Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So...


The Praying Mantis...

One of my greatest fears (above moths, seriously if there is a moth in the room I cannot enter it until it has been removed/slain) is mantids (and similar insects such as crickets and grasshoppers). And the thought of encountering one wholeheartedly fills me with a cold and abject terror, seriously it would be like looking at cthulu or something, one of those 'everything breaks down' moments.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Large_brown_mantid_close_up_nohair.jpg
I mean look at the face, I have never seen another animal with a face that describes such a cold and malicious expression of pure calculated evil as the face of a praying mantis...

Yet the fascinate me to no end, they are an apex predator, master of the ambush, one of the largest (in size) species of insect, fast, agile, terrifying. They are an evolutionary marvel, I can read about them on wikipedia etc for hours

Yet I know I would never be able to handle one in real life, unless it was inside a hermetically sealed 1/2" think perspex box.


So what are Dakka's thoughts?

They are... creepy, but give me nowhere near the dread of the spider.

Sure, there's plenty of nightmare fuel to be made from the Preying Mantis, but the spider -is- nightmare fuel to me.

Love 'em, just a little too delicate for me to keep. They don't last too long as adults and are apparently very hard to bring on past the nymph stage (i've heard) but then i'm no entemologist!

Leigen_Zero wrote:
So what are Dakka's thoughts?

Ambivalent, since the chances of me ever coming into close proximity with one are slim to none. Are you planning on moving to the tropics or something?

They are cute...

I'm in a rural area of Maryland and they're all over the place. I've seen a few as big as 5-7 inches in length. I find them absolutely fascinating. From their stance, to their appearance, to their ability to pack away the bugs; even the stinkbugs that have become such a nuisance around here.

I'm definitely on the PRO-Mantis side of things!

Hmm, interestingly enough, the European Mantis is the official state insect of Connecticut.

I didn't even know there was such a thing as an 'official state insect'.

They're cute. I'd give one a hug if, you know, it wouldn't get crushed.

Spiders, however, terrify me.

What I don't get it people who can laugh at me for being scared of spiders (apparently Arachnophobia is just posh for 'wuss'), but then proclaim their absolute dread of bees, moths or beetles and expect me to understand. The hypocrisy burns.

Just to clarify, i'm not implying anything because you dislike moths, just stating that some people will openly state their fear of something I deem unworthy of such an emotional reaction, and expect me to understand their fear when they have just attributed my fear to immaturity or another equally dismissive excuse.

I can understand how you feel about Mantids and Moths, but I personally like the little fellows

filbert wrote:

Leigen_Zero wrote:
So what are Dakka's thoughts?

Ambivalent, since the chances of me ever coming into close proximity with one are slim to none. Are you planning on moving to the tropics or something?

No, incidentally mantids are one of the reasons why I wouldn't move to the tropics (along with all the other poisonous/otherwise deadly things, and beetles so large they can knock people unconscious by flying into them)

They are found in spain and southern france, so if you go to those areas on holiday you may encounter one. They are still creepy as hell though...

Avatar 720 wrote:They're cute. I'd give one a hug if, you know, it wouldn't get crushed.

Spiders, however, terrify me.

What I don't get it people who can laugh at me for being scared of spiders (apparently Arachnophobia is just posh for 'wuss'), but then proclaim their absolute dread of bees, moths or beetles and expect me to understand. The hypocrisy burns.

Just to clarify, i'm not implying anything because you dislike moths, just stating that some people will openly state their fear of something I deem unworthy of such an emotional reaction, and expect me to understand their fear when they have just attributed my fear to immaturity or another equally dismissive excuse.

I can understand how you feel about Mantids and Moths, but I personally like the little fellows

Don't worry, I know your exact pain, I'm not particularly fond of spiders either (anything bigger than a 5p coin gets a newspaper or shoe to the head). My girlfriend finds no end of amusement (and frustration) at the fact that if there is a moth in the room I will cower under a duvet in fear (amusement) until she has caught it and chucked it out the window (frustration, especially when said moth is found at 3am, and she is asleep), yet she is terrified of having someone touch her feet...?

I have been a little trepid of the mantis since i was about 10 and had my first encounter with one. It raised up much like the op picture and in a panic i did what any dominant species would do, I stomped on it. The oddest thing happened though, it popped loud like a balloon. That has always left me unsettled.

Used to have a white/pink Orchid Mantis as a pet, named her Lilith :3

I thoroughly enjoyed watching her catch and eat anything I threw in there.

Scorpion's are better though...

Interesting thing my class kept a mantis as a pet and we would feed it crickets. Thing is though, it would only eat their heads off. So the cage had to be cleared of the headless crickets rather often.

On a side note I had a dream one time that a giant mutant mantis was rampaging through a grocery store and bit my fingers off, the next day a real (though considerably smaller) mantis bit my hand and wouldn't let go(untill of course the dog ate it).

as far as fearing them goes...they are pretty creepy.

