SOMAone
Member
My first encounter with a mantis was when I was a kid in the island of Philippines, I remember it being green, weird, and scary. Many of my friends warned me about these things and my fight/flight instincts told me to fight. I picked up some rocks and stoned the poor mantis until it fell to the ground then I got bigger rocks and smashed it to make sure it was dead. Then oddly, a thin black worm-like creature emerged from the dead body of that once stealthy and alien stick figure of an insect, and I was more frightened to witness this ungodly resurrection. So being the kid that I was, I picked up rocks I could barely carry and crushed that alien worm until it no longer moved. Victory I thought as I sat back and stared at the mini mountain of rocks I had wasted so sadistically. From then on and before I have kept butterfly cocoons, scarabs, and spiders. Later on as I moved to the U.S. I caught black widows as a preteen and kept black widow eggs. But my first captive mantis wasn't later in my adulthood when I saw an ad on craigslist about re-homing dead leaf mantids. I bought four but was given six, most of them died since I kept moving the enclosure from place to place in an attempt to achieve an ideal temperature for my little nymphs in the wintertime. Later on my ventures with mantids made me meet amazing and such friendly people. Mantis people rock! I am so glad to have been introduced to this community, and I hope to learn and experience more about these amazing creatures, make more friends, and also give knowledge and support to those that seek it. Thank you for reading SOMAone,
