Climber says, “Hello.”

A few months ago, a friend of Lily’s gave her two baby praying mantises. We fed them aphids, watched them molt, and eventually had to let them go early as we were going to be out of town for a week, the aphid supply was dwindling, and I was worried they die if we didn’t.

We let one, Snap, go in the side yard. Snap couldn’t wait to be released. She jumped off almost immediately. As far as she was concerned, she wanted nothing to do with humans.

The other, Climber, was quite friendly. She sat on our hands and just looked at us, seeming very content to stay there. Eventually, after nearly all of the neighborhood kids had the opportunity to hold her, we released her into our rose bushes. Lily didn’t want to let her go. I understand, but it was her best chance for survival at this point.

When we returned from my mom’s, we couldn’t find them. Disappointed, Lily and I just hoped they were thriving and hadn’t become some other bugs dinner.

Fast forward to yesterday. We found a beautiful, full-grown praying mantis on our potato plant. It’s very friendly, like Climber was. We think it’s Climber.

Welcome home, Climber.

Climber the Praying Mantis