Even as a youngster I wasnt afraid of insects.........I found them fascinating.
One summer, my young sisters came to stay at our cute little tea bungalow. Much excitement - this was their first visit! We'd made arrangements to borrow 2 extra monstrous sized beds, and I'd decorated their bedroom with flowers and potted plants.
We went to bed past midnight, after much laughter and fun. Everyone was deadbeat by then, and we were asleep in seconds only to be woken in shock when I heard one of my sisters let out a bloodcurdling SHRIEK!
We rushed to their room to find all three of them bug-eyed ( pun intended! )and in a daze.One was scratching her arms in a frenzy. "Somethings biting me everywhere!" she screeched hysterically.
We tore frantically at the bedsheets, looked under the bed, in the pillowcase, torches blazing.........not a thing to be seen, not even a mosquito! Finally, my husband turned the whole bed upside down.
And there! On the bottom of the mattress, (which in those days lay on a massive framework of rusty old springs) we saw something. We looked closer.
A million, trillion baby mantids crawled all over it. Just 1 cm long, the tiny 6-legged creatures, each with their front pair of arms up and on the ready........waited for their prey!
Strange creature, that one -----Preying or Praying Mantis, both seem apt names, I think.
I was lucky enough to spot many different varieties of Mantids over the following years, but that first "sighting" I would never forget!
One summer, my young sisters came to stay at our cute little tea bungalow. Much excitement - this was their first visit! We'd made arrangements to borrow 2 extra monstrous sized beds, and I'd decorated their bedroom with flowers and potted plants.
We went to bed past midnight, after much laughter and fun. Everyone was deadbeat by then, and we were asleep in seconds only to be woken in shock when I heard one of my sisters let out a bloodcurdling SHRIEK!
We rushed to their room to find all three of them bug-eyed ( pun intended! )and in a daze.One was scratching her arms in a frenzy. "Somethings biting me everywhere!" she screeched hysterically.
We tore frantically at the bedsheets, looked under the bed, in the pillowcase, torches blazing.........not a thing to be seen, not even a mosquito! Finally, my husband turned the whole bed upside down.
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| Photo Credits: Ashok Captain |
A million, trillion baby mantids crawled all over it. Just 1 cm long, the tiny 6-legged creatures, each with their front pair of arms up and on the ready........waited for their prey!
Strange creature, that one -----Preying or Praying Mantis, both seem apt names, I think.
I was lucky enough to spot many different varieties of Mantids over the following years, but that first "sighting" I would never forget!
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