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palmberg · Nov 5, 2003, 11:11 AM

I found him a couple weeks ago. He was sitting on a plant right outside my window at home. I'd check on him every couple days, and he was always in just about the same spot.

Well, it's been getting pretty cold here in Iowa, and I was getting worried about him. So this morning I grabbed him and placed him on a nice hibiscus plant in our sunroom. I've read that they'll eat all sorts of stuff, even little bits of meat offered up on the end of a toothpick!

My wife wasn't too thrilled about having "an alien" in the house, but after I convinced her that it wouldn't eat the dog, she calmed down a bit. I hope the dog is OK when I get home today....

Anyone have any experience with these bugs? They're amazing to look at. I have a couple pics at home that I'll put up later.

Dlatu1983 · Nov 5, 2003, 11:25 AM

I live in Miami, so we don't have them here...I did catch one a couple years back in Ohio though, it was the coolest thing.

Y3a · Nov 5, 2003, 12:24 PM

Praying Mantis' are found ALL OVER the USA so YES you DO have 'em in Fla. too.

They eat bugs. They will get sick and die if fed red meat! If it's brown, it's a male, and is usually eaten by the female during and after mating. The green ones are female, and they make an egg case that lasts thru the winter OUTSIDE!!! If brought inside, they will hatch in late january INSIDE YOUR HOUSE!! In many states they are protected because they eat grasshoppers, locusts etc. VA has a fine for killing one!

They are in a family if insects that also contain roaches.

Put it outside!!

palmberg · Nov 5, 2003, 12:40 PM

Originally posted by Y3a:
If it's brown, it's a male, and is usually eaten by the female during and after mating. The green ones are female, and they make an egg case that lasts thru the winter OUTSIDE!!!

It's mostly brown. There's a little green under its belly. Hopefully it's a male and I won't have to worry about it spewing a bunch of eggs for New Years.

willed · Nov 5, 2003, 01:18 PM

Pics!

engaged · Nov 5, 2003, 01:57 PM

Originally posted by willed:
Pics!

And his/her name..?

palmberg · Nov 5, 2003, 02:39 PM

I don't know what to call it. Suggestions?

Immortal K-Mart Employee · Nov 5, 2003, 02:56 PM

Originally posted by palmberg:
I don't know what to call it. Suggestions?

Call him Demonhood!

it is really beautiful BTW.

waxcrash · Nov 5, 2003, 03:15 PM

Does anyone know if it is edible? I've heard bugs are high in protein. It looks meaty � fry it up!

typoon · Nov 5, 2003, 03:21 PM

I'd keep an eye out for your dog. Looks like it might be able to eat it.

palmberg · Nov 5, 2003, 03:23 PM

Originally posted by typoon:
I'd keep an eye out for your dog. Looks like it might be able to eat it.

You're not kidding. The pic doesn't show it, but this thing has got to be about five inches long. I checked on him at noon, and he's really getting active now that he's warming up. I caught a beetle that had made it into the house and set it right in front of him. He was still staring at it when I left, but I hope he eats it....

Brien · Nov 5, 2003, 04:27 PM

I found one about 4 inches long once, it was a female. It was dying when I found it though. I also see some that are less than an inch big.

Aric · Nov 5, 2003, 04:41 PM

whoa that's cool! call him Manny like in a bug's story (i think that was his name unless i got it mixed up with a bedtime story i tell my daughter). where can i buy one? i never see those in cali. that's funny how you stuck a beetle in front of him, reminds me of the time i stuck a dead fly in a venus fly trap i got from a fair, the plant closed up on the fly and never opened up again then it died

ASIMO · Nov 5, 2003, 04:58 PM

Let it go. If it returns, then you will know that it is meant to be.

Shaddim · Nov 5, 2003, 05:14 PM

Originally posted by palmberg:

I don't know what to call it. Suggestions?

It's a male, keep it. They're tons of fun, just watch where you step!

Mac Bird · Nov 5, 2003, 05:22 PM

Originally posted by palmberg:
I don't know what to call it. Suggestions?

Zorak.

Brien · Nov 5, 2003, 05:27 PM

Originally posted by Mac Bird:
Zorak.

