Classroom Carnivore

We now have a cannibal in the family!
Meet our new classroom pet, Amanda, the Praying Mantis! About a month ago, we found the praying mantis on a wheat grass plant in our backyard. We have a gallon size plastic jug that we saved from some pretzels that we bought at Costco for our “Bug Habitat”. The boys + Brian decided that it was a female praying mantis. So, being a member of the “mantid” family was how she got her name “A- man (tid) da”. To me, it’s still just a bug, so I really don’t care what they name it. BUT, it was important for her to have a name if she was going to be our new pet. (great, a new pet. I am NOT helping care for this one. I refuse to catch bugs alive and feed them to her. I do not like bugs and I do not want to change.) After naming her, Brian and Caleb added a few sticks and some leaves to make her feel more at home. Caleb read aloud to us everything in every bug book we have (which is several) about Praying Mantis. A little poem to help you remember that a Praying Mantis is a force to reckon with in the bug world, just remember this…“When left alone, they eat their own.” They aren’t social creatures. No getting together with friends, and watch out husband! You might be my next meal!
A few days after catching Amanda, a large grasshopper was added to the habitat. He has been named “Hopper” (name -- self explanatory.) Hopper is fed green leaves, oat straw and fountain grasses from the yard. Amanda has stopped trying to eat Hopper, she’s found that he’s just too big, I guess. In this picture you can see that Hopper, the plant eating grasshopper munching on part of a butterfly that Amanda was trying to eat. As you can see, they do antagonize one another. He’ll crawl over the top of her while she’s eating; she kicks him as he crawls by him.
Over this last month we have all learned a lot about praying mantis. (It’s given me a chance to practice shooting Macro shots on my camera J ) They have been catching Cabbage White Butterflies, crickets, and small grasshoppers for her to eat. The insects must be alive for her to eat them. They put them in the jar and then she stalks them or just attacks them. It’s quite amazing to watch, she is really very viscous. The other day we watched as she caught a small green grasshopper and proceeded to take off part of his head…she dropped it on the bottom of the jar and then continued eating. Sophie said “She must be saving the best for last, like we do”. The next morning the only thing that was left of the little green guy was the small piece of head she originally discarded. Now that the weather is cooler it is beginning to be harder to find things outside to catch for food. There’s been talk of buying crickets, but that will definitely NOT be my errand of choice. Finding this praying mantis has been great timing because Caleb is studying the insect world in detail in his science book, and they talk quite a bit about the praying mantis. I can think of several other things that I’d rather keep as a classroom pet, but as long as I don’t have to care for this one I’ll be fine!