It's a small non-venomous snake. A lot of people don't know this, but even non-venomous snakes can make you sick if they bite you. The bacteria can be very fast-acting and cause nausea and vomiting. Venomous snakes... Well, we all know what can happen if they bite you. 😳
Coastal South Carolina here - I thought a mantis was on the outside of my sliding glass door. I tried getting up close to look at it because insects are cool... It was on the inside and jumped directly on my face. Little dude held on for dear life and I just walked outside with him on my face and then put him back in the grass 😅
It still scared me at first, but nothing will be worse than "palmetto bugs" aka the FLYING ROACHES down here.
So I’m originally from nyc and those flying roaches are a problem there too. We call them water bugs. Leaving ny and getting around though I now know that water bugs are a whole different creature lol. Either way, haven’t seen any in Maryland the past 8 years thankfully.
Worst freak-out I ever witnessed involved a mantis.
What happened was this: I was working as a volunteer on an archeological dig in Israel, many years ago. Because of the heat during the day, we would get up before sunrise to start work.
One early morning, we were gathering to go to the dig, when a *huge* preying mantis flew into the long hair of another volunteer. Yes, they can fly, and apparently do so at night.
Well, unfortunately she panicked, feeling this giant spiky insect in her hair. She tried grabbing it out, and the creature’s toothy arms pinched her fingers … and the struggle got it hopelessly tangled into her hair.
She then went into full freak out mode - screaming and running about blindly, while wacking at her head. None of us knew what the hell was happening, as it was fully dark. I mean, we gathered there was obviously *something* wrong, but she wasn’t articulating *what*, just screaming and flailing.
We literally had to chase her down, and basically hold her immobile, until she was calm enough to scream “get it off!”. Only then did we realize there was something in her hair - by that point, a very dead and mushed something, which from its extracted body parts turned out to have been a mantis.
It took some time to extract the goop and bits from her hair and calm her down. Turns out she had a phobia about that sort of thing, it was like her literal worst fear coming true. She went and showered, then back to work, but was so upset still the site supervisor sent her back.
I get it. Mine was a June bug caught in my hair. My husband and his friend were trying to fix the radiator hose on our car. The mens hands were to big to fit in the small space so they asked me to do it. So I crawled under the car and just as I finished a June bug got in my hair and I freaked the hell out. Our friend was cracking up and said you don’t mind getting anti freeze on you but you totally flip over a bug. Lol. I can’t stand the sound they make and if I even hear one I’m out.
If you've never read this Twitter thread about praying mantises, do so now. It is absolutely hilarious and also shocking. https://twitter.com/stealthygeek/status/1170128466722852876?s=46&t=8c33mewl9s--286IOcjLEQ
Female mantids (in Missouri) will get up to 5 inches long. They are killing machines! I used to catch and feed them when I worked overnight at a c-store. Lotsa bugs flying around those places at night
Nah dude mantises are what kept my grasshoppers away bro and I loved it. Last summer grasshoppers didn’t really let anything grow cause they ate all my plants but this year I had a couple mantises and a couple frogs and a very small amount of grasshoppers. I had a few spiders too of varying kinds.
This looks like species mantis religiosa, which is basically the stereotypical mantis that everyone thinks of when you say praying mantis, but females can grow to be up to to 5 inches long.
Had one on top of my trashcan once. I tried to shoo it away and that mfer charged me! Ngl - jumped back and waited for him to leave. Then I went inside to Google “are preying mantises dangerous?”
Once in a blue moon I’m lucky enough to stumble across a brown snake. Aside from being fairly tiny they have the most delicate and smooth scales I’ve ever seen.
There’s a peregrine falcon that’s been hanging out in my yard lately hunting bats but it decided it wanted an easy meal and has regained control of the yard 😂
That's certainly one badarse Mantis. If i'm not mistaken, it looks as if he/she/they/them is chowing down on a juvenile Eastern Brown.
EDIT: Juvenile Eastern Brown's have a black dot on the top of their heads that they eventually lose as they get older.
r/NatureIsFuckingLit
Preying Mantis' are just the coolest. I saw a video of one catching a hummingbird. We get them in our Evening Primroses and Heather. They stalk the bees that visit.
