"By the by...do you know...Praying Mantis?" "You're lookin' at him."

[thesummerqueen]

Tonight, a praying mantis flew into the house. Tonight, I also learned that I, wielder of machetes, cockroach dispatcher, snake-facer and frog-lover, could scream bloody murder.

WHY THE FUCK WAS I NOT INFORMED THAT THESE THINGS COULD FLY?!

What commenced was a scream-fest in which two women ran around the house, one waving a cat and the other a can of Raid until the thing finally exhausted itself handily into the trashcan. I then sprayed the hell out of it with Raid, covered it with several empty food boxes we had just taken out of the freezer, and threw it outside.

I was reminded of a wonderful episode in X-Files that dealt with the irrational fear of bugs and a nice little exchange between Mulder and Scully:

Mulder: "Scully, can I confess something to you?"
Scully: "Yeah, sure, okay..."
Mulder: "I hate insects."
Scully: "You know lots of people are afraid of insects, Mulder. It's a natural instinctive —"
Mulder: "No, no, no. I'm not afraid of them. I hate them. One day, back when I was a kid, I was climbing this tree when I noticed this leaf walking towards me. It took forever for me to realise that it was no leaf."
Scully: "A praying mantis?"
Mulder: "Yeah, I had a praying mantis epiphany and as a result, I screamed. And not... not a girlie scream, but the scream of someone being confronted by some before unknown monster that had no right existing on the same planet I inhabited. Did you ever notice how a praying mantis' head resembles an alien's head? The mysteries of the natural world were revealed to me that day but instead of being astounded I was repulsed."
Scully: "Mulder, are you sure it wasn't a girlie scream?

[Violet]

Holy fuck, i didn't know these things can fly.

Dragonflies have no been replaced as the pedestal of irrational terror.

[The Grand Nudger]

Those little beasties are epic. My house is covered in them..lol.

[Shell B]

I didn't know they could fly, either. Are you sure it wasn't a flying grasshopper?

I have never screamed in my life. I don't think it is a toughness thing so much as my scared reaction utterly freezes my "make sound" organs. I once had a fucking crazed bird fly into my apartment and my reaction was to first to completely cease being able to speak and stiffly walk into a corner. Once I assessed that it wasn't some fucking monstrosity, I shushed it out with a broom. Another time, I was sitting at my desk and a fucking cat with one eye appeared behind me. I heard "meow" turned around and almost fucking shat myself. Cats don't scare me. I tend to like them. However, this was not my cat and it had one fucking eye! (Puck probably remembers this as I called him laughing about it afterward) I reacted by making this strangled sound and running into my roommates room and going "There's a fucking cat in the house!" She was dead asleep at the time, but she laughed and was like, "Okay, let it out of the house." Haha. We had a fire escape in my bedroom. The cat somehow got through the screen in the window and into our second floor apartment. It was ghastly.

[thesummerqueen]

Oh no. It was a praying mantis. What I didn't tell you is that it swooped in like the Green Goblin when my roommate came home from work. My bathroom (TINY ROOM) is right next to the backdoor so as soon as this big green blur comes in I slammed the door (I was chucking clothes from it to the laundry room it opens into). But I guess the thing landed, because it scooted right under the door! I threw clothes on top of it and did the bug-jitter out. So we're standing there watching my clothes and it shrugs them off and stares at us. That's when Heather lost it. It cocked its head, used it's praying mantis powers on her, and she went yelling for the cat. We threw the cat onto it twice, and El Fat-ass-who-does-nothing-but-sleep didn't want anything to do with it. The mantis didn't move for a while, but then suddenly lifted back off, and that's when *I* screamed. It flew AT us and all around the kitchen.

I had no idea I could either. I make all sorts of noises, but I never have occasion to scream. I've hit black ice and spun out and thought I was going to crash into the surrounding forest, as well as one time also hitting the ice and going over the median into on-coming traffic. Didn't scream - didn't even yell. I wake up from dreams yelling and punching. I've handled snakes, I've handled bugs, I've even handled pretty big spiders (by smashing them) and still only yelled. My M.O. when REALLY scared, which might be a holdover from my father, is to get very silent and focused and generally get to the point that whatever's happening will end up with me or the other entity dead. But this was exactly like Mulder described. Another piece of nature was revealed to me, and instead of saying "oh, shit...I never knew that!" I was thoroughly shaken and repulsed.

Dragonflies look like they're speedracers. Not scary.

[The Grand Nudger]

Adult mantis do fly, though it's very rare in the females due to body weight.

[EspressoFrog]

WHY THE FUCK WAS I NOT INFORMED THAT THESE THINGS COULD FLY?!

Well in a way you could have been informed. Would you be a Bmovie fan your expertise would have pointed to this fine source: The Deadly Mantis, a 1957 movie that tells you what those creatures can do once they are 300 ft tall.







And for you there is even the MST3K version, which is by far one of their best.





Mantiseseses may be ugly looking but they do help you get rid of other insects. Just make sure you have some gekos in you room too so they can eat the mantiseseses later.

"When you wish upon a staaaar... NOT! Ehehehe!"

And if you think dragonflies are cute, you should see how their larvae eat in the water, brrrr...

[thesummerqueen]

clearly between you, Ben, and Blake, I'll get my fill of hooky monsters.

[EspressoFrog]

clearly between you, Ben, and Blake, I'll get my fill of hooky monsters.

Want to see that drangonfly larva in action narated by David Attenbourough? It's like in Aliens. Except they may not be bigger than an inch or two so it's safe to swim. But I wouldn't invite one for dinner though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVgJSGivl6o
"nom nom nom nom nom..."

It must have been quite a shock though. I remember once as a kid this massive cicada the size of my hand landing on, well what do you know, my hand! The pressure on my skin felt so big that I thought someone grabbed my hand, so I quietly turn my head back but saw no one. Eeeeek! Then, all puzzled, I looked at my hand to see that it had a massive insect on it. I didn't just shake it off, I ran a 100 yards before I could think again. In fact cicadas are cute, their loud songs might drive you mad when you are trying to take a nap but I did miss that sound when I was far away.

So I take it you didn't keep that mantis as a pet then?

[thesummerqueen]

No. Mantises outside in my garden are just fine. Mantises flying around my house I treat like WWII German bombers.

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that is disgusting, btw