Mantis Obsession

Okay, I think I need to step back from this whole mantis thing for a while.

Whew.

Here's what happened. I could not sleep that first night because I knew these baby mantises were STARVING and they would all be dead in a few hours because of me.

Turned out, I didn't kill them. Yet.

Feeding the mantises became my obsession. I called pet stores about fruit flies (all out). I emailed friends about fruit flies and ants (weird looks). I dug around my backyard, through frozen soil, where some anthills were last summer (kid nuclear war erupted inside the house). I've had half-rotten food on my counter every day for the last three months (compost bucket). No fruit flies! To no avail. One pet store finally offered pinpoint crickets which were about the size of black ants and looked possibly small enough to work.

Bought five.

$0.44

I'm pretty sure the guy who sold them to me was thinking this transaction was a complete waste of his time. Thank goodness I had a dollar in my coat, or I would have had to use a credit card. He scooped a few crickets into a plastic baggie and inflated it before tying a knot in the top. After handing over my change, he asked if I wanted a bag to carry my purchase outside in.

I couldn't tell if he was serious or just trying to make a joke. I was a little more concerned about how to peel James and Matthew away from the Koi pond without causing a scene.

Well, I got the crickets home and peeked in the jar. I was expecting six mantises and counted about fifteen. WHAT?! Apparently, the egg case had not completely finished hatching.

So, they needed a bigger space.

I accidentally drowned a few mantises in the transfer. Ugh. Mom guilt!

The five crickets went in with the fifteen mantises and there they have stayed for the last 24 hours, completely unharmed. Actually, once I saw one of the bigger crickets beating up on a weak, semi-drowned mantis. Total mom guilt.

So maybe they aren't as hungry as I thought? Maybe crickets aren't the right food? Do they sell baby praying mantis formula!?

Sheesh. I'm worrying too much about this. At least they now have a food source besides each other :) I'll keep looking for fruit flies. In the meantime, they sit on our kitchen counter, in the middle of winter, with a slim chance of ever seeing the outside world.

James enjoying our new dining room floor. It's soooooo slippery that he can lay on his tummy and push off the wall to fly. It's the closest he's ever been to fulfilling one of his Superman dreams.