If you have never seen one, I can imagine your reaction! These little guys are one of the most valuable insects you can have about to protect your garden, crops, or flowers from devastation from real predators! The Praying Mantis, completely harmless to humans, eats other insects, bugs, larvae, worms, maggots, anything you don't want consuming your plants. I have seen them as long as 3-inches, though usually they are consumed by other hungry beings before getting that big. I've seen a few around our back door outside that were so tiny, I had to peer closely to determine what it was, about 1/4-inch long! The act like they are fearsome, and occasionally I have had one brave enough to venture up onto my hand when extended to it. I believe they are marketed and sold, possibly still in egg-form, to be placed in gardens and on crops. Mother Nature's "GMO" pesticide! I believe most of them can fly but only fairly well. Not good enough to catch dinner in flight! Frank
We have that in our backyard. Sometimes I see one or two. We do not bother the praying mantis because of the legend that they can make a person small. The Filipino name of praying mantis is Mandadangkal which means one who measures just like a tailor with a tape measure. And when you are measured then you shrink gradually. But we also believe that the praying mantis is like the grasshopper which is a good inhabitant of the garden.
I taught my children not to be afraid of most insects, including the praying mantis. My adventuresome son saw one 5 or 6 inches long and picked it up. It turned it's head and pinched him! LOL There were some eggs on the outside of my window frame once. When spring came, we watched for them to hatch. It's amazing how tiny they are when they first hatch.
Yesterday while waiting for Walgreens to open I saw a praying mantis in the doorway of the store. It was almost white though or a very pale yellow. I know they can camouflage from brown to green but I never saw one this color. Also thought they were very rare, this is the first one I've seen in years! Hope it's a sign of good luck, I also found a quarter next to it. Think maybe the hot sun in Fresno bleached his color??
You might be right that the sun bleached him out, @Chrissy Cross , especially since you found him near Walgreens. He was undoubtedly headed there to buy more sunblock so he doesn’t get bleached out so bad......
A veterinarian from Va received yet another gift for Christmas. According to the stories, whilst she was taking her tree down a hundred or so Praying Mantis’s hatched. I would have probably found some other way to get rid of them via shoe, flyswatter, spray but the nice lady found another way to rid her home of them and help someone manage other pests. https://newsdesktoday.com/2019/01/m...n-christmas-tree-in-virginia-home-woman-says/
She keeps it in a special potted plant section in the back yard. It's light green, and is so well camogflaged that you can barely make it out up close! Hal
I've not formally adopted any but I've always been fascinated by mantises. This one was on my sidewalk.
As a boy I thought it was creepy how they turned their heads to look directly at you. I have other pictures of another mantis more brown than green and with wings extending. I may as well post one here. Who knows when there will ever be another thread about mantises?
I kept one inside some years ago. It was nearly frozen outside as the weather changed, and it sat motionless on the fence, so I brought it inside. I had a lot of big house plants (weeping fig, rubber trees, etc) and it would occasionally fly across the living room from one plant to the next, making a whirring sound. I would go to the pet store and buy feeder crickets for it, "disabling" them (who needs crickets in the house?) and placing them on the plant in front of the mantis. Had it around for weeks. Then one day I stopped seeing it. Don't know where it went to. Here's a black one I spotted on the side of my garage just last week: