When I was in fourth grade at the Harry Lee Cole school, my best friend Melanie and I used to keep Praying Mantis' as pets. We'd find a mantis, 2 or more inches long, and bring it home with us. We had little homes for them, in old aquariums if I remember correctly, all set up with green plants and sticks to climb on. During the day we'd loop a thick thread (or was it dental floss?) around the insects slim thorax and take them to school. At recess we'd run past the spots where the grass was worn down to dust by a thousand cap toed tennis shoes to where the trees abutted stone walls. There we'd turn rocks and sticks over until we found a cricket or two. Then we'd feed the unfortunate creature to our thread-bound bugs. Our friends would watch in rapt horror as the mantis snagged the offered pray. If we were very quiet, we could actually HEAR the sound of the mantis munching. After a day or two of captivity would we release our little green friends and hunt for a new one to experience fourth grade and a steady diet of crickets.
1 comment:
Oh, am I jealous! We kept daddy-long-legs at Girl Scout camp, but they were much less interesting.
Mary Anne in Kentucky
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