Thorngren
Member
Hi. My name is Casey and I'm a big fan of these little (and sometimes big) bugs. I'm from Napa, California. I worked graveyard shift for about two years (just stopped a few months ago) and that is how I grew to love the Mantis. I was working as a Security Guard at the time, patrolling the exterior around a warehouse for 4 hours a night and sitting in my guard shack the other 4 hours. Around June 2011, I noticed a bug I'd never seen before.... it was HUGE (like 4 inches long), green and looked kinda like a stick bug, only with claw arms. It was chilling on a door knob I needed to open and I didn't know what to do. I got a nearby stick (about a half a foot long) and tried poking at the bug to get it to shu it away. Instead the sucker grabbed onto the stick and started climbing towards me.
Now, I'm sure many of you will find this rather silly, but I dislike bugs and the idea of one crawling on me freaks me the F out. I kept turning the stick around as I walked towards a bush to put the sucker in, but it kept turning around and walking towards me. Finally, (without me noticing) it had made it to my jacket arm and by the time I made it to the bush it was nolonger on the stick and was perched on my right sholder. I freaked out and swatted the bug off me. It fluttered to the ground and just started walking towards me again. I ended up watching it for a good 20 minutes as it kept walking towards me and trying to climb up my boots (I'd use the stick to push it away). The next day, I went to the library to look up info on this strange bug. Turns out it was a mantis (shocker, right?) and somehow I'd lived 25 years without ever seeing one in person.
As the days went by, more and more Mantis were around my work, until it got to the point where I was counting like 30+. They would be on the ground, hanging to the outside walls to the warehouse, climbing on the train tracks, and loading cars of the train and hanging from the chainlink fence. I'd done a tiny bit of reading about them online and with that knowledge plus my experience from that last mantis I desided that they were quite friendly. I manned up and desided I'd try making a friend. I let a random Mantis (later named Forest Whitaker) climb up on my finger and he hung out with me outside as I did my patrol, chilling on my hand and arm. It was much smaller than the last mantis (I later learned the first one was a female and the small ones like Forest were males). He was about 2 and a half inches long and brownish tan with black marks with white dots in them on the inner part of his claw arms. I got a little plastic cage for him at Walmart on my way home that day (he hung out in a plastic bag while shopping). I found a few sticks and rocks, washed them to make sure they were clean and set him up in his new home. Every night I would catch a cricket, grasshopper or moth and put it in his cage for him to eat. Sadly his time was cut short due to Anne Hathaway eating him. Anne Hathaway was another Mantis I found and put in his cage for him to not be lonely. Anne Hathaway was a larger (4 inches very tan) female. This is how I learned about their cannibalistic tendencies and mating habbits, though at the time I was just mad that the other mantis (whom I liked much less and wasn't nearly as awesome as Forest) had just killed my new best bud. I should also add that at the time, I hardly saw anyone because of my work hours so I felt extra boned to Forest as he was my super-bud.
I was so mad at Anne that (I'm ashamed to admit) I flushed her down my toilet. At the time, I just thought she was a crazy murder happy B!+(# and was not aware of the mantis lifestyle. A few days later I did more research (this time using the internet) and learned what happened was natural and I shouldn't keep them together. That was news to me as at my work I'd be seeing them crawl all over eachother and they would be hanging near eachother. Anyhow, a few days after that, a green male mantis fluttered from the warehouse wall and landed on the bill of my cap. This guy hung with me all night so I made him my new pet. He was always waving his claws around at me so I named him Weapon X. Weapon X was my best buddy and pet until around Feb this year when I think it got too cold for him (or he just got too old) as it was sarting to get below 40 degrees at night. Him and Forest were awesome pals though and I'm shocked I formed a bond with a bug. They are super smart and seem to be able to actually tell people apart and remind me quite a bit of cats (more so than they remind me of other bugs). I hadn't seen a mantis since as I have since moved jobs and that was the only place I ever saw em.
