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Description
This is Joey…and it may sound silly that we named a praying mantis but there is a story behind him being named.

One night I walked out on our back patio and there he was on the ground all wrapped up in a spider web barely able to even move. I thought he was dead initially, he looked as if he was in a straight jacket, his legs tightly pressed against his body but when I looked closer I could see he was still alive.
Well….I do not have the ability to look away when any creature is suffering so….Operation Rescue Joey went into action and I swooped him up and into the house we went. I had just put my 5 year old to bed but after swooping Joey up I headed into her bedroom because she is just the best little assistant when it comes to rescuing anything.
I grabbed some tweezers and a cup of water and my daughter and I went to work on Joey. I had never done anything like this before so I was totally not sure if we could save him as he was pretty bad off and trying to gently pull the web off of him was so scary because I thought for sure one of his legs would break. One of his legs was already injured prior to me pulling off the web so I had to pay close attention with that one. The water really helped to get the web off but it took about two hours to free him of this straight jacket. Once he was free I had to encourage him to stand but finally he did get up on his feet.
The next task would be figuring out how to care for him since he would need time to recover. I got online and looked up praying mantis care and found out that they will eat cat food. YEAH! I have cats so cat food was on the menu. LOL
The next week would prove to be an experience like no other…caring for Joey and watching him heal touched my heart in a way I did not think it would. I had made him a recovery room out of a cage but had to screen the entire thing to keep him safe, he didn’t mind at all because he could see out all around him. I would feed him with a little baby spoon and he would eat the cat food right off of it as I held the spoon. After a few days of care he began to get his strength back and so we graduated to live food. Yes, my daughter and I would be outside catching flies with a net, little moths too. Trying to catch these things alive was not easy let me tell you. Once caught we would put them in Joey’s cage and he would handle the rest. I didn’t like to watch that part. LOL
Anyway, it took a little over a week and Joey was starting to look pretty good, he was moving around normally and he was eating like a little pig…we new it was time to set him free.
I took his cage outside on the porch and opened the door, he didn’t come out right away so I just left it open and went on about my daily duties outside in the garden. Every few minutes I would look over to see what he was doing and he was inching his way out. Finally he was on the outside of the cage on the top but he wouldn’t go any further. I was a bit worried he wasn’t ready yet but when we would come close he would jump on us so we could hold him and then I would place him back on top of the cage afterwards, he seemed to be in good shape. Joey did begin to venture out on the plants I had around him but he stayed on our porch for another week before finally leaving and each time we walked out there he would jump on us, we were friends and it didn’t matter if were suppose to be or not…we were.
This photograph was taken during our little journey together, after he had healed.
His name is Joey.

Description
This is Joey…and it may sound silly that we named a praying mantis but there is a story behind him being named.

One night I walked out on our back patio and there he was on the ground all wrapped up in a spider web barely able to even move. I thought he was dead initially, he looked as if he was in a straight jacket, his legs tightly pressed against his body but when I looked closer I could see he was still alive.
Well….I do not have the ability to look away when any creature is suffering so….Operation Rescue Joey went into action and I swooped him up and into the house we went. I had just put my 5 year old to bed but after swooping Joey up I headed into her bedroom because she is just the best little assistant when it comes to rescuing anything.
I grabbed some tweezers and a cup of water and my daughter and I went to work on Joey. I had never done anything like this before so I was totally not sure if we could save him as he was pretty bad off and trying to gently pull the web off of him was so scary because I thought for sure one of his legs would break. One of his legs was already injured prior to me pulling off the web so I had to pay close attention with that one. The water really helped to get the web off but it took about two hours to free him of this straight jacket. Once he was free I had to encourage him to stand but finally he did get up on his feet.
The next task would be figuring out how to care for him since he would need time to recover. I got online and looked up praying mantis care and found out that they will eat cat food. YEAH! I have cats so cat food was on the menu. LOL
The next week would prove to be an experience like no other…caring for Joey and watching him heal touched my heart in a way I did not think it would. I had made him a recovery room out of a cage but had to screen the entire thing to keep him safe, he didn’t mind at all because he could see out all around him. I would feed him with a little baby spoon and he would eat the cat food right off of it as I held the spoon. After a few days of care he began to get his strength back and so we graduated to live food. Yes, my daughter and I would be outside catching flies with a net, little moths too. Trying to catch these things alive was not easy let me tell you. Once caught we would put them in Joey’s cage and he would handle the rest. I didn’t like to watch that part. LOL
Anyway, it took a little over a week and Joey was starting to look pretty good, he was moving around normally and he was eating like a little pig…we new it was time to set him free.
I took his cage outside on the porch and opened the door, he didn’t come out right away so I just left it open and went on about my daily duties outside in the garden. Every few minutes I would look over to see what he was doing and he was inching his way out. Finally he was on the outside of the cage on the top but he wouldn’t go any further. I was a bit worried he wasn’t ready yet but when we would come close he would jump on us so we could hold him and then I would place him back on top of the cage afterwards, he seemed to be in good shape. Joey did begin to venture out on the plants I had around him but he stayed on our porch for another week before finally leaving and each time we walked out there he would jump on us, we were friends and it didn’t matter if were suppose to be or not…we were.
This photograph was taken during our little journey together, after he had healed.
His name is Joey.