WINNER!

palmberg · Nov 5, 2003, 05:31 PM

Originally posted by Mac Bird:
Zorak.

THAT is a great idea.

typoon · Nov 5, 2003, 05:40 PM

Originally posted by brien:
WINNER!

Agreed

palmberg · Nov 5, 2003, 05:51 PM

Holy S*#T! Here's a pic I found of a mantis that caught a hummingbird!

I have hummingbirds around my place in the fall. Hmm....

xi_hyperon · Nov 5, 2003, 06:01 PM

^^ Is that real?

We used to have a bunch around our house when I grew up, but I don't see them too often anymore. I love how they turn their heads to follow you if you walk around them.

I didn't realize they were part of the family which contains roaches.

SSharon · Nov 5, 2003, 07:29 PM

how about a high res (wide screen?) to set as a desktop pic?

G4ME · 10:59 PM

NO BIG INLINE IMAGES!!!!!! -- tooki

i saw this one on my convertible when i got out of work one night, i had my camera so i snapped a few shots.

Landos Mustache · Nov 5, 2003, 08:20 PM

Do those suckers bite?

wdlove · Nov 5, 2003, 09:15 PM

I always enjoyed looking at a praying mantis. Never had one as a pet. We also called them daddy long legs. That is a lot like me.

Great pictures!

MindFad · Nov 5, 2003, 09:23 PM

Originally posted by wdlove:
I always enjoyed looking at a praying mantis. Never had one as a pet. We also called them daddy long legs. That is a lot like me. Great pictures!

Weird, we call spiders down here daddy long legs. Those little long-legged spiders that hang out in the garage and don't bother ya. Don't bite, either�well, because their fangs are too small to penetrate skin, anyway. We used to play with 'em when we were kids.

Cool about the mantis, though. That's awesome. And that pic with the bird!? They don't **** around, huh!?

palmberg · Nov 5, 2003, 09:36 PM

Originally posted by SSharon:
how about a high res (wide screen?) to set as a desktop pic?

Well, I put two of my favorite pics of Zorak on my iDisk. These are the original (~750K) files.

http://homepage.mac.com/palmberg/FileSharing9.html

0884 & 0885. Enjoy.

faragbre967 · Nov 5, 2003, 10:28 PM

Originally posted by MacNStein:
It's a male, keep it. They're tons of fun, just watch where you step!

I don't understand that one, how can an insect be tons of fun. Dogs and cats are fun because they have personalities, birds because they chirp and look good, even fish because they can be elegant and swim around; but insects just have no redeeming qualities.

palmberg · Nov 6, 2003, 12:36 AM

Originally posted by faragbre967:
I don't understand that one, how can an insect be tons of fun.

Maybe you missed the pic of the mantis killing the f#*king HUMMINGBIRD! That's RAD!

xylon · Nov 6, 2003, 01:09 AM

Originally posted by palmberg:
Maybe you missed the pic of the mantis killing the f#*king HUMMINGBIRD! That's RAD!

Hahahahahahahahaaa!!!!! That was priceless.

We have a ton of Mantis' back home. One summer my friends and I all caught one for ourselves. We used to feed them and everything. Then they ate each other and the fun came to a screeching halt. I'll...never...forget...you...Spliffy!! *sniff*

Cipher13 · Nov 6, 2003, 02:19 AM

Originally posted by MindFad:
Weird, we call spiders down here daddy long legs. Those little long-legged spiders that hang out in the garage and don't bother ya. Don't bite, either�well, because their fangs are too small to penetrate skin, anyway. We used to play with 'em when we were kids.

Cool about the mantis, though. That's awesome. And that pic with the bird!? They don't **** around, huh!?

Daddy long legs is used to describe a whole bunch of things... never heard of it to describe Mantids though.

Most daddy long legs aren't spiders (Aranea) though... they're Opiliones. Completely different Order.

Originally posted by xi_hyperon:
^^ Is that real?

We used to have a bunch around our house when I grew up, but I don't see them too often anymore. I love how they turn their heads to follow you if you walk around them.

I didn't realize they were part of the family which contains roaches.

