Greg is super handsome!
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Unfortunately as I’m on the 2nd floor and only have full pop-out screens I couldn’t let him in, but he wanted IN. He had his eyes lock on me wherever I moved for 2+ hours 
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That’s so fun! I’m glad you had a study busy on the screen.
Edit: study BUDDY. Although I guess he was busy studying you!
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I saw another mantis today on the ground floor, not Greg, about half the size. I tried to convince this one to take a walk with me and she was NOT having it!! I normally am not squeamish or twitchy around bugs as a rule, but the absolute malice with which this mantis FLEW AT ME with those arms outstretched sent me into fight or flight (very much flight)
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Nothing like a bug with attitude to put the flight in a person’s fight! 
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I found 6-7 lizards while on I hike in SoCal. 5-6 western fence and what I believe was a juvenile orange throated whiptail (my dad got a good picture of it but I haven’t been able to see it well yet). I would like to mention that I was the only person out of 4 to find any reptiles lol.
I will share the pictures after I get my dad to send me the pictures he got.
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Sounds like a nice hike! Maybe the reptiles all sensed your herp-loving heart and came to check you out.
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You guys have GOT to see this! I heard a flittering buzz and I looked down at the patio mat- One of our little native jumping spiders was taking down a CRANE FLY. Look at the size difference and the chutzpah here! the spood is barely 10mm across!
Little spider is probably a California Flattened Spider.
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That’s awesome! Though I can’t say I’m surprised a jumper would take on a crane fly. Jumping spiders are pretty terrifying little predators for their size. They can punch waaaaaay above their weight class. I’ve seen some tiny jumpers with prey many times their size and weight. They’re so cute that it’s easy to forget they’re also total badasses.
Just found this pretty little katydid on the jasmine bush in my carport.
It’s probably only a matter of time before she becomes lunch for a jumping spider a fraction of her size, but oh well.
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This afternoon my supervisor motioned for me to follow him outside. I assumed he wanted to talk about something Very Serious, but instead he pointed out this pretty fellow on the outside wall of our classroom. 
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I think this absolutely counts as Very Serious! I can’t imagine anything more Very Serious to pause the work day for!
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I found this adorably tiny swallowtail caterpillar (exact species unknown) at the farmer’s market on some parsley. The seller told me I could just flick her into the grass if I wanted the parsley, but au contrair it was the caterpillar I wanted!
I’ll be setting her up at my apartment and seeing if I can get her through pupation and metamorphosis! Her name is Blossom 
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I love this. 
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This is so cool, i hope Blossom thrives!
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I haven’t come across any reptiles, but I have some amphibians. We must have had a baby boom because the yard is swarming with these little toadlets. Look how tiny and precious it is!
I also saw this cute fella after storming.
Hubby found another one that had snuck its way inside. Somehow it got past three cats and a puppy! We put him outside and turned the porch light on so he could feast
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Awwwww. They’re so tiny and so adorable! Nice pics, too!
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Blossom tripled in size in 10 days on a diet of parsley and Queen Anne’s Lace, and she chose a stick the other night and stayed still for 24 hours. I hope it was a good sign and not failure to thrive, and I woke up today to a pupa!
The pupa is hard to see, its so well camoflauged, but its present in the last photo in the same spot she was in in the 2nd photo
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That’s wonderful! What a great learning experience!!! 
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That’s awesome! Fingers crossed that Blossom emerges as a beautiful butterfly!
The last caterpillar I tried to raise up to maturity got as far as making a chrysalis, but never emerged. Not sure what happened.
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Yeah I imagine a lot can go wrong in the ‘literally turn into goo and then reform into a new creature’ stage, but fingers crossed!!
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