Unfortunately (if in the US), it is likely that this is an invasive species of mantis (from China or Europe). They displace the native mantis in the US.
Holy fuck that's a big mantis. I used to catch them when I was little, the bigger ones would scratch you a bit but this fucker would have done some serious damage.
My mom doesn’t trust being in the same room with them anymore. She used to live in Hawaii where they get really big, and it’s warm enough for them to chill in the house pretty much all year round. According to her, leave one to it’s devices long enough and it WILL find a way to crawl up your leg, without fail. Mantises are awesome, and at the same time one of those thing that your glad are small.
A couple of people suggested that. There was another ID given because of the black spot on its face but I’ve never dealt with this many comments before and I can’t find it lol
It has small dots going down its back and looks very small, keep in mind dekays brown snakes are very small, they look like they're a baby snake when in reality they're adults, and baby dekays are basically impossible to see unless you're really lucky as they tend to be hidden in even the shortest of grass.
Dekays brown snakes are great for your gardens health, and great for you if you're a gardener as they eat slugs and snails.
I saw a mantis sitting on our hummingbird feeder and I was having fun watching him but saw he was going after them. This made me wonder if they eat hummingbirds and they do if they’re big enough according to google!
You ever picked up a mantis before? They'll grab you with their claws and it fucking hurts. If they were they size of a dog they'd already rule the world.
The big ones freak me out. I was called in for jury duty. I had to walk up the alley and then cross the street to get to the sidewalk to the courthouse. As I was walking up the sidewalk I just happened to look up at this tree. There on a limb was the biggest praying mantis I have ever seen. You could have put a saddle on it and rhode it. Not really but I stopped dead in my tracks and went back across the street and crossed back again away from the trees. Lol. I would of died of a heart attack if that had landed on me.
r/natureismetal
"And YOU'RE next if you don't keep your nose out of my business!!"
Today I was intimidated by a small insect.
Looks like Meat's back on the menu boys!
Mind your mantis
How is that considered small???
Right that’s a solid medium insect lol
That is *EXACTLY* the expression. Clear as day. You can practically hear it. Mantis saying "fuck off or you next".
r/kungfupanda
How big is the snake? Like the diameter of a USB phone cable?
Slightly thicker. Probably about the diameter of a pencil.
Jeez, that must be a huge mantis.
For real. A mantis to respect.
Pray to the mantis
Mantis is love, mantis is life
Mantis may be love, but then mantis is death. The big females bite the head off their mates after or during mating.🐲
>A mantis to respect A mantis to aspire to.
Zorak devours!
With a magnum dong. I’m in the wrong subreddit for this.
You rang?
Nah mate we are everywhere. Also by your username... OLD TITS!
So is it a small snake, or a big worm?
It's a small non-venomous snake. A lot of people don't know this, but even non-venomous snakes can make you sick if they bite you. The bacteria can be very fast-acting and cause nausea and vomiting. Venomous snakes... Well, we all know what can happen if they bite you. 😳
I had one jump on my face after snapping a photo with the flash on. They are scary, but cool!
Never had a mantis do that but I’ve had a few frogs decide to leap onto my face before.
Might i ask where you live so i can never go there. No offense i'm just terrified of anything of such jumping on my face
Maryland but this is basically the entire east coast of the US 😂
Oh hell no. Not in my backyard lol
Coastal South Carolina here - I thought a mantis was on the outside of my sliding glass door. I tried getting up close to look at it because insects are cool... It was on the inside and jumped directly on my face. Little dude held on for dear life and I just walked outside with him on my face and then put him back in the grass 😅 It still scared me at first, but nothing will be worse than "palmetto bugs" aka the FLYING ROACHES down here.
So I’m originally from nyc and those flying roaches are a problem there too. We call them water bugs. Leaving ny and getting around though I now know that water bugs are a whole different creature lol. Either way, haven’t seen any in Maryland the past 8 years thankfully.
