Hallson Gardens

Praying Mantis???

I was weeding yesterday & noticed a thin, long white thing moving in a clump of weeds I had just pulled. I took a closer look & was amazed at what I found. The thought of an albino praying mantis had never crossed my mind until I saw it.

I put him in an empty pot & took him inside to show Sara. Agile little bugger cuz he crawled to the top of the pot several times & then managed to escape for a little bit. I couldn't see him for a minute & then spotted him holding onto the wood framing the door. He was blending in nicely with the white wall behind him. I took him back outside & he stayed on the bricks long enough for me to run back in the house to get the camera. [More than likely still in shock from being kidnapped by the gargantuan creature that just snatched him up repeatedly. ]

He's safe amongst the hostas now.

I wish I had a much better camera for pics of him, but these are the best I could do with my 1.3 mega pixel & 3X optical zoom.....

Amazing

Very Cool!

We have white deer around here, but no white mantis' that I've seen...very cool, Reldon!!

Josh-Seriously??????? You've seen WHITE deer in Iowa??????? I have never heard of such a thing......

Very interesting pics! Although many animal species can be albino, I've never heard of an insect! Good thing you took those! Thanks for sharing!......p

Yup!

We had one that would feed in the field right across the road from us many years ago. Just in the last couple years, there has been a group of 3 about 2 miles south of here. This picture was taken Nov. '04. We rarely see or hear about them during the warmer months. Usually just in the winter.

...sorry for hijacking your thread, Reldon

I googled "albino insects"....look what I found!.....p
http://archives.stupidquestion.net/sq61903.html

VERY COOL Josh!

No problem, Josh. I'm glad you posted the pic on here.

Thanks for looking that up PetalPusher. This insect doesn't have a shell though so that may be why it was possible.

Cool pictures Reldon!!

Someone found a albino praying mantis last year also and posted a question here. I didn't think critters were classified as Albino unless they had the pink eyes also .

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/z ... o00698.htm


Nice shot of the white deer also Josh.. We've got a few around our town also, but the camera is the last thing I'll be shooting it with

*shudder* creepy looking

Very cool praying mantis!!!!!! I've never heard of an albino insect either. What a neat find! I love finding praying mantis' in the garden.....Walking Sticks too......such neat bugs!

I've also never seen a white deer. Thanks for the picture, Josh.

Wow, that's very cool Reldon!

Cool pics Renaldo!

Last week, my bro-in-law sent me a pic via phone of a praying mantis.... on his office window... on the 24th floor of the Principle!!!

I hope that PM's are making a come-back in Iowa. I used to mail order purchase them in the 70's to help control all sorts of nasty insects for our family garden (1/8 acre mega-tomatos and peppers and whatnot). I hadn't seen one since until my BIL's and your pictures this year.

Neat pics, cool stuff!

How Cool! Haven't seen any PM around here but then again haven't been looking. As for the albino deer, very nice pic Josh. There used to be one that lived just outside of Walker but was hit on the road a year or so ago. It was so neat to drive by one pasture and see it grazing with the cows. It was a bit fatter than your average deer. It knew what it was doing by eating the cows feed.

Thanks for the pics guys!
Sunnydee

Thanks everyone!!

Thanks for that link, Jamie.

Unless I see this one again, I sure don't expect to see another one in my lifetime. But if I do, I want to have your camera with me, Peg.

I've been seeing more PMs this year than any other in my garden, Scaz. So hopefully they are making a comeback. That would be pretty bizarre to see one up that high.

A-Ha! They are still in the area... I took this the other day...

Super cool on the white pm! My fav "bug".