Or at least the Mantid used too... Its cold here; summer is over and mantids dont over-winter... sadly, the male has already died, and I think the female is headed that direction. She has been eating well until today, today she ate nothing. Even when I stabbed a fly on a skewer and waved it infront of her.. nothing. Her abdomen is getting kind of flat...all the others I have now watched expire did the same. On a brighter note she laid two egg cases while we had her and so we may very well have a couple hundred babies in the spring... Despite the fact that I knew they had a fairly short expiration date.. I'm still very sad to think she is dying. 
Those pictures are really cool, hon! I'm sorry that she looks like she'll go soon. :-( You didn't tell me she laid egg sacks... It'll be kind of creapy cool to see what they look like when they hatch.
ReplyDeletep.s. i'm glad the egg sacks are at your house and not mine.