The Great Escape

[dgerndt]

I awoke on the morning on January 21st, 2011 to see a beautiful sight: rays of sun leaking through my blinds and shining onto my gorgeous sub-adult male Chinese mantis, Kyle. He was happily basking in the warm sunshine in his new home-made screen enclosure, and I felt proud. I raised him from a newly hatched nymph and now he was just a short two weeks and one molt away from being the full-fledged adult mantis he was born to be. But fate had different plans for Kyle.

It was later that day when I went to my room that I found the horror that awaited me. My bedroom door was ajar, and I knew something was wrong. As I pushed the door the rest of the way open, I saw one of my cat's INSIDE of Kyle's new enclosure. Then I saw another cat playing with the tattered and beaten cricket that was supposed to be Kyle's next meal. Lastly, another cat was on my bed, looking confused as to why I had screamed. I ran quickly to Kyle's aid, grabbing cats and yelling in outrage; but it was too late. Kyle was nowhere to be seen. I searched my room, crawling on my hand and knees, even wiggling around on my stomach looking under tables and chairs, trying to find him. But, alas, Kyle was gone.

Now all I can do is keep scanning my room, hoping to find him. I even put out a bucket with crickets in it to try and lure him out, but with no success. I just hope with all my heart that he didn't become a tasty snack for one of my cats.

 

[[email protected]]

Oh know! I know that feeling, I have cats too! I hope you find him soon. Look up, he is probably trying to go up and away from the cats.

 

[Ntsees]

For it's probable chance of survival, my only guess is that the mantid would have to have escaped it's enclosure and got to someplace high before your cats came in. If that wasn't the case, then chances are your cat broke and got the mantid. Then again, if your cat wasn't interested in the mantid when it went in, then the mantid could still be around in your room.

 

[PhilinYuma]

Ouch, Deby, it doesn't sound good, does it? I don't know any more than you whether or not Kyle bit the bullet, but if you have a life insurance policy on him, you might want to start looking for a claim form.

I do recommend against the name "Kyle", though. According to the actuarial tables, people/critters with this name hav a better chance of being eaten than most. I had a friend named Kyle in Chicago, who got lost in Lincoln Park one foggy night in 1993 and was nibbled to death by ducks in the lagoon.

Also, of course, try, if you can, to keep cats and ducks out of your bedroom. I hope that this helps.

 

[hibiscusmile]

This place is plum full of nuts, reminds me of a saying " I see the squirrels have not gathered all the nuts up yet" :lol:

I don't have cats, but my sister does, she says hers love bugs, specially crickets, so we can only hope they missed Kyle , but I concure, does not sound good.

 

[Domanating]

Last year i had a beautiful couple of mantids. I was waiting for their last molt so i could mate them. one day i saw the males cage ruined and my mantid was nowhere to be seen but my cat was there... I almost strangled him... weeks later i found the females cage also destroyed, but this time my female was on the ground almost dead. I didn't find any wounds or anything but she was probably munched... I was so damn angry... Well i didn't do anything to the cat..It's just an animal.

 

[Insect-lover]

This is why i lock my room with keys.

Damn cats are too smart.

Im so sorry to hear that, once you give your heart to caring for these insects, they become part of family, they are so expressive its so sad to see them die.

Hope you get to find him.

 

[dgerndt]

Thanks everyone for your support. I always close my door to keep my cats out, but my boyfriend didn't close it all the way that morning. That's how the cats got in and knocked his cage over. ):

@Phil: Sorry to hear about the killer ducks eating your friend. Maybe the trail of breadcrumbs wasn't such a good idea. It obviously didn't keep him from getting lost, and then it attracted the ducks!

 

[warpdrive]

Deby, I feel you pain.

yesterday was a sad day for me. my favorite ghost named Dorra the explorer (yes I named a bug, silly me) just molted to L6. she was so awesome looking. always the first to molt. always so playful and kind to the smaller ghosts in "her" terrarium. always banging onthe frount door for me to take her out and let her crawl all over me. she was the wonderful green ghost in all of my photos. *sniffle*

so I take her out knowing that she don't want to eat the silly little houseflys, and I ran out of Blue Bottles. I tryed to get her to eat a cricket but she may have just wanted to play. so I tried anyway to feed her by giving her just a leg from a big cricket. she tasted it and started to feed.

yet she was on my hand ansdI had to feed the rest of my clain, so I put her down and she would stop eating and just drop the leg. looking at me like why did I put her down? so I picked her up again and she would take the drumstick once more and eat, but after I took a few pics, I had to feed the rest of my zoo.