Anyhow, a brown male mantis about 2 inches just flew through the window at my current job and I think I have a new friend. I named him Dexter. He's frightens much more easy and this one loves to run away and fly around (boy does he fly around) and doesn't really sit still out of his cage like my other two did (why is that you think?) but he's still dang fun to watch in his cage... I just can't let him hang out on my sholder when I'm outside for fear of losing him, unlike my last two whom would never leave my side.
Anyhow, thats my history of how I learned to love the mantis. I hope no one hold anything against me about Anne.
Now, I'm sure many of you will find this rather silly, but I dislike bugs and the idea of one crawling on me freaks me the F out. I kept turning the stick around as I walked towards a bush to put the sucker in, but it kept turning around and walking towards me. Finally, (without me noticing) it had made it to my jacket arm and by the time I made it to the bush it was nolonger on the stick and was perched on my right sholder. I freaked out and swatted the bug off me. It fluttered to the ground and just started walking towards me again. I ended up watching it for a good 20 minutes as it kept walking towards me and trying to climb up my boots (I'd use the stick to push it away). The next day, I went to the library to look up info on this strange bug. Turns out it was a mantis (shocker, right?) and somehow I'd lived 25 years without ever seeing one in person.
As the days went by, more and more Mantis were around my work, until it got to the point where I was counting like 30+. They would be on the ground, hanging to the outside walls to the warehouse, climbing on the train tracks, and loading cars of the train and hanging from the chainlink fence. I'd done a tiny bit of reading about them online and with that knowledge plus my experience from that last mantis I desided that they were quite friendly. I manned up and desided I'd try making a friend. I let a random Mantis (later named Forest Whitaker) climb up on my finger and he hung out with me outside as I did my patrol, chilling on my hand and arm. It was much smaller than the last mantis (I later learned the first one was a female and the small ones like Forest were males). He was about 2 and a half inches long and brownish tan with black marks with white dots in them on the inner part of his claw arms. I got a little plastic cage for him at Walmart on my way home that day (he hung out in a plastic bag while shopping). I found a few sticks and rocks, washed them to make sure they were clean and set him up in his new home. Every night I would catch a cricket, grasshopper or moth and put it in his cage for him to eat. Sadly his time was cut short due to Anne Hathaway eating him. Anne Hathaway was another Mantis I found and put in his cage for him to not be lonely. Anne Hathaway was a larger (4 inches very tan) female. This is how I learned about their cannibalistic tendencies and mating habbits, though at the time I was just mad that the other mantis (whom I liked much less and wasn't nearly as awesome as Forest) had just killed my new best bud. I should also add that at the time, I hardly saw anyone because of my work hours so I felt extra boned to Forest as he was my super-bud.
I was so mad at Anne that (I'm ashamed to admit) I flushed her down my toilet. At the time, I just thought she was a crazy murder happy B!+(# and was not aware of the mantis lifestyle. A few days later I did more research (this time using the internet) and learned what happened was natural and I shouldn't keep them together. That was news to me as at my work I'd be seeing them crawl all over eachother and they would be hanging near eachother. Anyhow, a few days after that, a green male mantis fluttered from the warehouse wall and landed on the bill of my cap. This guy hung with me all night so I made him my new pet. He was always waving his claws around at me so I named him Weapon X. Weapon X was my best buddy and pet until around Feb this year when I think it got too cold for him (or he just got too old) as it was sarting to get below 40 degrees at night. Him and Forest were awesome pals though and I'm shocked I formed a bond with a bug. They are super smart and seem to be able to actually tell people apart and remind me quite a bit of cats (more so than they remind me of other bugs). I hadn't seen a mantis since as I have since moved jobs and that was the only place I ever saw em.
Anyhow, a brown male mantis about 2 inches just flew through the window at my current job and I think I have a new friend. I named him Dexter. He's frightens much more easy and this one loves to run away and fly around (boy does he fly around) and doesn't really sit still out of his cage like my other two did (why is that you think?) but he's still dang fun to watch in his cage... I just can't let him hang out on my sholder when I'm outside for fear of losing him, unlike my last two whom would never leave my side.
Anyhow, thats my history of how I learned to love the mantis. I hope no one hold anything against me about Anne.
