If I were a preying Mantis....

The Preying Mantis

From whence arrived the praying mantis?

From outer space, or lost Atlantis?

glimpse the grin, green metal mug

at masks the pseudo-saintly bug,

Orthopterous, also carnivorous,

And faintly whisper, Lord deliver us.

by Ogden Nash

Zak found this little guy in the yard, brought it in and kept it in a jar for a while. Of course as the guys were talking about him at dinner Dad wanted to see if it would eat a mosquito. Fine with me....we could use a few less mosquitos around here. So Dad found the butterfly net and went "hunting" It must be a guy thing but they all found this sooooo exciting. They did find a mosquito and "fed" it to the preying Mantis. Poor thing flew around the jar a few times before the Preying Mantis snatched it up in his front legs and chewed it up in a matter of seconds. There were shrieks of joy at this event and more mosquitos were hunted. In the end they only fed it two, it did not seem to like the moth they offered.

If I was a preying Mantis

If I was a preying Mantis, I'd hide under a green leaf

or inside a bright flower waiting for insects to come to the plant.

I'd have quick arms to grab my prey

before it knew what to expect next.

Next I would devour my delicacy in a blink of an eye

I'd mimic a harmless bug BUT when others come too close......

I'd pounce, I'd snap my powerful jaws as I crunch on a big black beetle.

Then I'd fly off to another hiding place...

If I was a preying mantis.

Poem from this lesson plan.

But I am not.