ePlaya

by **debkakes** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 10:05 am

I only saw one praying mantis this year, it was in the Sunrise Station for a few days (it was very grateful for a drink of water). Last year there were lots of them. Sitings, anyone?

by **RebA!** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 10:26 am

We saw on near our neighbors camp in hushville. I got a picture of it somewhere (yet to be processed)

Big one too.

by **Jordan 10-E** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 10:32 am

I saw one as I was packing up to go. He was on some bag or another of mine. I was afraid he was going to get smushed in all our moving around so I tried to relocate him to a more open space, but he was pretty fiesty and would try to grab me with his front leg/arms/claws (whatever you want to call them). So I just let him be and tried to avoid stepping on him.

by **supersurly** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 11:42 pm

Our neighbors had one at uh, 4 scooters and a golfcart camp. absurd faithish.

Nothing beats last years grotto for bug sightings though.

by **captain mcguiver** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 1:06 am

I saw a sand-colored mantis on Satraheeden, a purple art car.

by **Hana Hou** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 9:30 am

We collected 8 or so of them in the Earth Guardian camp and brought them out to the Frog Farm hot springs during the week. They like it a lot better there.

by **Jefferson Starship** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 10:29 am

We had one in our camp, but unfortunately we found it too late. It was all dried up and barely moving, then it passed on before our eyes as we tried to gently revive it with water. Although it was dying, it looked at peace with its arms in its namesake prayer position, resting its head on them.

In '99 my friend and I found a real praying mantis sitting on a 12 ft tall dinosaur woodcutout praying mantis, like it was its mother or something.

by **consumer** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 10:31 am

Had one very confused one in our camp for about half a day. Kept flying around the same area very frantically. Feeling a need to do something, I placed it on a paper plate with a little water puddle. I later relocated him to a more open space.

Must be the lights that attract them to the city.

by PJ » Sat Sep 13, 2003 11:18 am

I saw four of the green ones--too late though, and I didn't get away. Two held me down while the others performed their unfathomable alien medical procedures to my every opening. The horror...

by **polykarmatic** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 11:26 am

Two held me down while the others performed their unfathomable alien medical procedures to my every opening.

jpg(s)?

by **portazo** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 11:57 am

Saw one at Authority and Literal at Group W. They had a curious setup with a table with a tapedeck, two speakers and a table lamp. Music was playing, but nobody was there, so it had a somewhat surreal ambience. On closer inspection I found a praying mantis on one of the speakers bopping its head around to the beat of the music!

by **olivia** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 12:25 pm

those things are my most feared creature on earth. i didn't see any this year, but last year one camped out on the side of our dome and frightened the shit outta me.

this year, our lights attracted millions of tiny fruit-fly like bugs. they were dust-coloured, not black. they covered every inch of our sleeping space and clothes left out but died in the heat of the next day. did anyone else get this?

by **TestesInSac** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 1:30 pm

olivia wrote:those things are my most feared creature on earth. i didn't see any this year, but last year one camped out on the side of our dome and frightened the shit outta me.

this year, our lights attracted millions of tiny fruit-fly like bugs. they were dust-coloured, not black. they covered every inch of our sleeping space and clothes left out but died in the heat of the next day. did anyone else get this?

My camp had both a mantis and "fruit flies", although there were far more of the flies than the poor single mantis could be expected to cope with.

Personally, I love mantids for the same reason I love ladybugs, soldier beetles and spiders, they all eat pests. But I find mantids especially elegant.

by **Booker** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 2:21 pm

But I find mantids especially elegant.

Word. Gorgeous creatures. The pest reduction is a bonus.

Been waiting to tell this story: Mooping at the trash fence this year, I found a green one on his back. R.I.P., I thought, and went to put him/her into the bag. Legs feebly grabbed on the side, but no more struggle was left. So I processed this moral dilemma: The damn thing ain't gonna make it, and I can just assume the inevitable, drop it to the bottom of the bag and move on. But it's still alive, dammit! That trace of life deserves respect. But I'm not gonna try to intervene to be some sort of emergency mantis rescue person, either.

So I pulled it out of the bag and set it down on the fence, facing down to be in its own shade at least. Poored a pool of water around it, where the plastic of the fence would keep it from soaking in. Then adios, mantis.

A little further on I found another of the beasties farther along the arc o' life than the previous one. Stone dead, in fact. After my previous considering, though, I decided to leave it where it was. I was a helluva lot more out of place than it was.

by **clandyone** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 3:14 pm

Mantids are cool and beautiful and mysterious critters. I like them a lot. Didn't see any this year, but rescued a few on the way out last year.

by **madmatt** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 9:07 pm

We saw a beautiful, large, plump one walking around on one of our tents. It was a beautiful pale shade, somewhere between yellow, white and playa dust colored. We inspected it for a while. It was really weird being in such a human created and dominated environment, and not having seen a single animal or plant for 5 playadays. Later whilst breaking down camp I saw dried out crispy one, hoped it was a different one. Guess the sightings again this year dispelled the possibility that they had hitched a ride in on a truck or whatnot last year, a rumour/hypothesis abounding on last year's eplaya.

by **Lydia Love** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 9:09 pm

a rumour/hypothesis abounding on last year's eplaya.