I am fine with mantids, spiders and other rigid, almost mechical arthropods however the fat, hairy or squishy ones like maggots/moths/caterpillars do freak me out quite a bit.

For fishing, maggots and worms are fun; putting them on the hook is tricky if they're really frenzied though.

For some reason that is beyond me, the only insects I´m scared of are harmless:

Daddy Long Legs and long legged mosquito's. THOSE LEGS SHOULDN'T WORK!

Ugh, Craneflies are annoying. Once they get really big, they look like huge, winged spiders; which is ironic because spiders with tiny bodies and huge legs are the ones that petrify me the most.

I have no fear of spiders or snakes or any of the usual suspects.

There is one animal however, that makes me sick to my stomach in a phobic way.




Not a fan...

Got used to those... my parents have a creek running through the garden xD

While not afraid of moths or mantis, I can empathize.

Stomping on a large spider and having 10k tiny baby spiders spread out off it's back will feth with your head.

Especially at night with the dim light from a nearby porch light.

I like mantises. I would like to keep a pet one. I don't know if it would survive though.

I think ants would beat it though. I love eusocial insects more.

Avatar 720 wrote:For fishing, maggots and worms are fun; putting them on the hook is tricky if they're really frenzied though.

LOL - Frenzied? Really? Do they get furious assault?

Soladrin wrote:For some reason that is beyond me, the only insects I´m scared of are harmless:

Daddy Long Legs and long legged mosquito's. THOSE LEGS SHOULDN'T WORK!

I heard somewhere that Daddy Long Legs are actually deadly poisonous but their fangs are too tiny to bite you - don't know if there's any truth in it though.

As for the Mantis - I think they're amazing. Not personnally afraid of any creepy crawlies although I am a bit wary of bees (esp swarms) - once had a bad experience with bees....

monkeyh wrote:I heard somewhere that Daddy Long Legs are actually deadly poisonous but their fangs are too tiny to bite you - don't know if there's any truth in it though.

Old wives tale. Debunked on Snopes and Myth Busters.

monkeyh wrote:
I heard somewhere that Daddy Long Legs are actually deadly poisonous but their fangs are too tiny to bite you - don't know if there's any truth in it though.

That is a common myth that was popularised by Ricky Gervais in one of his stand-up gigs, however it is totally bunk, it just happens that there are two 'Daddy Long Legs' insects, one type, the humble cranefly:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crane_fly

And the 'Daddy Long Legs' spider:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pholcus_phalangioides

Either way, the spider (as known by science and televised by mythbusters) is in fact not that poisonous to humans and CAN pierce human skin.


Incidentally a nightmare really cemented my fear of mantids, I had a dream that I was attacked by a large swarm of them, actually woke my girlfriend up because I was screaming and thrashing my arms around...

Leigen_Zero wrote:
Incidentally a nightmare really cemented my fear of mantids, I had a dream that I was attacked by a large swarm of them, actually woke my girlfriend up because I was screaming and thrashing my arms around...

LOL! I know it was a dream an all that - but I thought mantids were solitary?

And cannibals!

Leigen_Zero wrote:

monkeyh wrote:
I heard somewhere that Daddy Long Legs are actually deadly poisonous but their fangs are too tiny to bite you - don't know if there's any truth in it though.

That is a common myth that was popularised by Ricky Gervais in one of his stand-up gigs, however it is totally bunk, it just happens that there are two 'Daddy Long Legs' insects, one type, the humble cranefly:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crane_fly

And the 'Daddy Long Legs' spider:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pholcus_phalangioides

Either way, the spider (as known by science and televised by mythbusters) is in fact not that poisonous to humans and CAN pierce human skin.

We applied the term daddy long legs to the harvestman bug.

Soladrin wrote:And cannibals!

And cannibal cats!

MeanGreenStompa wrote:

Leigen_Zero wrote:

monkeyh wrote:
I heard somewhere that Daddy Long Legs are actually deadly poisonous but their fangs are too tiny to bite you - don't know if there's any truth in it though.

That is a common myth that was popularised by Ricky Gervais in one of his stand-up gigs, however it is totally bunk, it just happens that there are two 'Daddy Long Legs' insects, one type, the humble cranefly:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crane_fly

And the 'Daddy Long Legs' spider:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pholcus_phalangioides

Either way, the spider (as known by science and televised by mythbusters) is in fact not that poisonous to humans and CAN pierce human skin.

We applied the term daddy long legs to the harvestman bug.

Same here.

MeanGreenStompa wrote:
We applied the term daddy long legs to the harvestman bug.

Really? - I always thought Harvestmen were Harvestmen and Daddy Long Legs were the flying ones? Guess it must be different round my way - after all, when my missus moved from yonder, I was blithering on about Bishy Barnabies one day and she had absolutely no idea what I was on about!

The only bug/insect that freaks me out are those ants from the Amazon rainforest that eat everything...Tyranids anyone?