The Mantis and the Terrapin.
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Oh no look out! DOUBLE TROUBLE!
So far I've had an eventful day. I was walking up the road heading on over to check on the house when I spotted this Box Turtle crossing the road. Yay! This makes turtle three I've found near my home.
I was planning on taking the turtle over to the house to let him go after taking some more pictures. Well, about 30 feet from where I picked up the turtle I see this big green Praying Mantis. The biggest Praying Mantis I have ever seen! No exaggeration! So I put them together and made a photo shoot of the both of them. Why not?
I got the Praying Mantis to come at me one time. As a result I was able to get this one good shot of her with her wings spread out like this. She was a big green beautiful mantis alright. Now I say she, because males never get this big. Chances are they get eaten before they have a chance to grow to these sizes. Which makes me wonder just how many male mantis's this big female ate before I found her? Fun Fact: The females will eat the male mantis's after mating. Kind of like some spiders do. Look how big her abdomen is! She is probably full of eggs and is about the lay and then eat them LOL. That's what these alien creatures do, they eat each other including their young! Which makes me wonder why they didn't make themselves go extinct thousands of years ago as a result LOL. Truth is stranger than fiction isn't it? This is why I love nature. You learn something new everyday.
As for the Box Turtle I let him go right there where we were at. We were in the road in front of my house when I took all of these pictures. He just trotted away so maybe I will see him again in the future like the other turtles I have found this summer.
Thanks for looking!
As always I'm Theo AKA Rainbow Man and here is the PROOF!!!
PROOF I got this close to a big green Praying Mantis and didn't get my face eaten off.
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Heck yeah! I love the creativity you put into this post and such an incredible chance meeting with two of nature's wildest creatures. You've made my day @hippie-witha-gun
Hey thanks @mantishands! That's you in my photoshoot isn't it!? I've got a video I made of the same mantis. I'm going to be uploading it in a little bit.
Haha! Well I'm a guy so...nah. She does look a lot like like Margaret's sister Doreen though...Looking forward to the video
Here it is! Hope you like...
https://steemit.com/nature/@hippie-witha-gun/how-to-pick-up-a-praying-mantis
You're just lucky that Mantis didn't rip your freaking face off !!!
Fact! She looks like a badass little B....
Great pictures of these two. Looked like you could have made a short movie of them but then you would have had to pay them as actors. lol
Thanks Mike! I plan on making some memes. You can always have fun with a Praying Mantis.
haha! howdy Rainbow Man..hey I thought that turtle may have eaten the Praying Mantis, isn't that something they eat? great photos of them together too.
Howdy Jonboy! I'm pretty sure Box Turtles will eat just about any bug really they come across. Which would include mantis's. I rarely think a Praying Mantis would get close enough to these turtles they would risk being eaten though. Honestly idk.
yes Rainbow Man but you put that mantis right on top of that turtle and he didn't move but maybe he was off his game because he was on camera! lol.