There was also a furious debate over what kind of fucker would have released them. Just goes to show you the value of a rumor around here.

by **Mantis** » Sun Sep 14, 2003 2:27 pm

I have a great photo of the one who spent BM in my camp. He would climb on my hand, but not allow any one else near. Reply privately with an email address if you are interested in seeing the photos.

Website · by **deeohgeeman** » Sun Sep 14, 2003 3:05 pm

Last year I had one land in my lap just sitting in camp. This year I saw a couple of them, one came right to me. then just yesterday I found one climbing on my tent after I washed off the playa dust. I don't know if it rode all the way home with me in my gear or what, but I put it on my tomato plants to kill any bugs it can find.

by **precipitate** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 11:22 pm

OK. I must be drunk. Or maybe not. From the beginning, I've parsed the
topic title as Playa Mantis Stings. And been thinking y'all were weird
because mantises don't sting. Duh.

Had one in our lumber two years ago. All further specimens of the insect
class came from points beyond the Black Rock Desert.

Website · by **deeohgeeman** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 2:57 am

olivia wrote:those things are my most feared creature on earth.

I totally understand fear of scary looking bugs, but really, praying mantises are about as docile to humans as a bug can get.

I have a totally rational fear of wasps. I've been stung on my nipple, the soft part of my thigh and on the tip of my penis by fucking wasps. Ouch. And I really wasn't doing anything provocative. Well, not as far as a human would be concerned. Fuckin tiny brains. I could have explained...apologized or something, but would the goddamn wasp listen? NOOOOO!

The mantis, I just put it on my arm, let it crawl up to my shoulder as I walked over to the garden, and dropped it off in the tomato patch.

by **Niacin** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 7:33 am

I was out at the Tree of Bells late, late one morning and a mantis climbed up from the back of the stand...scared the crap out of me.

by **Matilda 2000** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 5:38 pm

When I was finally dropped off at my house back in Portland, I was greeted by my housemate and we stood on the porch for a bit to talk about my experiences. As we were standing there, I looked over at the railing and, lo and behold, there was a praying mantis sitting there waiting for me as well! It was quite a moment for me being that I had been talking about taking back all of the feelings and ideas I had developed over the week back with me from the playa. I felt like the mantis was an obvious symbol of that. A big part of my experience over the week had been about me reconsidering the notion that the universe was an unfeeling, undirected place and that there was possibly Something bigger going on. I know, I know....this sounds kinda lame but the experiences don't really lend themselves well to being retold. Anyhow, this mantis was all the confirmation I needed that I should indeed be more flexible about my understanding of how Life works.

by **ddp** » Sat Sep 20, 2003 9:33 pm

We had one on our tent late in the week. Here's a blurry photo:

http://www.electric-loft.org/gallery/vi ... 3_01_01_09

by **Bob** » Sat Sep 20, 2003 10:39 pm

Can we move this discussion to "Shit that blows off the Granite Range and onto the Black Rock Desert"? Friends of mine have had jumping mice and black widow spiders blow in their tents.

No, not that kind of "blow".

The prevailing wind is from the southwest. Check out a map of Nevada. Search the US Fish & Wildlife Service site for [nevada mantis].

by **freia** » Tue Sep 23, 2003 10:53 pm

There was one at the Temple of Honor on Sunday before it burned.

by **Kinetic** » Tue Sep 23, 2003 11:04 pm

From the tone of Bob's post, the DPW crews must be already out of good beer out there. If I had Metric's address...and I'm sure someone does, I'll get off my ass and try to send something.

Now back to the thread......

by **RebA!** » Tue Sep 23, 2003 11:14 pm

Here is a pic of the one I posted about earlier.

http://burningman.bluedream.com/galleri ... mantis.jpg

by **Captain Goddammit** » Sun Sep 28, 2003 8:34 pm

Yeah, my girlfriend had one of the fucking things bite her! Drew blood! Fucking little goddamn thing. I hate bugs! The lack of pests is one of the great things about the playa. Goddamn bugs. Die all of you, I say. And hey, wasn't this topic about getting stung? You mean all the rest of you didn't get bit? That little fucking bug just picked her to bite? Now I'm really pissed at that stupid-ass little crawly monster. Rotten-ass bug.

by J » Sun Sep 28, 2003 8:42 pm

I have never seen a praying mantis in real life, we don't get them all that much in Canada

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