Our Marketing Director, Caroline, discovers the bug-eat-bug world in her backyard…
So while gardening yesterday evening in my backyard oasis, I stumbled across a clever praying mantis, strategically positioned in my cat’s food dish. I say “stumbled upon”, because I literally almost brushed it out of the dish, thinking it was a stray leaf cluttering my cat’s dinner. At closer inspection, I saw that it was a mantis who had camouflaged itself to blend in with the muted, neutral colors of the dried pellets and worn clay dish that housed them. As I watched the mantis carefully, I realized that my first thought that it had been attracted to the food was incorrect; instead, it was hunting bigger game.
All summer long we have been battling flies that have been swarming our kitties’ dishes of dry food and water. We’d tried everything from placing potted herbs nearby in hopes to thwart them naturally, good old-fashioned (and very satisfying, I may add) fly swatters, and even hanging sticky fly strip paper from the banisters to keep these constant clouds of flies at bay. Watching this mantis dispatch the flies hungrily, gave me hope that maybe the battle could be won! I settled in to watch the struggle, capturing everything with my camera.
The mantis started by stalking the two flies in front of it, just outside of the dish. While they greedily ate the pieces of cat food, they never saw this cunning, camouflaged hunter creeping up on them! His large eyes kept the mantis on the look out for any dinner opportunities that may have landed in his peripheral vision, and he kept moving his head back and forth almost like a radar antenna in search of movement.
As slowly as I’d watch it move, the mantis struck out so fast for the fly that I didn’t see it. He’s got his dinner in hand, now!
And at last, this hungry mantis is feasting on the fly!
This is just another example of how some insects can be really beneficial to your home and garden. Before dropping an atomic bug bomb or squishing anything with multiple legs that scurries past, keep in mind that it could be your best defense in the war against harmful pests. For a great resource, check out What’s That Bug.com, for more information on identifying the good, the bad and the bugly!