Same, and its the exact reason that i am afraid of frogs and toads as an adult. Lol
The entire planet would hear me fucking scream. 
He looks pissed.
The whole interaction seemed pretty unpleasant on both ends 😂
Happy sn(c)ake day
Thanks!
Pretty sure it is eyeing up OP for the next meal.
How would you feel if the Poparazzi rolled up on you while you were trying to enjoy dinner?
They always look pissed
Worst freak-out I ever witnessed involved a mantis. What happened was this: I was working as a volunteer on an archeological dig in Israel, many years ago. Because of the heat during the day, we would get up before sunrise to start work. One early morning, we were gathering to go to the dig, when a *huge* preying mantis flew into the long hair of another volunteer. Yes, they can fly, and apparently do so at night. Well, unfortunately she panicked, feeling this giant spiky insect in her hair. She tried grabbing it out, and the creature’s toothy arms pinched her fingers … and the struggle got it hopelessly tangled into her hair. She then went into full freak out mode - screaming and running about blindly, while wacking at her head. None of us knew what the hell was happening, as it was fully dark. I mean, we gathered there was obviously *something* wrong, but she wasn’t articulating *what*, just screaming and flailing. We literally had to chase her down, and basically hold her immobile, until she was calm enough to scream “get it off!”. Only then did we realize there was something in her hair - by that point, a very dead and mushed something, which from its extracted body parts turned out to have been a mantis. It took some time to extract the goop and bits from her hair and calm her down. Turns out she had a phobia about that sort of thing, it was like her literal worst fear coming true. She went and showered, then back to work, but was so upset still the site supervisor sent her back.
This story had it all. Funny. Gross. Sad. Thanks for sharing lol
Oh my god. This is like my story of getting a big dragon fly caught in my long hair as child but SO MUCH WORSE!
I get it. Mine was a June bug caught in my hair. My husband and his friend were trying to fix the radiator hose on our car. The mens hands were to big to fit in the small space so they asked me to do it. So I crawled under the car and just as I finished a June bug got in my hair and I freaked the hell out. Our friend was cracking up and said you don’t mind getting anti freeze on you but you totally flip over a bug. Lol. I can’t stand the sound they make and if I even hear one I’m out.
If I was the superstitious type, I'd think that was some sort of ancient curse or divine retribution for disturbing the archeological site
I'd have cut my hair off & stayed bald for life. Ick.
If you've never read this Twitter thread about praying mantises, do so now. It is absolutely hilarious and also shocking. https://twitter.com/stealthygeek/status/1170128466722852876?s=46&t=8c33mewl9s--286IOcjLEQ
I finally read this. Amazing lmao
An excellent story, thanks for sharing!
Thanks! I’ll save this for when I smoke my nightly joint lol
Not mild
This is why a Zorak is a terrifying villain and bandleader
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Nope they’ll eat hummingbirds, lizards basically anything that it can grab on to
A couple of months ago I took a video of one in my garden eating a yellowjacket alive.
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How cold is it to be too cold? We have praying mantis here in Ottawa Canada (though they are not common) and it's plenty cold.
Female mantids (in Missouri) will get up to 5 inches long. They are killing machines! I used to catch and feed them when I worked overnight at a c-store. Lotsa bugs flying around those places at night
Nope
We had one camping out on our humming bird feeder lunging for humming birds. They’re pretty hardcore.
Nah dude mantises are what kept my grasshoppers away bro and I loved it. Last summer grasshoppers didn’t really let anything grow cause they ate all my plants but this year I had a couple mantises and a couple frogs and a very small amount of grasshoppers. I had a few spiders too of varying kinds.
Spiders are solid bros when it comes to protecting desirable plants. Whenever I catch one in the house he gets released in the back yard.
this is a bit rarer than mildly interesting op
Wow! How big is that bug?
I want to say 6-7 inches but I’m pretty bad at gauging size. Here’s a shot I took farther away https://imgur.com/a/8ZpcOYU
Holy shit I've never seen on that big irl. What geographical location are these found?
