Duke Bobby

So, I don't know if you've heard, but there is a praying mantis in my classroom right now. Yes, a real live praying mantis. It is now our class pet. I even brought in a fish bowl for it to live in. (Bowser's old bowl. Tears.) My students ran outside to gather grass, leaves, and sticks to make a nice little home for it. One morning they even went outside with a cup to catch crickets for Mr. Mantis to eat. (They're carnivorous.)

They also decided its name would be Duke Bobby. It's kind of an inside joke that our class has, although, the joke isn't really that funny, but I suppose we'll go with it.

Anyways, Duke Bobby has been hanging out on his stick a lot. He doesn't move around that much, but the kids make sure to check on him every day.

This morning they got to school and ran to check it out. As soon as I got into the classroom, they quickly told me, "The praying mantis is dead or something! Or maybe dying! It's pooping out foam!" I took a look in its tank, and started getting a little worried. The mantis wasn't moving at all. Then, I noticed it's back end making little thrusting movements and pumping out more of this foamy stuff.

After some quick Googling, I read this: "A female praying mantis will produce a large foam mass, called an ootheca. This ootheca can contain up to 300 eggs, all protected in the foam sack."

My jaw dropped as I read it, and my kids starting shouting, "What!?! What is it!?! Is Duke Bobby going to die?!"

"Well, kids, it looks like Duke Bobby is a female. And that foam is a sack of eggs!"

"It's pregnant!?!?!" A cheer rose up from the class. Our precious Duke Bobby was not dying, rather, it was producing life!

So, we'll see what happens. It can take anywhere from 5 weeks to 5 months to hatch. Then we'll have quite a few little crawlers on our hands. I'll keep you all updated on our praying mantis situation.

****Update*****
Upon arriving at school today, I found little Duke Bobby face down in her tank. It seems that the field trip to Des Moines on Friday, and the weekend away was too much for her little body to handle. She passed away, hopefully peacefully. A funeral is scheduled for tomorrow. My whole class will be wearing black to commemorate this sad event.