The Mantis in Me: Write Every Day Challenge, Day #13

I thought it might be time to explain why this blog is called "The Mantis Connection."  Well, first of all, when I first decided to start this blog, I wasn't sure what I was going to write about (and I still don't have any one theme, besides the Write Every Day Challenge), so I couldn't give it any kind of specific title describing the content of my posts.


As far as the mantis thing goes, I simply love praying mantids.  Yes, spell-checker, the plural is "mantids," "mantises," or "mantes," so stop it with your annoying squiggly red lines.  

I have always loved them.  One of my first pieces of writing, that I can remember, was a poem about a praying mantis that I wrote in elementary school.  My school actually put together a big book of student's work, and I remember my poem being in there.  I still want to go back and look for it and get a copy of it.


I have had 3 pet praying mantids, named Zorak (named after the awesome mantis on Space Ghost Coast to Coast), Zorak 2, and Buddha.  I also collect all types of praying mantis stuff, but I don't have much because praying mantis knick-knacks are hard to find.  Sure, there's tons of butterfly stuff and dragonfly stuff, but hardly any mantis stuff.

I always thought that if I got a tattoo, I'd get a praying mantis, most likely the praying mantis image that was used by the band God Lives Underwater (great band, btw).  This image is from the website http://www.enjoyglu.com/.  But, alas, I have always been too much of a wuss to get a tattoo.


A couple weeks ago, on an episode of Leverage, there was tons of art featuring praying mantids on the wall of character Nate Ford's bedroom.  I'm not sure if they were photographs, paintings, or what, but I want them.  I can't seem to find anything about them online, but just take my word on this, they were cool.  


A not-so-well-known fact about praying mantids:  the female does NOT always eat the male after intercourse.  It depends on how well-nourished she is at the time.  She may eat the whole male, part of the male, or none at all.  See, you learned something on my blog today.  Yea!  ;)


I shall return again tomorrow, to continue my Write Every Day Challenge.  See you then!