You just never know,,,,

[twerpymoon]

My faith in mankind was given a boost yesterday morning.

Let me preface this story. I live about 250 miles south of Sturgis at the intersection of I-80/US 30/US 385, so needless to say this time of year we see a fair number of bikes, trikes, campers, crash vehicles, and the people that go with them.

Yesterday morning I pulled up to the gas pumps at one of the truck stops and all the pumps were busy. At the one in front of me a fellow had just booted down his kickstand and flipped the switch to silence the pipes of his Harley.

Now this fellow looked like he had jumped head first into the swamp and wallowed with the best of them. His hair was frazzled, his beard was braided, and his brows were spiky.

Scratching himself as he reached for the nozzle, I saw his hand recoil and he bent forward and squinted. Then he gently placed his hand back and coaxed a Praying Mantis that was on the nozzle onto his palm. He then walked across the lot to the grass and set the critter gently on the ground.

As he came back across the lot I gave him a smile and thumbs up. A corner of his mouth lifted ever so slightly and he nodded almost imperceptibly.

 

[Mobuck]

Even 'tough guys' appreciate critters who look tougher than them.

 

[RC44Mag]

“Don't judge a book by its cover, often times looks are deceiving.“
I found this to be true pretty often so I try to adhere to that old quote.

When I was a teen me and some friends witnessed a fight between a small cat and a medium sized preying mantis. The mantis was holding his own but I intervened so he wouldn’t get hurt. I reached down to pick It up and because it was so amped up from the life and death battle it was in it grabbed my hand with its arms and chomped down on my finger. I wasn’t expected that so I shook off quickly. I got a stick to get him off the ground. Cool insects.

 

[Kevin]

Nice story. When you said he squinted, I thought he was going to reach for a pair of bifocals.

You don’t see very many praying mantis insects. I saw some blurb about them last weekend. They are pretty rare. But they will make nice house pets. I guess you can order them live from scientific companies.

 

[eveled]

I found this one on a parked car walking out of the supermarket. I put him in my hat took him home to show my youngest then released him in the yard.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

They will spit in your eye. Is that fact or fiction?

 

[T.A. WORKMAN]

They will spit in your eye. Is that fact or fiction?

Jim,

I do not Know if that's true or not
But the females do practice sexual cannibalism, they on occasion eat their mates!!

 

[contender]

"Don't judge a book by its cover, often times looks are deceiving."
I found this to be true pretty often so I try to adhere to that old quote."

Often,, I get judged by my enjoyment of going barefoot as much as I can. I just smile,, knowing that the people judging me can also be mis-judged.

We have praying mantises around here. I see them often enough to enjoy them. They can be fierce fighters,, but if handled gently, they can be fun to watch.

Funny story;
I was probably about 7 or 8 years old. I found an interesting cocoon of some type. I took it with me,, put it in a jar, poked holes in the lid, and kept it inside. That's inside my family's restaurant where we spent most of our time. Well, it turned out to be a cocoon of MANY, MANY praying mantis eggs. They hatched in the nice warm kitchen of our restaurant. I had placed the jar on a shelf in there. We had an infestation of very small baby praying mantises. Knowing they ate bugs & were good,, we tried to not kill any,, but I'm sure some didn't survive.
Just another one of the many mischief's I got into as a kid.
But I learned what a praying mantis egg pod looked like. And to this day,, if I see one,, I make sure it's safe from damage or destruction.

 

[Bob Wright]

Years ago, the praying mantis was called "The Devil's high horse" or some other similar name. And, yes, it was said it would spit in your eye and cause blindness. Some folks even had incantations upon seeing one.

And, some years ago a friend of mine bought a box of praying mantis eggs to release in his garden. And unexpected onslaught of warm weather caused them to hatch out early, and he found himself with a garage full of little praying mantis. (Mantises?)

Bob Wright

 

[blume357]

My wife made me go to a wake for a female client of hers who was a member of a biker gang and it was held at a local private club for the biker club. I ended up sitting at the bar drinking Micholobe light (because that's what most of the bikers there were drinking) ended up having cool conversations with these guys, pretty down to earth and friendly. (I did make a serious effort not to eyeball their 'mommas')

In reality the bartender I think could have taken any of them on... about 6'4" and 280 and female.

 

[wolfsong]

Every vegetable gardener should sing the praises of the preying mantis' in their garden.

 

[sfhogman]

Old cartoon: male and female praying mantis together in a bar:
Female to male: After we have sex but before I kill you, could you help me with the shelves in the bathroom?

 

[RC44Mag]

Old cartoon: male and female praying mantis together in a bar:
Female to male: After we have sex but before I kill you, could you help me with the shelves in the bathroom?

If my x was a bug……

 

[JStacy]

Good sized green mama on my back porch , full of eggs. She worked on several bug species including black widow spiders!

 

[JStacy]

If you have not tried it, click on, my pictures, then click on them again and you can make them full screen for a real good look at Green Mama.
Picture #2 could be titled," here's looking at you"

 

[Chief 101]

I have been friended by a few of these godly creatures over the years. One would land or crawl onto my hat brim or shoulder and stay with me for half hour or so. More than once the same critter would accompany me day after day as if we were pals. I never gave them names just called them "Lady".
Once at a local all-nite diner one jumped on my shoulder and came inside with me. With a minor argument from the staff I replaced the Lady back to the outdoors...living in town now I don't see them much but I see I can buy some eggs so maybe I will.

 

[Dan in MI]

When I was a kid I would feed the local predator bugs. There were always a couple wolf spiders that got exeptionally fat with my help and a few times a praying mantis would hang out in the garage for me to feed. They are amazing to watch and get fat with a little help too.