Yesterday Hannah and I met a HUGE praying mantis on our garbage can. (I’m serious. It was as long as my hand.) Of course, since Hannah was the only kid home from school because she was “sick,” we had to make a record of it.
(c) Red Clay Diaries, 2008
(Doesn’t Hannah look deathly ill to you? Yeah. She felt fine by midday. I just kept her home because of my inertia and her ongoing fever.)
As you can see, Hannah was game for anything with the bug. She wasn’t afraid at all, and the mantis was very cooperative. As we posed and snapped, it turned its head to gaze at us in turn. Otherwise, it stood stock-still.
I took 30-40 still photos before I remembered my camera’s video capability. Cool! We’d do a video.
Hannah’s always wanting to make a video for America’s Funniest Videos that will win us a million dollars! And the mantis was starting to move around, walking back and forth on the garbage can lid. Totally cool to capture on video.
Right before I started filming, we realized the mantis was actually following Hannah as she moved around the bin. It seemed to lean toward her as she came close. We wondered if it was just trying to find a way down, or if it was feeling friendly.
“Would you freak out if it jumped on you?”
“Yeah! I would probably scream! Would you, Mom?”
“Oh totally. Let’s see what it does….” And I pushed RECORD on the camera.
Now I bring you, without further ado…
The Incredible Out-of-Focus-and-Then-Disappearing Praying Mantis
And a lot of screaming.
Think we’ll win the million dollars?
9 responses so far ↓
1 @ngie // Oct 16, 2008 at 9:46 am
Wow!
That is so neat.
You have a great laugh.
2 Lynn Mosher // Oct 16, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Too funny! They are probably the most gentle and laid back creatures of all. I also wanted to thank you for your absolutely awesome comment on The Veiled Lady. I deeply appreciate it. Be blessed…
3 thefarmerfiles // Oct 16, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Too funny.
When we first moved to VA I saw a praying mantis right out of my classroom and I absolutely freaked. I had no idea what it was. I had only lived in CA before. Our praying mantises were brown and came in an insect kit. I had never seen BIG GREEN ONES. Your daughter is so brave! I would never be so brave to go nose to nose, not even for one second! Much aloha! Mahalo for stopping by my blog. I love to comment…so guess what? I will be back often! 
4 betty // Oct 16, 2008 at 7:13 pm
That was great….did it freak you out….love it.
Thanks for stopping by my BATW yesterday!
5 Elizabeth Channel // Oct 16, 2008 at 10:04 pm
What a grand sick day! I’ve got to find the film of my hand almost being taken off by a snapping turtle, as filmed by my then-7-year-old.
6 Musings of a Housewife // Oct 17, 2008 at 10:46 am
OMG! I would have totally freaked! Hilarious.
7 faemom // Oct 17, 2008 at 4:54 pm
That was great! I hope you do win a million dollars!
8 Stonefox // Oct 17, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Cool! Now Irritable mother needs to see this; they have a thing with bugs over at their house too.
9 Rachel @ Grasping for Objectivity in my Subjective Life // Oct 18, 2008 at 11:13 pm
That IS a big one!
My little brother kept one as a pet all summer one time. It just became attached to him and wouldn’t leave him, so he adopted it.
And, oddly enough, I had a teeny tiny one land on me today. I remember thinking that I had never seen one so small, so it must be a baby. . .but of course that didn’t give me any mercy for it – I still flicked it off of my hand as quickly as I could. Sorry, baby P.M. . .
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