Breakfast

For the first week or so, we were a bit concerned that we never saw Madam eat anything - although we watched her almost constantly. Well, maybe not really constantly, but very, very often ... you get the drift.
Maybe in the first days or so after hatching, a mantis is not really capable of hunting, or they do not need any food right away, or a combination of both.
Now, however, every insect that wanders in the vicinity is in grave danger. And this vicinity is growing day by day.
This morning, I noticed that Madam had caught a small insect and was eating it. Before I could get my camera and be ready, she had already finished her meal. But I stayed there nevertheless, watching her. Then, after a couple of minutes or so, a not so tiny fly came to one of the leafs Madam had in her view.
The fly did not recognize the danger, Madam began rocking forth and back (like Leo Mazzone, the former pitching coach of the Atlanta Braves) and then, faster then the human eye could see, she pounced forward, caught the fly and began eating it, head first.
Although I looked at her all the time, I did not see the deadly strike she delivered to the fly - it was so lightning fast, that everything was over in a split second.
But fortunately, she took her time to devour the prey, and so I could get some really neat shots of that. Well, nature is brutal - eat or be eaten.