I had a praying mantiss land on me today

Published on August 13, 2005 By momijiki In Blogging

During a night session photography class, a praying mantiss landed on me. It was, I think, a BIG sucker! About as long as my forefinger!

While shooting, I had the sensation of something crawling on my ankle and used my left foot to scratch it off. Then some flurry of grey, blurred movement in the dark and something is on my pants. I try to brush it off, but it wont go, fearing the worst (and I really don't have any specific in mind for worst, just, you know "the worst") I screamed a scream worthy of any horror film sound effect, jumped away from the tripod and frantically chopped my hand across the front of my leg sending the "thing" flying off.

My intrepid friend, wondering what sent me off, chased the "thing" and snapped a photo of it. It posed quite willingly for a while while we all circled around it and peered at it.

Why me? I think it might have something to do with the little bit of noodle that I spilled on my leg earlier in the evening

So, what kind of stuff have you had come flying at you refusing to let go?

Comments (Page 1)

Manopeace

on Aug 13, 2005

Ugh!... When I lived in Northern Ontario we had something called a June Bug.... they only appeared in June. They were horrible, beetle type critters that flew blindly into anything and anyone in their path. They clung on for dear life with their horrible little feet...they were YUCKY!

momijiki

on Aug 13, 2005

great photo little whip!!!

Looking at his poky legs I can see he's got some velcro-like grip.

I told my husband about this and he said, "did it bite you?" in a really concerned voice. Growing up in Japan, he has had lots of experience with them. Having grown up in Canada, a praying mantiss falls on the exotic side for me.

I said, "No! They bite! What can happen?" thinking I had a narrow escape.
He said, "nothing. They just wave their legs."

Manopeace

on Aug 13, 2005

LOL... who thinks that photo looks like a certain blogger here?

Zoologist03

on Aug 13, 2005

I was in my pool and had a brown bat fly circles around me....picking bugs out of the water. It came within arm's length of me....such a cute little guy....

~Zoo

momijiki

on Aug 13, 2005

"So, what kind of stuff have you had come flying at you refusing to let go?"

My sister had a flaming marshmallow stick to her nose. We were having a marshmallow roast but instead of sticks, we were using straightened coat hangers. Her marshmallow caught fire and she brought the marshmallow out and towards her to blow it out but the recoil of the wire gave it some extra bend and it caught her on the tip of her nose. Fortunately, she reacted quickly swatting her nose, putting out the fire and adding to the pain. She didn't have any scarring but a small burn on her nose for a few days.

Note: when having a marshmallow roast, don't use anything that has some flexibility and can lead to misjudging how fast and close to their body they can move it.

momijiki

on Aug 13, 2005

I was in my pool and had a brown bat fly circles around me....picking bugs out of the water. It came within arm's length of me....such a cute little guy

I like bats. There's quite a few of them in Tokyo. It never ceases to amaze me that there is any kind of wildlife here. I always end up singing the bat version of "Twinkle Twinkle" when I see them flying around. Or at least the part "like a tea-tray in the sky." I don't know why. It's like a strange hypnotic complusion.

momijiki

on Aug 13, 2005

i bet that hurt like a bitch!

Yeah, she really screamed. I think a lot of it was fear and she got it out, and off right away. It certainly ended that night's festivities in a hurry and it was a long time until we were allowed to roast marshmallows (and we were back to sticks).

Trudygolightly

on Aug 13, 2005

Way back, about 1999, I went camping with former boyfriend. While climbing up a steep hill a fly,,
think it was called a black fly?? stung me, and it hurt sooooooo bad.
Turned out the stinger was still in my leg and I got a nasty infection from it, still have a scar.

momijiki

on Aug 14, 2005

think it was called a black fly?? stung me,

black flies are these little tiny guys that swarm all over you and rasp off bits. I had lots of experience with those when I was working in the forest in northern Canada. Some people swell up from it if they have an allergy.

I'm thinking maybe a horsefly, except that they don't have stingers. They just come and take a chomp. I had the pleasure of that experience while back-country camping in Japan. They only came out in the morning and at twilight. Believe me, I was trying soooo hard not to have to pee. I couldn't make it longer than a day and yep, I got bit.

Maybe some kinda hornet got you. Dunno.

The infection part sounds pretty yucky though.

There is a kind of wasp in Japan called suzumebachi. Literally translates into sparrow wasp. Those suckers are HUGE! They are about 3-5 cm long. They look like a small bird when they fly. Hence the name, I guess. When my husband told me about it I thought he was pulling my leg, then they did a whole bunch of TV specials about this species because people were walking around and getting stung. Some of the pictures they showed were scary. Some dude got bitten on the lip and it swelled up to almost 1/5 the size of his head. Hmmm... maybe some hyperbole there. Imagine Angelina Jolie's top lip and multiply that by 5 and stick it on the average guy and there you go.

Manopeace

on Aug 14, 2005

maybe it was some kind of bad-assed spider?

all spiders are bad!

momijiki

on Aug 14, 2005

LW, I've heard that some people can develop allergies to bee stings after a few stings. It might be worth checking that allergy out with an allergy specialist in case you need to be carrying around an epi-pen.

And I know it's not funny, but your description of running into a June bug was funny. Kind of like a what happens when Physics meets Entomology kinda thing. Scary result though.

By the way, I need to correct myself. I wrote earlier that suzume bachi are 3-5 cm. I looked it up they are usually 2.7-4 cm long.

momijiki

on Aug 14, 2005

Sounds like a good idea to me, but wouldnt I have to know what stung me?

Not necessarily. There's a whole bunch of tests that they can do to find out if you are allergic or not. My husband had allergies and we couldn't figure out what, so a specialist did a broad range test. She took blood and came back with a list of what he was allergic to and ranked how severe the allergy was. These were common allergies like dust, pollen, dogs, mites and believe it or not, cockroaches. He has severe allergies to roaches, but not life-threatening.

If you have a GP she should be able to tell you a bit more about who to talk to. In the US, do you need a GP referral to see a specialist ?

momijiki

on Aug 14, 2005

good luck with your referral. It's nice to have a good doctor.

foreverserenity

on Aug 15, 2005

Yikes, I've seen them but never had one jumped on me.

I've had A lizard, a wasp (which might not be so scary to some) I think it was my perfume! There are actually some very wierd looking bugs here in Florida. On Friday night my a medium sized frog jumped on my husbands head. I thought it was funny!

momijiki

on Aug 16, 2005

That is funny! I hope you got a picture!

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