Really BUGS Me!!!

[seanyuki]

Hey Al......any pics of the female Praying Mantis and babies.....trying to imagine it now.....babies begging for foods

[brewmaster15]

Hi Francis,
Like most insects, the Mantis babies are on their own when they hatch. What happens is the female lays her eggs ina large spongy insulated cocoon... there can be 100's of eggs in this sack.. She then Dies...but she may actually lay several egg sacks...... The sack over winters and they hatch in the spring and immediately hunt on their own after dispersal.They are also known to be cannibals on siblings.

Egg sacks here...

http://www.google.com/images?q=manti...w=1024&bih=574

video on the tube...theres many on the tube...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I99W...eature=related

You can actually buy these eggs and hatch them in the spring....release in your yard..we've done it here a few times...They are good at controlling many pest insects.

-al

[seanyuki]

Cool video Al.....thanks for sharing.

[wadewc]

Real interesting Al! Like the video! Interesting mating... Kinda of reminds you of run forrest run. Just kiding.

Thanks for sharing Al!
Wade

[Eddie]

On another note... ...The mating can last a long time...as in over 24 hours.! So if the male does get eaten...he probably does so happy and with a smile on his face. maybe that praying pose is as a thank you to the powers that be. additionally The longer the mating goes on, The male may actually be fulfilling his genetic mandate of passing on the most genes compared to other male mantids as it risks its life.
Gotta love evolution!!

-al

Guess thats one way to go! LOL Great pictures Al!

Eddie

[kent1963]

These are definitely one of our coolest bugs in NA. This guy was in my yard this summer. http://s1090.photobucket.com/albums/i364/ktdme1963/

[brewmaster15]

Hey Kent,
That mantis has one serious attitude! Looks like he's glaring at you saying " what are you staring at mammal, you want a piece of me? well do ya?"

-al

[dbfzurowski]

Nice micro shots Al, what kind of lens you got?

[brewmaster15]

Thanks,
I use a PENTAX SMC FA 50mm F/2.8 Macro Lens on a Pentax K20D digital SLR. The lens is an older one from my film camera days but it kicks the daylights out of many newer lens made for Digitals...I have many lens but by far Its my favorite lens for close ups.

-al

[kent1963]

Hey Kent,
That mantis has one serious attitude! Looks like he's glaring at you saying " what are you staring at mammal, you want a piece of me? well do ya?"

-al

Yeah he was really something! I had a whole series of pics but it looks like the better half deleted all but that one.

[Jennie]

That's a pretty cool pic kent. Guess you need to save them to disc

[dbfzurowski]

Thanks for the info Al, how you liking that Pentax setup? I read nothing but good things about their equipment.

[brewmaster15]

Thanks for the info Al, how you liking that Pentax setup? I read nothing but good things about their equipment.

Hi Dominik,
I've been a pentax user for the last twenty or so years... I've collected alot of pentax cameras and lens over the years and There's some that are just outstanding... like all mfg theres also some that the engineering when to the way side... Theres a real good pentax forum here...http://www.pentaxforums.com/index.php

What I really like most about the pentax cameras is all the lens can be used on digital pentax bodies... some of the old screw mount Lens (M42 Mounts) are decades and decades old and are absolutely amazing optics for their age....coupled with an adapter and you have an endless supply of lens readily availible to use in manual mode.

The only down side to pentax is the availibility of big lens, by big I mean 600 mm fast lens that go for tens of thousands as Nikons and Canons... for me its not an issue...I don't have that kind of cash.. My biggest lens is an old manual 500 mm SMC F4.5 which weighs a ton, takes a great picture but only cost $600 on 15 years ago.

Fast forward to Digitals...I love the K20D.. 14.6 megapixels SLR and just a great camera...feels solid like my older film cameras.. Its been replaced at Pentax with K7's which I hear are even better, but not in my budget right now.

hth,
al

[dbfzurowski]

Thanks for the link Al, I'm thinking about moving away from point & shoot cameras so that forum will help for sure.

[shawnhu]

Al,

You've gotta show me how to use my K-x properly.