I usually take my male praying mantis (yes, his name is Fluffy, like in the "Boy Named Sue", I think it makes him tougher) outside in his habitat to get some fresh air. I also usually do feeding out there in case I have escapee flies, crickets, etc., so they don't end up loose in the house.
Well, Fluffy had had a large cricket in there for a couple days and just was showing no interest in eating it, so I was going to remove it. I unzipped the habitat lid, reached my hand in and was totally focused on the cricket trying to catch it to remove it. Well, in my distraction, Fluffy had another idea. Fluffy came out onto my hand, which is no big deal except that we were outside on the deck. I figured I would just put him right back in, but he jumped from my hand to the deck railing, and as I tried to get him to crawl on my hand there, he took off and FLEW! I was so shocked. He flew across the yard. I had my daughters who were jumping on the trampoline at the time look, and they were amazed, too. He flew so well and was so pretty flying that I forgot I would be sad to lose him. As it turned out, I saw where he landed on some vines on the fence, and was able to locate him after looking for a couple minutes and return him to his habitat.
After that he did a sort of "happy dance" for awhile in his habitat. I think he had alot of fun almost escaping to freedom!!
By the way, I got the cricket out this morning while confined to a small room in the house.
Well, Fluffy had had a large cricket in there for a couple days and just was showing no interest in eating it, so I was going to remove it. I unzipped the habitat lid, reached my hand in and was totally focused on the cricket trying to catch it to remove it. Well, in my distraction, Fluffy had another idea. Fluffy came out onto my hand, which is no big deal except that we were outside on the deck. I figured I would just put him right back in, but he jumped from my hand to the deck railing, and as I tried to get him to crawl on my hand there, he took off and FLEW! I was so shocked. He flew across the yard. I had my daughters who were jumping on the trampoline at the time look, and they were amazed, too. He flew so well and was so pretty flying that I forgot I would be sad to lose him. As it turned out, I saw where he landed on some vines on the fence, and was able to locate him after looking for a couple minutes and return him to his habitat.
After that he did a sort of "happy dance" for awhile in his habitat. I think he had alot of fun almost escaping to freedom!!
By the way, I got the cricket out this morning while confined to a small room in the house.
