Praying Mantis* in Our Garden

Found this guy in my garden today. It was nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit, but this did not deter my day-long mission to make a real dent in my garden. I weeded relentlessly and it felt great to rediscover some of the better plants hidden and overtaken by so many awful weeds. By 5pm, a full day into it, the movers arrived with the second half of our belongings. It was only a seven-month long journey from NZ to USA. Spent the rest of the evening experiencing Christmas in August. Now my sweetheart has his BBQ grill, I have all my kitchen appliances, and so much more to unwrap, unpack, check for damages, and find room for in our house. I'm so tired. G & T anyone?


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*Fun Praying Mantis Facts:

Praying mantises have triangular-shaped heads and a compound eye on each side of their heads. They are the only insects that can turn their heads a full 180 degrees, and some species can turn almost 300 degrees without moving the rest of their bodies. They're also very sensitive to movement and can see something move up to 60 feet away.

The praying mantis is exclusively predatory ? it only eats other animals, usually other insects such as flies. The larger members of the mantis species have been known to eat lizards, snakes, frogs, birds and even small rodents.

They tend to ambush their prey and are very fast when they attack. The forelegs are spiked, which helps the mantis hold on to its victims; they also have very powerful jaws, making it easy for them to kill their prey.

The praying mantis is considered diurnal, meaning that most of their activity takes place during the day, though sometimes you will see them flying around at night. They need the use of their keen eyesight to hunt, which is great news for us because we can often see them out and about in our gardens.