I'm attached to all my mantids even if they didn't get the attention they deserved. There is something very pure under the mantids menacing mentality. The best way to explain is solely by experience. Holding an older nymph for the first time is a good example. At first ill grab the nymph from the net or deli with no hesitation and more then likely Ill frighten it to the point it plays dead or runs. Then while holding it, and talking to it, the mantid will look at you right in your eyes, sometimes defensive with antennae straight toward you. It may jump back at your slightest moves lol but with a smile and a wave, talking to it, when it notices your not a threat, it shows personality. I've found They are curious and playful predators. Science might tell us they are only trying to climb higher or find prey. But I don't always agree with science, as its always revised and rerevised lol. I believe in understanding. I think we dont give mantids enough credit for their trustworthiness and understanding with people. I can rub my rhombos pink belly and it won't look down and pinch me, this has got to be some form of understanding. I can get chaeta excited to the point its stumbling over itself to climb to me.
There's personal experiences we all share with mantids where unless you keep them in a cage all day while they just look at you and wonder what you are, you will never even have a chance to bond with something that mightve showed you who that mantis is. Lol
But when they die I don't get too sad, I get sad when I see a genus fall out of culture..
I still cry when they die, and I have so many 
