Prophetess the Praying Mantis

On July 21, 2025, I was on Morgan State University's campus for an event. As I went to throw away a candy wrapper in a trash can, I noticed a huge, bright green bug. It had a long body, two large red eyes, and antennas that looked like they could pick up any signal. I instantly became excited once I recognized what type of bug I found. It was a "Praying Mantis."

A Praying Mantis is what I like to call the king of the insect kingdom. They hunt spiders, mosquitoes, grasshoppers, crickets, moths, cockroaches, flies, you name it. The mantis gets its name because it is often found in a praying position with its forelegs held together like praying hands. I love them because they keep away all of the annoying bugs listed above. Growing up, I used to see a Praying Mantis on my porch every summer. Due to their large size and alien-like features, they tended to creep my mother out. One year, my mother tried to unlock our front door, but there was a Praying Mantis camped out on the doorknob. Every day, my mother would knock it down with her keys. After a while, my mother grew annoyed with having to remove the large bug every time she came home. One day, she told the mantis, "You better not be on my doorknob when I come home today. Find a new spot, or you're dead!" The mantis did not listen to her. After assassinating the mantis, my mother decided to remove the weeds in the flower bed. She discovered that the mantis was a mother who had hundreds of babies in the flower bed. The baby mantises were hidden in between the weeds. Unintentionally, my mother threw away most of the babies when she placed the weeds in a trash bag. That was the last time I saw a Praying Mantis for a while. With the absence of the mantis, we began to see more spiders and moths appear on our front porch. It's safe to say that my mother learned her lesson.

Fast forward to 10-years later, I finally have a chance to restart a mantis family on my porch. I decided to capture the Praying Mantis on the trash can using a small plastic container. With a thumb tack, I punctured small holes in the container so the mantis could breathe. I placed some dirt at the bottom of the container to make it more comfortable and aesthetically pleasing. Capturing the mantis was the hardest part. It ran around the ring of the trash can very fast several times. I was skeptical about touching the mantis because I knew it felt threatened. When a mantis feels threatened, it may bite. Carefully, I knocked it from behind into the container and snapped it shut.

Amazed that I had successfully caught it, I ran into the nearest academic building to show it off. "What's that?" Each person I talked to had no idea what a Praying Mantis was. One person asked me, "Is it a male or a female?" I paused. I had to look up how to tell the difference between male and female mantises. I learned that female nymphs have 6 segments on their bellies. On the other hand, male nymphs have 8 segments. After counting the number of segments on my mantis, I discovered that she was a female.

I brought her home later that day. My mother was equally as excited to see my mantis. I contemplated keeping her inside the house because she was still young, but I didn't know what to feed her or anything about keeping a Praying Mantis as a pet. I decided to stick with the original plan of letting her out into the flower bed of my front porch. Before I let her go, I decided to name her. I originally came up with "Prophet," but I changed it to "Prophetess" since she was female. When I let Prophetess go, my mother asked me, "What if Prophetess decides she doesn't like our yard and she goes to a neighbor's house to start a family? What if she decides to go back to Morgan? What if Prophetess gets eaten by a bird or something?" I thought to myself, "O ye of little faith." My mother made some good points. There was a lot at stake for the fate of my mantis, but it was a risk I was willing to take.

I set Prophetess free in my flower bed. Surprisingly, she did not want to leave her container at first. I had to nudge the container with my hand to encourage her to step out. Prophetess eventually crawled on some grass. She paused to look back at me, and it almost looked as if she thanked me for giving her a new home. She blended in well with the grass and the plants. I believe she's still alive just like I believe Eleven from Stranger Things is still alive. I haven't seen Prophetess since I let her go, but I have a feeling that she may have grown into an adult and laid her eggs. There's a strong possibility that of one of her babies may hatch this spring and camp out on my porch. Stay tuned to find out what happens!

If you've made it this far, thank you for reading! I hope you learned something new about the world around you. The goal is not to start a Praying Mantis kidnapping spree, but to reinforce the power of letting nature live. The next time you see a Praying Mantis, don't freak out and kill it. Think about the insect food chain. Share this blog with a fellow nature lover if you found it interesting!

XOXO,

Nature Girl