Video: Mantis Eats Sushi!

[mantisfart2]

Dearest Mantisfart2,Did I hand feed the fish to the mantis, you ask?

The skin on scale folks will be happy to know that I didn't technically hand feed the fish to the mantis. I used a pair of forceps because the water was fouled from a fish that had died (a meaningless death) a day earlier and I didn't want to put my nice clean fingers in it. For those scoring at home, we have fish=1 for 2, mantis=1 for 2. As you can see, it is currently a tie, but only because one fish and one mantis have fulfilled their destinies.

If you review my two prior posts you will see my several and "only" intentions.

Would it be kinder to feed the fish dead, you ask?

I can say that yes, in your heart it would be kinder. However, the mantis will find palatability to be the same, as long as all parts are eaten. (Or I could be wrong for the following reason: You see, if it only eats half the fish, it might find one half more palatable than the other, but I wouldn't know without asking the mantis and it would take the sacrificing of two fish to answer the question because a mantis that is full on half of one fish will not soon enough eat the other half before it spoils). The fish won't care if it can't feel it. Myself, well, I don't like killing things. But my mantises sure seem to have a predeliction for it.

Head vs. tail feeding you ask?

Here's the way it went down: After numerous attempts to catch a fish in water with a pair of forceps I managed to grab it by the tail. Not from experience, but through hypothesis, I made a quick decision to accept the orientation of my capture for a fish would seem to wriggle more (thereby attracting the mantis) if held by tail than by head. I concede I may be wrong on that point as I've not had much experience fishing with forceps. I never caught a fly out of the air with chopsticks, either, but that's off topic. Now comes a very important part of the process that everybody who is preparing to feed a fish to a mantis will soon want to ask themselves. After the mantis grabs the fish, you must act quickly! As another person pointed out, they will often choose a beginning point for feeding in such a way as to seem random to a human. They may start at the tail, they may start in the middle or at the head. Further, they may begin somewhere only to feel the fish wriggling out of their grip. Through a series of grasping readjustments, they may find themselves feeding on an entirely different part of the fish. This is where each keeper will need to decide whether to pry the fish out of the mantis clutches and reposition it head first, or turn away in horror...or get out the video camera.

By the way, I checked and both of the usernames Mantisfart and Mantisfart1 are available again. I'd be happy to get that pesce 2 off your username!

Dearest peter

From reading your reply or maybe its just your comedic writing style it seams you find amusement from feeding vertebrates to mantids, like i said in my reply to rick cruelty is a trait found only in humans so i am assuming you are one, whats confusing me is that in your next breath you say you don't like getting your hands dirty. These two traits are uncommon in people, maybe the C.I.A have missed a recruitment opportunity? In your reply you stump me again with this " I can say that yes, in your heart it would be kinder" making me think maybe you don't have one in which case i would pass on the C.I.A and head straight for holly wood in case they ever decide to remake The wizard of oz. you would make a great tin man, but maybe it would be only fair for the rest of the OK to feed live vertebrate crew to draw straw's for the scarecrow. But if is going too cause arguments you could just take Phil i think he's most qualified.

As for my name i would like to keep it if you don't mind, it was my first choice as its faster to type in by 2 keys than mantisfarttoo. If i log in every day which i do think of the time i would save over a year.

 

[PhilinYuma]

I don't think that I've ever given you much mind, son, but since you mentioned my name in two posts, I thought I'd say Hi.

I see that you list Katt as a friend on yr profile page, and no one who does that can be completely bad. I also see that you are a student of Disney children's movies. Over here, every student of Brit comic strips remembers Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future in the eponymous strip in The Eagle, and his comical batman, Digby, who was also from Wigan and shared yr vaguely anti American hostility (have you ever met anyone from the CIA?). I know Wigan from having lived just down the road (me mum was from Sheffield) but the town is justly famous over here, and I think that reading Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier is still a requirement for 8th graders. The last time I was there, in the eighties, it was still pretty much a post industrial slum, and someone commented that the attempt to gentrify the pier area on the canal was like "growing roses over an open sewer," but I'm sure that you live in one of the nicer spots.

I doubt that anyone here or in Europe, including readers of The Telegraph, has the slightest problem with your wish not to cause what you deem to be unnecessary suffering to "vertebrates". We may question your education on the subject, but certainly not your sincerity. But I, at least, wonder why you insult those of us who do not share your views in what has to be an attempt to cause us pain. Unfortunately, you are out gunned. As atheists, Peter and I are already damned to the h*ll of our choice for eternity, where, according to one Christian saint, our suffering will be one of the sources of pleasure for the blessed in heaven, so we're not likely to get very upset by the righteous indignation of Wigan.

Let me leave you with a few verses of a poem by one of our countrymen that you probably know by heart (I do, too, so there might be a wrong word here and there!)

The laws of God, the laws of man

He may keep that will and can

Not I: Let God and man decree

Laws for themselves and not for me.

.........

Please yourselves, say I, and they

Need only look the other way.

But no, they will not; they must still

Wrest their neighbor to their will,

And make me dance as they desire

With jail and gallows and hellfire

And how am I to face the odds

Of man's bedevilment and God's?

 

[Opivy]

What in Gods holy name are you blathering about?

 

[PhilinYuma]

What in Gods holy name are you blathering about?

