Yesterday, PJ and I found a beautiful praying mantis on our garage. I’ve never seen one this big this closely.

We hoped that it would stay where it was until the cats came in — Paisley has a fondness for insects as a mid-evening snack. Unfortunately, it didn’t stay on the garage. About a half-hour later, PJ noticed that Paisley was in the backyard “playing” with the praying mantis. He tried to get her away from it before she killed it or did any irrevocable harm, but she knew what he was trying to do and decided to keep it in her mouth until he brought her in for the night.

Paisley then proceeded to dismember and eat it. She was a little baffled by the head and forearms for a while. Even when everything else was gone, she was convinced that the arms were getting her. After a little hockey game in which she used the head and arms as the puck, she ate them.

I didn’t take a picture of Paisley’s actual snacking, but there’s one more pic after the break of the mantis on our garage.

Nature is such an eat-and-be-eaten kind of thing. I won’t be surprised to see some larger animal walking by our front window one day with Paisley or Marlowe hanging from its mouth!