Went into the hotel and advised the family to approach the car quietly and we might be in for a treat. What a surprise: when my wife took out the camera, the mantis took note. It began to dance. It put on a show that in some ways, reminded me of Tai Chi. It danced down to one end of the rack, turned around, waved its forelimbs in the air, and repeated its routine.

I say that whoever kills a mantis, it is as if they had killed the entire world, and who saves a mantis, it is as if they had saved the world. Definitely a sentient creature.

Awww - how sweet and loving of you guys!

I have a pet and her name is mrs, mantis. I found her in august but i think she is about to pass on. She is barely moving, and won’t eat. I keep hoping that maybe she is just about to molt and not about to die, but she has lived on longer than expected. In her glass house, she has layed 3 different egg cases. I am very excited to see the little ones hatch. Some people laugh when i tell them i have a mantis as a pet, but i’ve grown quite attached to this inquisitive little creature. I can pick her up without her attacking me and i’ve even trained her to eat food held on the tip of a pair of tweezers. Its neat to walk past her and see her head move around to follow me. My fiance and i walked outside one day and found her by the lamp post and she’s been my pet ever since. Who knew you could get so attached to a bug! i’m so sad she’s about to leave, but i have about 1-200 little ones to look forward to in the spring that will hopefully live long lives in my garden! If you guys ever find another one and want to keep it, you can buy crickets at any pet store for pretty cheap, and i think it’s cool you guys took care of her. Mantids are good luck!

I thought about using interoffice mail to send you more bug carcasses but I couldn’t imagine explaining that if someone checked the envelope.

I guess we could have said that we were working on a pest control program?

We had Bug Boxes, purchased at one of the many art fairs where my mom and grandma sold their crafts. My brother and I loved to put lightning bugs in them and let them flash next to our beds at night. I was so NOT into squishing them on my finger to make glowing rings; that was mean. I suppose keeping them in a mesh-walled habitat wasn’t very nice either. I also painted some that I caught with poster paint dots and set them free so I could recognize them later if I caught them again. I watched a lot of nature shows on PBS!

I saw this the other day and thought of you. http://www.earthtechproducts.com/p208.html The place where I saw it talked about setting it free outside when done watching it in the habitat, and they are native here (I guess…they’re _present_ at least?) so that seemed a little better.

I thought about using interoffice mail to send you more bug carcasses but I couldn’t imagine explaining that if someone checked the envelope.