I thought he was a good guy!!??

He found all my monarchs!!!

I found them too late!

gross!

Ewwwwwww .. hey .. he's just doing what comes naturally .. what's a few monarchs considering the rest of the stuff he eats?

X

True. I tried to put him down in the Marigolds where I keep seeing grasshoppers, but he likes it better on the Mexican sunflowers, tasty butterflies all day!

I know it's just nature taking its course and I'm sure he's eaten a million bad bugs and you just don't know it, but it's still very sad to see what he did to your monarchs!

The mantids don't descriminate in their diets. They eat everyone, including themselves. Do you just have one or are their more mantids in your garden?
Perhaps you could spread out the monarch attracting plants next year to minimize the amount he eats. Another option would be to put the mantid in a terrarium temporarily while the monarchs are migrating through. You'll have to toss the grasshoppers and other bugs in. Any ten year old boys around your house/neighborhood? They might enjoy bug hunting to feed this guy if you do need to move him.

That photo of the monarch wings actually made me sad! :-(

Awh, poor widdle ting.... but great photo!

Geezers ..

A 'good' guy having a touch of Monarch 'feva'

Ohhhh .. and the wings laying upon the ground, does hit purtee hard!

Looks, as tho' .. he may be giving you a sarcastic look of utter 'contempt', too! .. LOL .. That ol booger will need to be put on a restricted 'diet' - this time, next year!! (hee)

- Magpye

This message was edited Sep 6, 2006 8:26 AM

garden_mermaid: good suggestion about putting him/her (I think it is a HER by her appetite!) I have four males in the house that would most likely feed her well in a terrarium with great interest!!

I just may do that.

I watched him/her today as much as I could, and no monarchs taken.

This is the only one of this size that I have seen in the garden.

I just may do that, we have about 6 aquariums that I can set up for a terrarium for the mantis until the monarchs and other larger butterflies go away.

I still have a lot of monarchs flying around.

Magpye: I think you are right about the sarcastic look!!

I posted this in the photos forum a couple weeks ago.

My camera takes low resolultion video, so it's somewhat blurry.

Plus, it is gross as well, but nature. And again, I was too late to help the little guy.

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/641691/

Great movie jen .. but jeeze .. get a tri-pod .. i was getting seasick! LOL, Also you might try zooming in next time instead of up close .. might help the resolution. Good movie though.

X

X- hahahah! I agree about the shaky hand!! I was grossed out but intrigued at the same time. (My camera wont zoom in movie mode) I kept turning my head away. I tried though!!!

Next time, I use my tri-pod.

We always list mantids as "good guys" because they eat insects (any insect), but when you consider that 95% (some say 97%) of the insects in our gardens are beneficial or at least not detrimental, they are eating a lot of beneficial insects! I'm afraid that I would be a lot more upset... Nature be darned!! (You know what I mean...)

Edited to say: Got two bricks?

This message was edited Sep 9, 2006 12:32 AM