Bangs McCoy

Bugs are fun

September 25th, 2008

When I saw this guy in my garden today, I had a flood of memories from growing up. Several times, my mom came across a little bundle of praying mantis eggs in our yard. Together we carefully put the eggs in a large glass container and covered it with netting. I would feed them, and watch the bugs hatch and grow. We raised a bunch of praying mantis babies this way, releasing them into the yard when they were bigger. I’ve always been fascinated by these bugs - they seem so smart and aware. Their little eyes follow you around and it seems like they’re actually processing the world around them. So cool.

 

Another funny bug memory: One time when I was pretty little, maybe six or seven, my mom and I found a bunch of bug eggs she didn’t recognize. We gave them the same treatment. They soon hatched, and looked like tiny little green spiders. Eventually, they grew into really neat-looking, bright green katydids. These things are monsters in the garden, they eat everything, so there was no way my mom would release them. So we just kept feeding them inside and watching them. When they had been full-grown for a while, every few nights, one would disappear (there were about ten or twelve to begin with). I thought maybe they were dying and the bodies were just lost in the leaves somewhere. This kept happening until eventually we just had one giant katydid. I think my mom avoided telling me what was happening, but I figured it out, and it pretty much freaked me out. A lot of my childhood memories are pretty fuzzy, but I have very clear memories of that whole event.

Tags: gardening, photos

Entry Filed under: I do stuff