what insect is this on my plant pic inside

is he good or bad for my plants

Looks like a praying mantis to me.
By all means, LEAVE IT THERE!!! This insect eats other insects, not plant leaves. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif
In other words, he or she is very good for your plants. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Cool picture

very good bug!!!
let it be, they are cool!
nice shot, too!
chris

That's my favorite bug. Does anyone know if they'll catch a spider straight from a web?

That's a gorgeouse pic of a praying mantis, they're among the coolest insects I've seen. Leave it there, it hunts other insects and hopefully will keep pests down.

A little more trivia, the female eats the male alive while they're copulating (extra food reserves for their offspring)... I'm so glad I'm not a male mantis! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif

im not to thriled on the pic he kept moveing so it should of been cleaer. i have no idea how he got up there the plant is on my balcony rail

Nice pic, Raggie!
Those front legs snap shut to trap prey. (Or as greenLED says, "End the marriage" )

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raggie33 said: i have no idea how he got up there the plant is on my balcony rail

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They have wings and are excellent flyers.

I had one of those on my window not long ago, I also took it's picture /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif



They are fun to watch eat things /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Raggie, your posts always make me smile...and that picture IS gorgeous.

McG - awesome - is that picture 'shopped?

LowWorm,
No photo shop beyond saturation adjustments and dust removal at times. Every year I like to shoot SureFire with critters when on Maui

I believe I read that the manitis consumes more food by body weight than any other animal or insect. They are cool fellas to watch! Great shot Raggie!

Absolutely great pic raggie! How did you get him to smile?! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Cool, Rags!

One caution- They're very fast and capable of (no venom) "nipping" your finger pretty good in a heartbeat! (I "annoyed" one once! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif ) Good bug!

Larry

I've never seen an adult praying mantis, but when I was in the 6th grade in Juneau AK, I somehow ended up with a mantis egg case (possibly as part of a classroom project at Gastineau Elementary School), and saw some mantids in their nymph stage.

there was one on the door one day, several inches long! i was pretty impressed.
normally i don't like bugs, but these i don't mind at all /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif

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tvodrd said:
Cool, Rags!

One caution- They're very fast and capable of (no venom) "nipping" your finger pretty good in a heartbeat! (I "annoyed" one once! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif ) Good bug!

Larry

[/ QUOTE ]lol i was thinking he tryied to bite me once then i thouyght nah he wont do that lol know i know he did try.i left him alone since cus ei dont want him to fly away i figure he will be a pet and plant protecter under the plants is big spider web to.well at least there was

As a child I had one of these as a pet inside a large indoor clear cage. It was found in my garage and I decided to keep it for a while. It would simply eat anything I put inside the cage with it (other insects)
After a few days I let it loose in my back yard and was suprised to see it remain in the area for several weeks. I came home from school one day and found it on my back porch eating one of those huge red wasps. Man I was always afraid of those big wasps however the big wasp was no match for this little "pet" of mine.
Something about these mantis insects just seems to conjure up images in the mind of a trained killer...they are very wicked looking.

we find them here often.
they are often tame enough to take offerings of bugs from your fingers.had an egg case attached to a window frame that hatched this spring.
some of those hundreds of babies hung around.
neigbor kids were scared to death of them till i showed them they were a "good bug"