Born Free...

Our mantis Madaline has molted for the last time, she has a full set of wings and very soon will be sending out pheromones to attached a mate. We were able to witness this last molt, it is something like a butterfly hatching out of it's chrysalis. Her wings were compacted together and after sometime they began to fill out.

After she molted she is suppose to hang until her soft body hardens, however, she couldn't get a good grip on the side of the container and slid down to the bottom, not good! I cut a piece of netting a taped it onto the outside to container and let some hang on the inside. That did it for her she climbed up onto the netting and hung out for a few hours. Whew! I was a little nervous but all ended well!

We decided to set Madaline free, she was born free and she should be able to live her adult life free. My girls cried...it was good that we let her go, however it was sad for my girls...the teared up some.
Last night we went to the place we let her go, just to see if she was still there, yep, she was...here are a few pics of her as we let her go...the first two pics were the first place we placed her, then changed our minds and placed her higher~ up in a tree blooming with pink flowers. We learned to much from observing her...she was a great teacher!