The Bug: Part 2

It wasn't long ago that I told you about our temporary pet, Moses, the female praying mantis. As it turns out, we kept her for several days and then released her into our backyard. She was eating crickets like no body's business. Unfortunately, when a praying mantis drops a carcass, it won't return to it so we had several stinky cricket parts smelling up the cage she was in. It was pretty gross so we sent her off into our yard. The day that we let her go, she wouldn't stay put in the yard. She jumped onto The Rock Star's shoulder and he carried her around that way for the better part of the afternoon.


Today, while on a walk, I spotted another praying mantis in the middle of the road. This one was green so I know it wasn't Moses. I picked her (yes, another female) up and put her on the stroller. I figured death by sedan wouldn't be terribly pleasant and that she could live in our backyard as well. Turns out that this mantis was a great deal less friendly than Moses. As I pushed the stroller toward our house she pranced and hopped all around the stroller, keeping my boys thoroughly entertained.

Until.

She leaped straight onto The Little Buddy's face. The same Little Buddy who is terrified of a tiny house fly now had a large praying mantis nearly spanning the width of his face. And it was as though he was being killed. He writhed and flung his arms around and tried to grab the praying mantis and it was a disaster. If it hadn't been so sad I would have laughed aloud as I sprinted to the side of stroller and saw a bug covering the eyes, nose and mouth of my youngest child. But, as there was about to be bug carnage coupled with a scene that will likely have my son on the couch of some psychiatrist someday blaming everything on a praying mantis, I didn't laugh. I removed the bug, pulled the toddler from the stroller, and pushed it home with one hand as I held my shaking son in the other arm.

We did release the mantis into the yard. Whether she'll survive the squeezing she received from the baby remains to be seen.