Praying Mantis Makes Meal of a Hummer

That's pretty amazing. The mantis is a ferocious predator, but who'd a thunk it could kill a hummingbird?
 
Last fall I found a big spider on our shed. I spent a half an hour every day for a couple months (until it died, most likely) with it looking at it with the magnifying glass on my Explorer and bringing it the crickets that I feed my tarantulas. I really enjoyed watching the bite-and-wrap killing method it had whereas my tarantulas use their pedipalps (small set of 'legs' next to their fangs) and front legs to tackle the cricket and shove it into their mouths for eating. I also thought it was cool that I couldn't fool it into thinking a bug had landed in its web. I'd poke the web with my finger, place a broken off piece of a twig in the web, and once used a vibrating pen to emulate an insect getting caught and trying to escape, all to no avail.

Cool link s0laris, I would imagine a mantis would have to be pretty fast to catch a hummingbird :eek:
 
Wow , I didnt know Mantis's could kill like that , much less a bird. I've seen Mantis's eating other smaller insects but never anything like a bird or mammal.
I think Mantis's are really neat creatures.
 
NeedleRemorse said:
Last fall I found a big spider on our shed. I spent a half an hour every day for a couple months (until it died, most likely) with it looking at it with the magnifying glass on my Explorer and bringing it the crickets that I feed my tarantulas. I really enjoyed watching the bite-and-wrap killing method it had whereas my tarantulas use their pedipalps (small set of 'legs' next to their fangs) and front legs to tackle the cricket and shove it into their mouths for eating. I also thought it was cool that I couldn't fool it into thinking a bug had landed in its web. I'd poke the web with my finger, place a broken off piece of a twig in the web, and once used a vibrating pen to emulate an insect getting caught and trying to escape, all to no avail.
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What kind of spider did you have? I get lots of Argiope aurantia (Black and Yellow Argiope) and Latrodectus mactans (Black Widow).

The Argiopes are really cool because they are orb spiners and create a really big spiral type web. They sit in the middle of it where they have a line of zigzag webbing and wait for their prey. If you start messing with them as you describe, they get agitated and start vibrating their web. They are not at all shy and seem to be deliberately calling attention to their big bad selves.

The Lactrodectus are much more shy and try to run away and hide if you come near them. This actually makes them more dangerous because they are always in my sheds and you could inadvertantly grab one on the back of a tool as it tries to hide from you. They are not at all aggressive but they will bite you if you grab them. Last year was a bumper crop of widows - the darn things were everywhere - but the population sems to have dropped off markedly this year. They are very easy to find because they spin a thick, strong irregular type web that completely fills a space. I used a stick that I kept by the door to clear their webbing every time I went in the shed last year and there is a glob of plastic-like webbing material wrapped around the end - very tough stuff.
 
Not sure what species it was. I'm not much of a true spider buff, which is why I was kind of interested in the first place :D It had a huge abdomen compared to the carapace and the abdomen was grey with black markings and IIRC some white and yellow. It's kind of how I'd picture the Poecilotheria regalis would look if it was a true spider. She wasn't aggressive, but she didn't back down when I messed with her web.
 
Here's my girl! I guess I did take some pictures of her after all :D

shedspider.JPG
 
NeedleRemorse said:
Not sure what species it was. I'm not much of a true spider buff, which is why I was kind of interested in the first place :D It had a huge abdomen compared to the carapace and the abdomen was grey with black markings and IIRC some white and yellow. It's kind of how I'd picture the Poecilotheria regalis would look if it was a true spider. She wasn't aggressive, but she didn't back down when I messed with her web.
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I'm really wanting to say Neoscona oxacensis or Common Orb-weaver but I can't really make out the pictures that well. Did it weave the classic spiral orb-shaped web? Many of the orb weavers have those striped legs.
 
Not the least bit fond of spiders. At my works warehouse there are hundreds of Black Widows , every time I go there I kill at least ten along with whatever egg sacks I see. What really freaks me though are Brown Recluse which we now have in the valley , so now whenever I see a spider in the house that isnt a Daddy Long Legs , I smush it into a small mess. :eek:
 
rebeltf said:
Not the least bit fond of spiders. At my works warehouse there are hundreds of Black Widows , every time I go there I kill at least ten along with whatever egg sacks I see. What really freaks me though are Brown Recluse which we now have in the valley , so now whenever I see a spider in the house that isnt a Daddy Long Legs , I smush it into a small mess. :eek:
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I have a "detente" policy with the spiders that are outdoors (even the ones that are in my sheds). :D I knock down the webs that are in my way but I leave the spiders alone. I don't tolerate them in the house at all though - all spiders and insects that get in the house are summarily executed.

Sometimes, if one of the cats is in the house, I might let a housefly continue flying around just to watch the cat go after it. Did you ever see a cat leap 3 or 4 feet straight up and snag a fly right out of the air? It's quite an impressive sight.
 
I can believe it!, when I was in grade school, we used to catch different types of spiders and other bugs and put them in a clear plasitc box to watch them fight, (yeah littye boys can be that wierd!), I caught a 6 inch long Mantis like the green one in the picture, we finally had to turn it loose at the end of the school year because nothing could beat it.

Mean suckers!
 
The Last Confederate said:
I can believe it!, when I was in grade school, we used to catch different types of spiders and other bugs and put them in a clear plasitc box to watch them fight, (yeah littye boys can be that wierd!), I caught a 6 inch long Mantis like the green one in the picture, we finally had to turn it loose at the end of the school year because nothing could beat it.

Mean suckers!
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Yeah, they're mean. A buddy of mine had a cracked aquarium that he set up as a terrarium with grass and local plants and a couple of big mantises he caught in his yard. We used to open up the back door at night to let a few moths in the house so we could catch 'em and put them in the terrarium. Even though he kept them well fed it became apparent that you could only keep one mantis in there. The bigger one would eventually kill the smaller every time.
 
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