02/25/2026
https://www.facebook.com/share/1AcrniA8EN/?mibextid=wwXIfr
My head rotates 270 degrees. I'm the only insect with 3D vision. I can judge distance the way you do. And I've been sitting on your tomato cage watching you for 20 minutes.
I'm a Praying Mantis. And I just ate the spotted lanternfly that was heading for your maple tree.
🦗 The speed
When a pest lands within range, my forelegs fire in about 50 milliseconds. That's roughly 5 times faster than a human blink. Both arms are lined with spines. One strike is all it takes.
Between strikes, I don't move. I don't chase. I sit on a branch or a stem and wait. For hours. Motionless. Invisible.
You've walked past me a hundred times without seeing me.
🎯 The menu
Spotted lanternflies get the headlines, but I'm a generalist. I eat whatever shows up within reach.
Brown marmorated stink bugs — the ones invading your house every fall. Japanese beetles working through your roses and grape vines. Aphids on your tomatoes. Mosquitoes, grasshoppers, moths, flies. I don't specialize. I eliminate whatever lands near me.
👁️ The vision
I'm the only insect with true stereoscopic vision. My two compound eyes work together to calculate distance the same way yours do — by comparing the slightly different image from each eye. This is what makes my strike so accurate. I don't guess where the prey is. I measure it.
And my head rotates 270 degrees on my neck, which means I can track movement behind me without shifting my body. Nothing nearby moves without me knowing.
🌿 What helps me stay in your garden:
- When you see a mantis — leave it alone. It's working. It doesn't need food, water, or shelter from you. It just needs to not be disturbed
- Don't spray broad-spectrum insecticides. One application kills me just as effectively as it kills the pests I eat. The pest population rebounds in weeks. Mine doesn't
- In fall, check plant stems and branches for egg cases before cutting anything back. They look like tan foam blobs about the size of a walnut — each one contains around 200 eggs. If those stems go into the yard waste bin, 200 mantises go with them
- If you want more mantises, buy native egg cases — look for Stagmomantis carolina, the Carolina Mantis. Avoid Chinese mantis egg cases, which are more commonly sold but are a non-native species that can outcompete natives
- Leave some tall plant stems standing through winter — these are where egg cases overwinter safely
I don't need anything from you except for you to stop spraying. I've been protecting your garden since before you planted it. You just never saw me. 🌿