Lol! Which Gods were you thinking of?!

 

[Opivy]

mind my punctuation, I've had a little too much sauce.

Was hoping to see if there were any other "Achievers" on here =)

Also, re-reading your post regarding INLAND EMPIRE I think I misunderstood. Noticed the "google" part and realized you probably haven't seen the movie hehe.

But really, in this thread I'm lost.

 

[PhilinYuma]

mind my punctuation, I've had a little too much sauce.Was hoping to see if there were any other "Achievers" on here =)

Also, re-reading your post regarding INLAND EMPIRE I think I misunderstood. Noticed the "google" part and realized you probably haven't seen the movie hehe.

But really, in this thread I'm lost.

If yr still able to type, you probably haven't had too much, yet.

Achievers? A reference to Lynch's appearing on the Esquire list? If so, nobody will get that reference, mate!!

The Eagle magazine flourished in the 650's in England. It was aimed at young English lads (girls didn't count then :angry: ) edited (I think) by a Christian educator named Arthur Mee, editor of the Children's Encyclopedia. Dan Dare was the most popular and headline strip in the magazine and emphasized True British Christian Leadership (he was a commissioned officer, of course). His batman (military servant) Digby, came from Wigan and, though ignorant and mildly comical, was Loyal and Knew His Place. This kind of propaganda signaled the last whimpers of Britain as a colonial power.

No, you didn't misunderstand. I Googled the area in CA called "Inland Empire" but I've seen most of Lynch's movies, including I.E., though not the early collection of shorts. I guess that I would put Blue Velvet at the top of my own list. Oh yes, I seriously detested Eraserhead! lol! Is that still even a cult movie?

Mantisfart2 comes from an insignificant post industrial town (think of a scaled down Detroit) in the North of England, named Wigan. It might not be as well known in the US as I implied!

He believes in being kind to small vertebrates, but is mildly anti American without knowing anything about this country and believes that it is OK to insult people who don't agree with him. If you'd ever been to Wigan, you'd understand. There is no area in CA, including East LA, that comes anything near the grizzly horrors of his home town (though my last visit was nearly 30 yrs ago, just after he was born, and it might be a Garden City, now! ) The Road to Wigan Pier was a book by the author of 1984 dealing with the apalling conditions of the English poor.

Atheists don't have much to look forward to in the Hereafter. If we're right, we'll just disappear. If we are wrong, our suffering will delight those who have ascended to heaven. Given those two options, though, there is very little worse that you can threaten us with.

The poem was by a guy who lived in the early C20 (died in 1936), named A.E. Houseman. It is very easy to understand, and reflects my attitude to folks like Mantisfart2.

I am economizing, following my computer build, and bought 1.75L of an off brand of Canadian whiskey instead of Canadian Mist. It tastes pretty bad, so I'm trying to get through it as quickly as possible in order to get a bottle of the real stuff. Catch you tomorrow!

Edit: Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving, one and all!

 

[Opivy]

Wow and a happy thanksgiving to you!

Maybe I have had too much.

I got lost around the "Blue Velvet" and "Mantis Fart" part.

I'm glad I didn't misunderstand! I will shoot you a PM sometime to chat - (I also consider Blue Velvet on the top of my list ; and how do you detest Eraserhead?!?!)

Haven't seen the shorts? You're missing out my friend. They got em' on a single DVD probably available on netflicks.

I'm going to read your summary of this thread tomorrow and then I'll chime in with something useful.

 

[Rick]

everytime i've watched a mantis eat its eaten it head first.

I think you need to watch more often because it simply isn't true.

 

[Rick]

like i said in my reply to rick cruelty is a trait found only in humans

Is it? Then what would you call it when my cat catches a mouse and torments it for hours on end after eating its tail and in the end never eating the mouse? Seems cruel to me.

 

[revmdn]

Blue Velvet is such a great movie.

 

[DeadInTheBasement]

i have often watched an owl slaughter dozens of my chickens only to tear theres heads off pretty much and go after another soon after..cruelty is found in nature and in my finger tips....but all is necessary

i left the dead chickens in a pile in the field for the crows to peck at

 

[bassist]

Remember cruelty is a trait found only in humans in the natural world.

That's because we're the only thing (known to us ;D) on this planet that can perceive this idea.

 

[C.way]

sushi V2, have tried out feeding my long neck mantises with tadpole yesterday, it's yucky, but the mantises are all ok with it

 

[idolomantis]

My god.

I hope you do realize you're going to infuriate ALOT of people.

 

[Katnapper]

My god.I hope you do realize you're going to infuriate ALOT of people.

Let's not get into this again....

 

[PhilinYuma]

Let's not get into this again....

+1 !!!

 

[ABbuggin]

Let's not get into this again....

Yes please.

 

[Opivy]

Wow, forgot about this stuff.

I bought my cat a mouse a few years back - All I can say is I still regret it. She tortured the heck out of that thing...

 

[DeadInTheBasement]

i added some some fiddler crabs to my brackish aquarium 3 days ago. they have since ate 3 of my fish and i have yet to take them out of my aquarium and probably wont ....having crabs is more interesting than the fish anyways.....

 

[kamakiri]

Yeah, my invertebrate crayfish picked off a lot of my feeder guppies...And then there's the dragonfly nymphs too.