Speaking with non-mantid people.

[Entomo-logic]

I was talking to a group of people about the animals I love so much today adn i was telling them of some ootheca that had hatched just that day. But I forgot to take into account that they were all Bunny Huggers (people that like fuzzy things with backbones and can't really appreciate why anyone would/could like a "Bug"). So I was saying that I had 5 Unicorns and 30 Ghosts Born (hatch) and they all looked at me like I was from Mars! I then saw they didn't understand and said sorry 5 Phyllovates chlorophaea and 30 Phyllocrania paradoxa. This didn't help and i was still getting blank stares. Why I thought they would get the Latin name I have no idea. Anyway I had to explain they were praying mantids and then they were like "Oh ok like the big green ones we see in the fall". I answered "yes like that but different" but the fact there was more than one species of praying mantis totaly fried their brains and they went on to talk about Gorillas.

Does this happen to anyone else or am I just surrounded by Idiots?

 

[angelofdeathzz]

sounds like a kadundrum. share your females a good luck will come your way.

 

[packer43064]

When I tell people about the bugs I have, they don't understand either. Their lost as can be. It can go either way though. I have this friend that will tell me how he fixed his car by putting in some catalytic converter or some other gibberish. Their not idiots, their just dumb. :lol:

 

[nebrakacinese]

Happens all the time,especially when I tell them about last fall when my chinese female crawled around my chest when I would read.

 

[cuervo]

You are not alone, people need to open their minds.There is more to life than the 4 walls they live in.

 

[GreenOasis]

Lol...you should've seen the mixed reactions I would get at the last reptile show when I had a table set up with mantids for sale. The looks/comments ranged from sheer horror to "AWESOME!" I'm sure it will be even more fun at the next show, as there tends to be a lot of repeat customers there...same folks, different show day. I have learned that most of our friends & relatives just don't give a hoot about anything that we own, so I don't even bother to talk about it. The one good friend that we have that comes over will occasionally say "cool" about this or that, but his eyes glaze over once it goes beyond the initial, "Look what we've got now!"...can't even get a latin name in before he's walking away, on to bigger & better things. (And to think, he's studying to be a doctor!) :blink:

 

[PeterF]

The dept that entomology is stuffed into here is Bio agricultural sciences and pest management. So I am surrounded by people in plant pathology (like my wife) or other plant growing fields (fields! ha!).

Most of the grad students have to deal with bugs, but aren't actually interested.

 

[MantidLord]

Well for me, I'm known throughout my school as the "mantis man" or "mantis kid". A lot of people just don't understand.

 

[lancaster1313]

Many people that I have spoken with don't even know what a mantid is. I end up having to mime one with body language while I say, "You know, Praying Mantis". I just show them the phone pics most of the time. About 50% of people look at me like I have 2 heads, some people are grossed out, and some think it is awesome.You should see the looks I get when I tell them about my Discoid and Surinam roaches. It is funny when they ask me what is in the pic, and I tell them it is a roach. :lol:

 

[geckoboy3]

Many people that I have spoken with don't even know what a mantid is. I end up having to mime one with body language while I say, "You know, Praying Mantis". I just show them the phone pics most of the time. About 50% of people look at me like I have 2 heads, some people are grossed out, and some think it is awesome.You should see the looks I get when I tell them about my Discoid and Surinam roaches. It is funny when they ask me what is in the pic, and I tell them it is a roach. :lol:

If you're on the roach forum, you'll learn it gets even worse :lol: ....

I've had health inspectors (I think that's the term?) inspect my house to search for "dangerous species" :blink:

They're not idiots, they just have simple minds (and less IQ points )

 

[Rick]

Awhile back I brought some mantids to a biology class. A few students were really interested, but the majority wouldn't come near me when one was out of the container. Yet those people want to be biologists? I generally don't talk about my hobbies around most people since it just isn't worth trying to explain everything to them and most people couldn't care less about mantids and fossils.

