Penh's Photo Booth!

[TheBeesKnees]

Penh is the first Mantis I've ever owned, so while she's not an particularly novel specimen or anything, she's kind of a special snowflake to me. And while I am not much of a photographer (my photos are taken with a phone ah..haha), I love taking pictures of her. Mantids are just too much fun to photograph!

I've already posted some previous photos in my first thread on the forums :]

But recently, she underwent her first molt under my care! She was very sneaky about it and molted in the middle of the night, so I didn't get to see it happen, but it appears to have gone quite well!

I left her alone for about two days before taking these post-molt photos!:

As you can see…she hasn’t changed much in appearance. She’s just—bigger. And has a fatter head hahaha! Also, I think her colors look nicer now than they did before!
More to come, eventually

 

[hibiscusmile]

She is a cuttie! and you can tell she loves her mommy!

 

[Falconerguy]

Wonderful! What species is she?

 

[TheBeesKnees]

@hibiscusmile: Thank you!! * U* She's a well mannered little lady, I must say!

@Falconerguy: She's wild caught off a mangrove tree here in Phuket, Thailand. I'm not sure of her species yet! But it seems that the popular consensus is that she's a hierodula of some sort!

 

[TheBeesKnees]

Penh mowing down on a fat fly!

I usually avoid handling her while she’s eating. Like with any animal, I never want to stress her out while she’s trying to enjoy a well earned meal. But really, she doesn’t even look up from her food, and mows down happily while sitting on my hand. I don’t think she even cares at all.

Still, it’s not very polite of me, now is it?

 

[MandellaMandy123]

She's so cute! What a beautiful species, whatever she is.

 

[TheBeesKnees]

Thanks, Wolfpuppy!

Penh molted again, recently!:

This last image compares her pre-molt appearance (left) to her dashing post molt majesty (right).

The size difference this time around is quite alarming!! She really beefed up!

I’m also certain that she is now either a pre-sub, or a sub adult. Jury is out on which one, exactly. We’ll know for sure by the next molt, I suppose!

 

[hibiscusmile]

Well at least she cleans up after herself, wish my husband would!

 

[TheBeesKnees]

Penh was eyeing up my lollipop something fierce.

Expecting her to be repelled by it, I let her check it out.
She wiggled her antennae all over it before shoving her face right into it with the fervor of a five-year-old sugar addict.

I tried reading into whether or not candy was detrimental to a mantis, and nothing came up. However, I can't imagine processed sugar is very beneficial to her, so I didn't let her go to town on my tasty treat. She went pretty bonkers over it, though! Made for some unexpected shots during an otherwise standard little photo shoot, though!

Nom nom nom!

 

[MandellaMandy123]

Oh, so cute! Who would have thought they would like lollipops?

 

[TheBeesKnees]

Penh reached adulthood! She's been a happy, healthy full grown lady for about a week and a half now!

Hehe I love that she maintained her pink lipstick and pink stripey stockings. She turned out lovely, and with such a wonderful temperament! I couldn't have asked for a better first mantis to break into the hobby with!
She has a little sister now, too. Different species though, so we'll see how that turns out!

 

[TheBeesKnees]

Some mantis hugs to brighten the day:

 

[PookaDotted]

She is so cute

 

[MantidBro]

Penh is the first Mantis I've ever owned, so while she's not an particularly novel specimen or anything, she's kind of a special snowflake to me. And while I am not much of a photographer (my photos are taken with a phone ah..haha), I love taking pictures of her. Mantids are just too much fun to photograph!

I've already posted some previous photos in my first thread on the forums :]

But recently, she underwent her first molt under my care! She was very sneaky about it and molted in the middle of the night, so I didn't get to see it happen, but it appears to have gone quite well!

I left her alone for about two days before taking these post-molt photos!:

As you can see…she hasn’t changed much in appearance. She’s just—bigger. And has a fatter head hahaha! Also, I think her colors look nicer now than they did before!

More to come, eventually

Nice specimen! And good shots for a phone wow!

 

[PlayingMantis]

Such cuteness! Looks like she is very photogenic, the way she's always looking at the camera with those big round eyes. :turned: And I love the photo with the lollipop, looks like she's having a great time!

 

[Digger]

Photo of eating lollipop................getting dizzy..........from the........unbearable....cuteness. Guys........supposed to be ,,,,,tougher than this..........must.....go back and look at lollipop shot again........Must.....

 

[PookaDotted]

I feel like mantids like this, the green ones, they have more personality in their faces... and Digger is right, SHE IS ADORABLE AHHH

 

[Sticky]

I love it! I gotta try a lollipop on mine!

 

[TheBeesKnees]

aw shucks, thanks guys!!
Penh has gone a bit viral on the interwebs, she was featured on the Tumblr radar (and in the #animals tag), was featured on thefrogman and even on cuteoverload! So that's kind of--surprising to me, especially considering she's my very first mantis (and not a terribly unique one)! Maybe my love and fascination with her seeps into these humble little iphone photos somehow.

At any rate, here's a recent photo of her that I liked!

And a tiny gif of her twerking to attract boys:

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