Friday, November 15, 2013

Ruby, Ruby, Ruby.



Anyone who's been reading my blog for a year or more will know that all the Mantids around here get named Jeff. Here, here and here. Except this one.

I wasn't going to have a mantis as a pet this year. I forget what I had going on at the time, but I just didn't have the energy this year. Yeah, I know it sounds off kilter, but people have birds as pets, and this pet only lasts a few months. Anyway.

I saw her almost week ago and scooped her up. I figured it's late in the season. She hasn't found a mate yet, and it's going to get cold soon. I guesstimate she'd last a week or so due to her color. When they get old they get a deeper brown color.

So, I had her in the house for a couple of days. Not even in an enclosure because I wasn't going to feed her really. She's super temporary. She basically just stayed in the kitchen on her own. She's not very strong now and even though she has wings she's not going to go exploring.

After a couple of days I thought we should set her free because I didn't want to have to track down her dead carcass.

Later that night I noticed she was still there. And it was getting cold. So I broke down and brought her back in for the evening. Oh yes I did.

We fed and watered her.

The next day I put her outside again. Only to find that evening she was still in the same place. And last night it was starting to get super chilly. By the time I brought her in you could tell she was like "what the eff"? I was living with heat. She was really weak.

I guess I'm going to stick her back out today and see what happens. It's the first time I've brought the same mantid into the house three times.



2 comments:

  1. Your heart ain't as stone cold dead as you always claim, my friend.

    Ruby is beautiful. Those wings!!

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  2. That's super sweet of you. You know I have to deny this ever happened.

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