Chinese Mantis in Texas

I made a friend.

This is a Chinese mantis. It's not native to my home state, but they were accidentally introduced to the states in Philadelphia a long time ago and spread out to other territories from there. Due to their being sold as natural pest exterminators for gardens these days, they're here to stay.

This one was born on my friend's indoor back patio and he's been hand feeding her and many of her siblings since they hatched in September (a rather late in the year hatching). Obviously she's fully grown now, but due to her being hand fed and handled from day one, she's quite docile. Normally a wild mantis will happily fuck your day up if you stick a finger near them, but this one was perfectly content to simply walk onto my hand and hang out.

Also, I did mention she was used to being hand fed.

Here she is giving a cricket a big hug and a kiss.