Well... that's a stretch. They're not, really.

They belong in the Division Neoptera (includes just about every insect apart from mayflies, dragonflies, springtails, silverfish, and the like), and in the Sub-Division Neoptera.

SD. Neoptera includes grasshoppers, earwigs, mantids, termites, cockroaches, and stoneflies, to mention the main Orders contained therein.

That's about the extent of it. They're in the same Sub-Division, most definately not the same family. Cockroach == O. Blattodea, Mantis == O. Mantodea.

gadster · Nov 6, 2003, 10:00 AM

Just curious how come daddy long legs are classified as different from the rest of the spiders? Weird anatomy? Too few legs? What?

nonhuman · Nov 6, 2003, 10:09 AM

Originally posted by gadster:
Just curious how come daddy long legs are classified as different from the rest of the spiders? Weird anatomy? Too few legs? What?

Because they're not spiders.

MindFad · Nov 6, 2003, 10:13 AM

Originally posted by Cipher13:
Daddy long legs is used to describe a whole bunch of things... never heard of it to describe Mantids though.

Most daddy long legs aren't spiders (Aranea) though... they're Opiliones. Completely different Order.

Us crazy Floridians.

Cool, though, thanks for the info.

gethigh · Nov 6, 2003, 10:35 AM

Originally posted by Aric:
…reminds me of the time i stuck a dead fly in a venus fly trap i got from a fair, the plant closed up on the fly and never opened up again then it died

That's because carnivorous plants are picky about what they eat. The common fly you see everyday basically sits on anything and everything: pieces of $h!t, dumpster trash, bacterial sesspools, etc. It's no wonder it died.

SeSawaya · Nov 6, 2003, 10:58 AM

you know this thing flies! I'm sure te wife will love being home alone with it

Also, arent the legs of these things sharp like razor blades? thats how they hunt right?

They are fearless too, look out dog!

mac-at-kearsarge · Nov 6, 2003, 11:18 AM

Bored one day, I turned to the Discovery Channell where they were doing a show on the Praying Mantis.....

You know how it's said that the male organs have minds of there own?

...well it showed the 'Mantisis's (sp?) mating ritual which included the infamous consuming of the male. well despite the fact that she was eating him alive, his thorax/abdomen (which ever one it was) kept going and going (very much like the engerizer bunny) even after she had eating over 75% of him, and finally the rest fell to the ground, where it kept doing the 'humpy-hump' for another 10 mins!

Although I do wonder if it was at that point death throws or a overly-extreme desire to procreate.

MY THEORY: I think the male knew there was a camera on him and was trying to show off to 'the guys' that he could 'keep it going'.

gadster · Nov 6, 2003, 11:50 AM

Just let the thing go, would ya? Poor ****en thing..

palmberg · Nov 6, 2003, 03:55 PM

Originally posted by gadster:
Just let the thing go, would ya? Poor ****en thing..

Maybe you're right. I should've let him freeze to death. Prime directive, eh wot?

Tulkas · Nov 6, 2003, 07:23 PM

I've only seen one of those in person back home. Thank god its too cold for them here.

They are evil. Get a gun/flamethrower and waste him before he kills you all. They are one of only a few bugs I'd rather kill than befriend (earwigs, beetles, those things that look like sticks).

Then again if they eat earwigs they're great. I remember when I was a kid the big rusted lock in the back was FILLED with the ugly little buggers.

Jim Paradise · Nov 6, 2003, 07:36 PM

heh.... when we were 11 at some school trip of some sorts, one of my best friends who's petrified of such things had a female praying mantis on the back of his right shoulder.

Us: "___, there's a praying mantis on your shoulder."
Him: "No way."
Us: "Yes, turn your head!"
Him: Freaks out.

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ahhh that's still amusing to think about. Personally, I think praying mantises (especially the females) are capitally interesting bugs. Having one as a "pet" would definitely be cool. ^^

palmberg · Nov 6, 2003, 08:47 PM

Originally posted by Jim Paradise:
Personally, I think praying mantises (especially the females) are capitally interesting bugs.

Bit of useful(?) trivia: Plural for mantis is mantids.

Go figure.