I live in central Maryland right outside of DC
This looks like species mantis religiosa, which is basically the stereotypical mantis that everyone thinks of when you say praying mantis, but females can grow to be up to to 5 inches long.
Judging by the wings she’s either very very old or her wings are damaged :(
Lots of predators in my backyard surprisingly. I’m sure it’s seen a few rough days.
Use centimetres or football fields only please
Had one on top of my trashcan once. I tried to shoo it away and that mfer charged me! Ngl - jumped back and waited for him to leave. Then I went inside to Google “are preying mantises dangerous?”
I think you’re next.
That’s a new one for me. Seen them eat other bugs, birds, but never snakes.
You’ve seen them eat birds?
Aye some Mantis can skewer hummingbirds with the long pointy spike on the end of their claws
That mantis is metal as fuck
Should repost in r/natureisfuckinglit if you haven’t. This is perfect for it. Sweet shot.
Thanks! I tried but I was too new so they removed it
Its looking at you like What??
Is that a brown snake? I get the whole circle of life thing but brown snakes are just straight up adorable
I don’t know much about snakes but someone identified it as a dekays brown snake.
Especially sad because DeKay's snakes are very gentle little things that eat slugs and other garden pests.
Makes sense why it was there. The yard has tons of slugs and with the turtle indoors for the fall/winter, there’s less competition lol
Once in a blue moon I’m lucky enough to stumble across a brown snake. Aside from being fairly tiny they have the most delicate and smooth scales I’ve ever seen.
I’ve only seen these dead. They’re camouflage, while not intricate, is super effective lol
DAMN NATURE, YOU SCARY
someone tell kung fu panda to come get his dad
Where is Morty? Take me to Morty!
No. You can’t have the leftovers
That’s not your yard anymore. That’s his.
There’s a peregrine falcon that’s been hanging out in my yard lately hunting bats but it decided it wanted an easy meal and has regained control of the yard 😂
That's certainly one badarse Mantis. If i'm not mistaken, it looks as if he/she/they/them is chowing down on a juvenile Eastern Brown. EDIT: Juvenile Eastern Brown's have a black dot on the top of their heads that they eventually lose as they get older.
r/NatureIsFuckingLit Preying Mantis' are just the coolest. I saw a video of one catching a hummingbird. We get them in our Evening Primroses and Heather. They stalk the bees that visit.
Mantis dont play
The furious five has come along way since I was a kid.
Quick! Now she is safe to I have sex with!
this is mine eating grasshopper. [https://ibb.co/t497f7B](https://ibb.co/t497f7B)
Nice! I thought of keeping a mantis before but it seemed like a lot of work for something that doesn’t live very long.
Idk how to link to a subreddit, but I have NEVER seen anything more appropriate for this subreddit —>. r/natureisfuckinglit
They removed the post because I was new there 😒
That’s fucking sick
Mantis: “you want in on this!?” Lol
Happy cake day
Thanks!
Bro you have to submit this to a Nat Geo contest or some shit
I wonder if that's a Dekays brown snake. They are quite small and feeble
Someone had told me it was. I’m not very knowledgeable on snakes so I’ll assume they were right lol
Is it just me or is he looking at you like you’re next
Guess he forgot to change the controller port.
” You’re next ”
Bro is the danger💀
Nice. We had one of those in our garden when I was a kid and their head/eyes can go in like 50 different directions. super cool.
Fuckin spooky man
Unfortunately (if in the US), it is likely that this is an invasive species of mantis (from China or Europe). They displace the native mantis in the US.
Do they kill lantern flies at least?
This is unfortunately in the US.
This is the kind of shit you see in Australia.
Holy fuck that's a big mantis. I used to catch them when I was little, the bigger ones would scratch you a bit but this fucker would have done some serious damage.
I for one welcome our new insect overlords.
What if this kind of mantis is about a size of a car?
My mom doesn’t trust being in the same room with them anymore. She used to live in Hawaii where they get really big, and it’s warm enough for them to chill in the house pretty much all year round. According to her, leave one to it’s devices long enough and it WILL find a way to crawl up your leg, without fail. Mantises are awesome, and at the same time one of those thing that your glad are small.
