they keep scoring the mantids from (ones with blue flowers)

and a picture from our national geographic magazine of a mantis catching a hummingbird!

Enjoy guys. Having lots of fun with this hobby already!

Can you see her?!

I sure couldn't! My sister did no problem though and something tells me Rick does too. That is exactly where my sister found her.

Captured! They want to go free when you get them from the wild!

Here is the lucky row from my mom's garden that holds all the suspects.

Whatever this blue plant is, they like it!

Right when we caught this mantis we used another deli cup to catch an outdoor large house fly and fed it to the mantis, which it happily chomped down! I thought it's butt was looking a bit on the thin side. We were happy to see her eat right away.

Here's a photograph of a mantis that caught a hummingbird! (.. and seemingly ate it too from the description!)

One more size reference pic of the newest mantis we caught. We now have three of them! I think they are all female. I must keep looking for that male tail! :blink:

 

[LauraMG]

See, I want my mantis to catch a hummingbird! THAT'S SO AWESOME! Anyhow, tell you sis nice find! Is that a Carolina? Hard to tell from the picture, but if it is I have a male about the same size.

 

[Ghostie]

Not sure at all to be perfectly honest. lol

My mom told me she has seen them VERY LARGE in our back yard.

I don't see any spots on the forearms or anything. Just a yellow stripe into each eye and along the thorax. Also purple leg bases. That's how my sister found it she said. She spotted the purple!

I know she lurks on here at least. I'm sure she'll join eventually.

Here's more pics! He likes to jump!

I have so many mantises now I will need a subscription of fly pupae soon. :wacko:

 

[MantidLord]

I'd say S. limbata.

 

[Ghostie]

That seems about right. Only thing I can't find in all the S. Limbata pics on google is the purple leg bases but I'm sure color variation has little to do with determining species when they look that close. Could be something they eat or a sun tan on their legs or something. lol

Their eyes definitely have this prominent yellow band going on like stolen pics below.