Y3a · Nov 6, 2003, 10:51 PM

They are the only insect that can turn it's head.

Spiders and other non-insects are more interesting.

Look up:

Pseudoscorpions
Vinegaroon
Mygolmorphs

Dragonflys are really cool. they have a 24 to 1 thrust to weight ratio. They can stop or turn 90 degrees within their own length. They can see almost all around tehmselves. They also fly using their wings in a different way than any other type of flying insect.

ironknee · Nov 6, 2003, 10:59 PM

so what god does zorak pray to? just kidding...

No really JUST kidding...please

mac-at-kearsarge · Nov 7, 2003, 12:41 AM

Originally posted by ironknee:
so what god does zorak pray to? just kidding...

No really JUST kidding...please

Oh no not ANOTHER religous thread

.

AlbertWu · Nov 7, 2003, 02:16 AM

Originally posted by mac-at-kearsarge:
Bored one day, I turned to the Discovery Channell where they were doing a show on the Praying Mantis.....

You know how it's said that the male organs have minds of there own?

...well it showed the 'Mantisis's (sp?) mating ritual which included the infamous consuming of the male. well despite the fact that she was eating him alive, his thorax/abdomen (which ever one it was) kept going and going (very much like the engerizer bunny) even after she had eating over 75% of him, and finally the rest fell to the ground, where it kept doing the 'humpy-hump' for another 10 mins! Although I do wonder if it was at that point death throws or a overly-extreme desire to procreate.

MY THEORY: I think the male knew there was a camera on him and was trying to show off to 'the guys' that he could 'keep it going'.

actually, it's because the mantis's muscles are contracting by default, and the only way the mantis prevents from spazzing out during normal day-to-day activities is by sending anti-movement signals from the brain.

female eats brain -> brain gone -> no anti-movement signals -> humpy-hump-hump

Cipher13 · Nov 7, 2003, 03:05 AM

Originally posted by gadster:
Just curious how come daddy long legs are classified as different from the rest of the spiders? Weird anatomy? Too few legs? What?

For the same reason pseudoscorpions aren't scorpions... they're just different, really.

There are a few different ways to tell them apart... most noteably, the prosoma and opisthoma ("abdomen" and "thorax", essentially) are broadly joined, as opposed to a spider, where the prosoma and opisthoma are narrowly joined by a pedicel.

There are other differences, of course, but this is the most readily accurate for unaided visual identification.

gadster · Nov 7, 2003, 07:57 AM

Originally posted by Cipher13:
For the same reason pseudoscorpions aren't scorpions... they're just different, really.

There are a few different ways to tell them apart... most noteably, the prosoma and opisthoma ("abdomen" and "thorax", essentially) are broadly joined, as opposed to a spider, where the prosoma and opisthoma are narrowly joined by a pedicel.

There are other differences, of course, but this is the most readily accurate for unaided visual identification.

Yeah, but *these* guys live in my laundry: Pholcidae.

voyageur · Nov 7, 2003, 09:50 AM

Originally posted by Cipher13:
There are a few different ways to tell them apart... most noteably, the prosoma and opisthoma ("abdomen" and "thorax", essentially) are broadly joined, as opposed to a spider, where the prosoma and opisthoma are narrowly joined by a pedicel.

A zoologist, are you perhaps? When I was a zoology grad student some of my colleagues had really interesting pets in their offices. One guy had a pet piranha ("Kitty") and a pet scorpion (Fran). A professor had two black widows and a tarantula. I had some beautifully colored salamanders and a pretty milk snake, all of whom I caught locally. Another had a bullfrog she caught that would scream when you picked it up. Freaked out the janitors in our building.

One of our divers brought back some marine worms that looked like....well they were thick and flesh-colored with a hole at one end, and lived in a tank next to my cubicle.

Y3a · Nov 7, 2003, 10:18 AM

True "Daddy Long-Legs" are a small indoor spider with very long thin legs. They like it still, quiet, and poorly lit. They make an irregular.

Harvesters, the pea sized bodies with thin legs that you see sunning themselves on the sides of buildings are what most folks call Daddy Long Legs.

Kinda like the people who confuse Cicada with Locust.