Chico: A funny little bird

[CheckeredTail]

Lovely praying mantis! Yeah, they don't really bite humans, at worst they'll grab your finger with their arms and grip, it just kinda pinches though, they are scary looking because they're so big and have those scythe arms, and they can fly, but they're awesome at catching other bugs. They can snatch bees right out of the air! I hope she doesn't darken your door again soon heh

 

[JaclynBin]

Lovely praying mantis! Yeah, they don't really bite humans, at worst they'll grab your finger with their arms and grip, it just kinda pinches though, they are scary looking because they're so big and have those scythe arms, and they can fly, but they're awesome at catching other bugs. They can snatch bees right out of the air! I hope she doesn't darken your door again soon heh

Oh god - I didn't know they could fly... that's terrifying. Yes, lets hope it doesn't come back!

 

[Dartman]

I found one and put him in my computer room and he hung out and hid for a week. I figured he wasn't getting enough bugs to eat when I found him again so I took him outside and put him in a hanging flower pot with lots of flowers and bugs to eat. He hung out in it for a week chowing down and trying to hide and eventually moved on but he was a beautiful bright green and his eyes always looked like they had irises looking right at you. He wasn't aggressive towards me at all.

 

[CheckeredTail]

I found one and put him in my computer room and he hung out and hid for a week. I figured he wasn't getting enough bugs to eat when I found him again so I took him outside and put him in a hanging flower pot with lots of flowers and bugs to eat. He hung out in it for a week chowing down and trying to hide and eventually moved on but he was a beautiful bright green and his eyes always looked like they had irises looking right at you. He wasn't aggressive towards me at all.

Yeah! Ya gotta love a bug who eats other bugs for ya haha

 

[metalstitcher]

Congrats on your new addition. He is a cutie.

 

[JaclynBin]

Chico’s learned his first trick to a pretty reliable point! I don’t know what I did to offend him, but he’s been hyper aggressive these last few weeks. I’ve taken a step back to reevaluate how I’ve been handling him and am only physically interacting with him during our taming sessions until I can better interpret his body language. I haven’t been bit in a few days, so that’s a plus.

I’m also trying to get him to jump/flutter a bit when I ask him to go back on to his cage perch to try and see if he can strengthen his wings. He still droops one of his shoulders - so I’m thinking that may have been an old injury. I’m curious to see if he’ll ever be able to fly...

Anywho, were also into target training right now. He’s not really into this one so much, but I want anyone to be able to reliably redirect him back into his cage without any grief so we’ll keep at it. So good so far!

(Family dinner setting - moments before chaos ensues )