WELCOME TO A WORLD OF TINY ALIENS - THE MANTIS
There are over 2,400 species of praying mantises on Earth — and all of them look like little aliens! Mantises are surely some of the most otherwordly-looking creatures you could encounter ... much less keep your very own as pets! Some have cartoony green alien faces, some have pointy eyes and resemble alien cats, some have very long or ornate "crowns" on their heads, and some even look like dragons! They come in all different shapes and sizes, and there are many species that mimic Earthly nature — including leaves, sticks, flowers, bark, moss, and more. Whether you're new to the experience of mantises or adding more to your collection, there's always more amazing aliens out there for you to discover and bring into your world!
What are mantises?
Mantises are fascinating, unique insectivorous insects — meaning they eat other insects — that hunt their prey in an iconic fashion: striking out with their intimidating raptorial-forelegs (their "claws"/"arms"), holding prey in a death grip, and simply munching away at their still-wiggling food. They are generally ambush predators, hiding among foliage and waiting patiently for prey to come by, but many (especially nymphs) can be quite aggressive with chasing down prey, even sometimes the same size or bigger than themselves! Adult mantises of almost all species have wings, but typically only the males will really fly.
These wings, which hide a wide variety of colors and patterns, are also used as part of their iconic, stunning deimatic displays, or "threat pose."
Deroplatys desiccata adult female
photo by Mae (@mousymae / @maesmacro)
Choeradodis rhomboidea nymph
photo by Lapis (@lapis)
Phyllocrania paradoxa adult female
Why do we love them?
Despite having long murder-arms covered in dozens of tiny knives, many mantises are quite docile and easy to handle. It is very enchanting to get to hold a very large, gentle mantis — or a very small, curious baby.
Mantises are perhaps one of the coolest insects you could have as a pet (but I may be biased.) Their lifespan may not compete with other common invertebrate pets like tarantulas, but typical mantises are pretty easy to take care of; the only way their care could really be any easier is if they didn't eat live insects. However, their hunting is of course one of the things that makes them fun to watch for many people. While it's sad to lose them due to their shorter lifespans, the shorter commitment can be a benefit to many people, especially with so many different species that will be tempting to keep at least once!
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Here are a few of my favorite things about mantises:
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Mantises are the only insect that can turn their heads 180° — like humans! Their unique ability to look around at their surroundings in this way combined with their iconic "pseudopupils" makes it always seem like they're looking right at you, and can make for some incredible photography. They appear more perceptive, responsive and expressive than most other insects, making them very fun to watch and interact with. Their interactiveness is perhaps only rivaled to me by jumping spiders!
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Baby mantises hatch in a bizarre, beautiful fashion of "bungee-cording" down from their egg sacs along with anywhere between a dozen to hundreds of siblings. When they first emerge, they look like little alien squids before they shed their "wormskin" to reveal their tiny mantis selves.
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They're unexpectedly goofy and cute! Something very funny to me is that from the moment they're born, mantises seem hardwired with a perpetual desire to go UP. They have an adorably amusing behavior of flailing their arms in the air when they want to reach something close by.
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Many people don't expect it, but mantis nymphs can JUMP! Very small nymphs can jump so fast that it looks like they teleport. You can get a nymph to jump between your hands, or an adult male to fly onto you. While you can't train a mantis to do so, you may be able to show off these "tricks" quite easily simply because of their natural instincts. Wow your friends, students or children - or terrify them when it flies somewhere else instead of their hand!
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But really, just look at that face :)