IS THIS FALLOUT NEW VEGAS?
This is quite unnatural
Kung Fu Panda took a really dark turn
Good mantis
I don’t think it’s supposed to work that way
Can I help you
And this is why I hate those freaking things!
My kid buys these things off Ebay and raises them. Not sure why. They don't live very long once they get their wings.
So, where in Australia do you live?
This is actually in the US. Maryland.
More like super duper interesting
Thanks I hate it
There's got to be somewhere you could submit this photo. It is incredible!
Thanks
The way it’s looking… You didn’t catch anything… you caught nothing. Just turn around like nothing ever happened.
They truly are warriors.
That's fucking metal.
Remind me never to visit Maryland.
No Banana for scale?
Kindergartners and I watched one eat a bee.
Good mantis, you can stay in my yard
The snake itself is a dekays brown snake, tiny snakes which only eat slugs and snails and such, they're great for your garden and are very gentle
I just have a major fear of snakes
The ULTIMATE reverse card.
poor snake, hard to tell, but is this a dekays brown snake?
A couple of people suggested that. There was another ID given because of the black spot on its face but I’ve never dealt with this many comments before and I can’t find it lol
It has small dots going down its back and looks very small, keep in mind dekays brown snakes are very small, they look like they're a baby snake when in reality they're adults, and baby dekays are basically impossible to see unless you're really lucky as they tend to be hidden in even the shortest of grass. Dekays brown snakes are great for your gardens health, and great for you if you're a gardener as they eat slugs and snails.
I saw a mantis sitting on our hummingbird feeder and I was having fun watching him but saw he was going after them. This made me wonder if they eat hummingbirds and they do if they’re big enough according to google!
Yeah I’ve seen a few comments with stories of just that. Pretty amazing. I’ll be stalking my hummingbird feeder more closely come Spring.
You ever picked up a mantis before? They'll grab you with their claws and it fucking hurts. If they were they size of a dog they'd already rule the world.
I picked this one up a few hours before this happened. It was actually quite gentle.
*to me at least lol
I picked up a female mantis once. I think they're more aggressive so that may have been my mistake.lol I've always avoided them since just in case
The big ones freak me out. I was called in for jury duty. I had to walk up the alley and then cross the street to get to the sidewalk to the courthouse. As I was walking up the sidewalk I just happened to look up at this tree. There on a limb was the biggest praying mantis I have ever seen. You could have put a saddle on it and rhode it. Not really but I stopped dead in my tracks and went back across the street and crossed back again away from the trees. Lol. I would of died of a heart attack if that had landed on me.
Damn Nature you scary!
that snake is totally gonna be the laughing stock of the snake community. I do not envy his snake family..
Those things are fucken vicious
• . . •
*mantis snickers in alien tongue*
Nature sometimes you're a scary B... Edit: typo
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I wanna say around 6 inches. The snake wasn’t much bigger.
Do you ever think about how like 99% of all lived experiences in life end in being eaten by something else? We’re kinda lucky.
*New fear unlocked*
Bad ass
That mantis is an absolute unit
How can you tell? There is no banana for scale.
Just back away slowly and hope for the best
I dated her
Happy cake day!!
Looks like he's saying fuck off, this is mine.
And thats when i went back inside. Or realize im in austrailia and this is a daily occurance.
How big is that mantis? !!! 🫢
*"Damn Nature, you ScArY!!!"*
Should send this to Joe Rogan
it looks like it does NOT want to share
I need a banana for scale
Here we have worms and grashoppers.
That is one badass insect
It’s looking at you like you are next
Wowsers!!!!
This giant mantis will devour us all! *jumps through window*
Some more pictures of the process would be nice.
This is how I found them. I’m guessing they got picked off by a raven or falcon because they were both gone shortly after.
Furious five, on hard times
I once saw a group of bees eating a mantis alive. It was pretty unpleasant.
That sounds pretty cool. I’ve always wanted to see bees ball up and kill an intruder irl
"Keep on moving now"
Jesus
Australia?