Praying mantis eats a cricket!

 We have various praying mantis in the class. Some are green and some are brown. The green mantis have been found on the school grounds in the plants and bushes. I found the brown mantis one morning wandering on the classroom floor. Praying mantis camouflage and change colour depending on where they are. So you can now guess the colour of our classroom floor!

 We are feeding them on live insects like flies, crickets and also other mantis. They are predators and eat their prey in only a few seconds. They can eat once every few days. 

 Female mantis have wider abdomen and two white spots on their wings. The one in this picture is a female and she has laid her eggs on the top of this blue container. We will wait until the spring to see them hatch. Male mantis have a narrow abdomen.