There's Always Room At The Inn

Well, there are two bags of cypress mulch defrosting in the sun beside the house, geckos sleeping in the bedroom, and my newest friend happily gnawing the head off of a cricket beside me.

More accurately, he already gnawed the head off of the first cricket, ate the antennae and dropped the rest. He's finishing up the body as we speak, while pinning the second cricket against the wall with his spare 'hand' (appendage) so that it's there when he's finished consuming the first.

Any guesses as to what the newest addition is?

Anyone?

It's a Praying Mantis. :D



Okay, so it's not a reptile, but it does fall into the 'creepy-crawly' genre.

When people find out how many animals I have (or have had, or accrue throughout the year), the looks on their face are generally something like a mix between shock and awe; a sort of, "How did you do that/How does that happen?!?"

The answer is this: patient parents/housemates, a nurturing environment, and an extended period of time.

At work on Thursday, the kids stumbled across my newest addition in the play yard - after several near-misses with the bottom of tiny sneakers, the mantis climbed aboard my hand and I was able to give a mini-lesson in the value of preserving a life. Usually, after scooping the creature out of harm's way, I deposit whatever it happens to be somewhere in the 'safety' of the nearby garden; in this particular instance, I brought it home with me and have since begun caring for it. I've never kept a mantis before, though I have tried (unsuccessfully) to raise them from those little egg cases you can purchase at the store.

This is about as far as I've ever come with being able to raise them:



(Photo by M.Krauss - check out his work at http://www.pbase.com/mkrauss)

They hatched, then - probably due to keeper inadequacy - failed to thrive. The learning curve with living things is a sharp one; keep up, or the animal dies. (I swear, I will get back to the point eventually here.)

Anyway, I now have a mantis, it is eating (more than I expected it to, at that), and it is (thus far) doing well.

They filter in, whether it be by chance and curiosity (as with Trakker here), people thinking of me and asking if I'll take one in as a rescue temporarily, hatching (I breed them too, remember), or what have you. They stay, until they're released, rehomed, sold, or - as some of them do - take up a permanent residence here at the house.

And that my friends, is how I end up with a head count of anywhere between 10 and 40+ animals throughout the year.

One at a time.