so I placed her back in the terrarium as long as she wasn't going to eat other then on my finger. I added a cup of tiny crickets to the terrarium so that I can not only feed the ghosts but shoot a video later of them going in and eatting them while backing out and letting the next mantid get her turn.

well, after feeding my zoo I was tired from feeling "under the weather". all the snow wasn't helping as well. so I took a nap. I woke up and before even putting on my glasses I noticed a "green" circle in the cricket cup. to my horror the crickets pulled Dorra inside while she must have tryed to catch one and they ganged up on her and ate her!!!!!

putting on my glasses I was praying it wasn't her and it was another green female I had in that terrarium. but no, it was my sweet Dorra. :no:

all I have left are my memorys of her adventures while trying to explore my house and giving me heart attacks when I can't find her. she even snuck out of her cage weeks ago because I didn't feel her on my hand when I went inside to fix something and I realised an hour later she was still on my hand. :sweatdrop:

at least I didn't throw away her molt and saved it. *sniffle*

Dorra eating on my finger yesterday.

I'm so sorry to hear of your story Deby. it hasn't been my week as well.

Harry

 

[hibiscusmile]

Oh my WORD! What a heart wrenching story Harry! You all must feel terrrible, kinda glad I cannot get to know many of mine, I would be on antidepressiants and alcohol! :blink:

 

[warpdrive]

Oh my WORD! What a heart wrenching story Harry! You all must feel terrrible, kinda glad I cannot get to know many of mine, I would be on antidepressiants and alcohol! :blink:

I still feel sick about it. who knew you can get attached to a silly bug.

I'm hand feeding a ton of ghosts, one by one right now...no way I'm repeating that mistake again.

Harry

 

[cuervo]

That is terrible hope you find him.

 

[dgerndt]

I'm sorry to hear that, Harry. I prefer to hand-feed my mantids for just that reason.

 

[PragmaticHominid]

I understand how bad you guys feel, Deby and Harry.

A few minutes ago I opened one of my nymph cups to add some fruit flies, because I've got my little L1 ghosties in there two to a cup, so I wanted to make sure they had plenty of food in there. I didn't look before I opened the lid (I've got the flu and my brain is stupid right now, but I should have looked) and I ended up squashing one of the little guys. I didn't even notice that I'd done it until I saw him smeared on the side of my finger.

I feel so freaking horrible. I don't think I've cried like this in years. I can't imagine what it must feel like to lose one that you were attached to.

 

[hibiscusmile]

I feel so freaking horrible. I don't think I've cried like this in years. I can't imagine what it must feel like to lose one that you were attached to.

 

[lancaster1313]

I understand how bad you guys feel, Deby and Harry.

A few minutes ago I opened one of my nymph cups to add some fruit flies, because I've got my little L1 ghosties in there two to a cup, so I wanted to make sure they had plenty of food in there. I didn't look before I opened the lid (I've got the flu and my brain is stupid right now, but I should have looked) and I ended up squashing one of the little guys. I didn't even notice that I'd done it until I saw him smeared on the side of my finger.

I feel so freaking horrible. I don't think I've cried like this in years. I can't imagine what it must feel like to lose one that you were attached to.

I am always afraid that I will injure one of mine when I am closing the containers. So far, I have only closed the lids on the tips of a couple of their legs,(no permanent injuries yet, I always notice when one is stuck and release them). They always like to be near the rim of the cups, <_< I try to chase them down away from the rim, but sometimes they will stand their ground and it takes forever to get the lids on safely.

 

[geckoboy3]

Deby, I feel for you. I hope you find Kyle...

This place is plum full of nuts, reminds me of a saying " I see the squirrels have not gathered all the nuts up yet" :lol:

(How do you make a squirrel sad? You hake away his nuts)

 

[dgerndt]

Thanks everyone for your kind words. There's still no sign of Kyle; I've pretty much given up on finding him. It's been almost a week.

I accidentially squished a 1st instar mio when I was closing the lid of their deli cup a few weeks ago. They're so tiny... almost the same size of melanogaster fruit flies. He/she ran up to the edge too fast and I didn't see until it was too late. I felt so bad.

The only good news I have is that my Gambian ooth finally hatched. So now I have 12 spunky little nymphs to help replace the spot where Kyle was. I still miss him, though. He had so much personality.

 

[Findarato]

Thanks everyone for your kind words. There's still no sign of Kyle; I've pretty much given up on finding him. It's been almost a week.

Did you find him in the meantime?