 

[hibiscusmile]

haha! your first reaction is right! Idiots! :lol: Same thing happens to me, I, like Rick don't talk about them anymore, unless someone asks, I don't share. Lots ask how the bugs are doing? Like they must live forever and wanted to know how they are in their old age :tt2:

 

[yen_saw]

Is not all bad Tony, you did well! At least those people know now what 'ghost' and 'Texas unicorn' are.

 

[MantidLord]

Rick, I think I'm going to start doing what you and Rebecca do. I mean, I tried my junior and senior year, but by then I already had my "reputation". What's funny is that I only spend like 10 minutes out of the day (unless I'm just watching them for whatever reason) to feed/check up on them. But a lot of people think it takes like hours and stuff.

 

[dgerndt]

People just don't get it. It was hard for my boyfriend at first when I got really into mantids. Eventually you calm down the mantis-mania and it doesn't matter that you can't talk to most people about them. There will always be that few that let you go on for a little while, though.

 

[Koshmar]

The exact opposite usually happens with me. I love talking about this stuff with people I barely know, you should see their reactions! They're completely amazed at some of the stuff. When I was keeping cuttlefish and mantis shrimp I'd tell people all about them and show youtube videos and pics of them. Just Thursday I started talking to a girl in my organic chemistry class about weird fish and mantis shrimp, her eyes were so wide with surprise. It's even better with kids, I went to a coworker's daughter's birthday and talked with her 8 yr old son about waterbears, stomatopods, cephalopods, and all kinds of crazy creatures. He loved it! I could tell I sparked his imagination and desire to learn. It's momments like that which make all the odd looks worth it. When you know you've impacted someone and helped them appreciate the world we live in. If "ordinary" people knew what is out there they might want to start trying to save the things which are being destroyed. It's a step forward. Now that I'm part of this board and trying to get started, I've started showing people orchid mantis videos and people are blown away at their beauty! They can't believe it's a "bug". I wish people walked up to me and told me crazy things I didn't know about! Don't be discouraged if someone doesn't understand, eventually if you keep doing it you'll awaken curiousity in someone and they may get into the hobby. I would have never met one of my best friends if I didn't talk about the "weird" stuff I kept at home. It turned out she was exactly like me! In fact she's the one who reintroduced me to mantids. My entire relationship with her and my beginnings in this hobby came from me spreading the information I knew on unusual hobbies. I say keep it up, talk to people whenever you get the chance. You never know who you might meet!

 

[lancaster1313]

Kids seem to be more open minded about my insects. There are some kids in the neighborhood that stop by and ask to look at the bugs and my lizard. Most of the kids are kind of afraid of them, but there are a couple that want to let the bugs walk on their hands. Sometimes I get worried that they don't want to give them back. :lol: I have even tried to give away some of my Stagmomantis carolinas , but the parents don't want any part of it. <_<

 

[Krissim Klaw]

The exact opposite usually happens with me. I love talking about this stuff with people I barely know, you should see their reactions! They're completely amazed at some of the stuff.

Ditto, I love my mantises and tend to ramble on about them all the time. I have found the majority of reactions to be more positive/curious than anything else. Even the people that are scared are often curious enough to want to stare at them from a distance. Of course then again I was also the kid on my street who went house to house dragging a wagon full of grasshoppers and trying to sell grasshopper shows for a quarter. :lol:

 

[kitkat39]

lmao! Why you gave them the latin name after they were already giving you a confused look when mentioning their common name is beyond me... yeah not everyone will always be IN to what you're talking about. Some folks take some warming up to, others will never care, and yet others will be amazed as soon as you mention it. I do find that having either a live specimen or a picture/video of it generates a ton more interest rather than just talking about it because they simply have no idea what to picture in their heads and how awesome they could actually look. Sometimes you'll find folks who try to make fun of you for it.. the simple thing to do there is to make fun of them back