Weird, weird. . .things.

Okay. A couple months ago I saw this. . .thing on my back porch. It had a gray body like a grasshopper, except it was humongous and it had a tail kinda like a worms. It had these really vicious looking jaws and I don't know where else to post this because, cultured though I am, I've never seen anything like this. Any hints?

Was it a bug? A lizard looking thing?

It was like a really, really, really big bug. I don't know. Maybe something weird happened and two bugs intermated or something. . .

or a stick bug. Praying mantis' can get pretty damn big and they colours range from dark green to a greyish green..and even some that look almost brindle striped.

They do have a long abdomen and their mandibles are fairly pronounced.

Relatively harmless but they can and do bite...

that's what it sounds like to me.

Hn. A possibility. What's with the worm tail then?

in reference to the "worm tail". Likely a male mantis with a woody

Originally posted by justgeneric
in reference to the "worm tail". Likely a male mantis with a woody

Insane and slightly hilarious, but hey, you never know.

If he knew he was going to be headless after sex, I don't think he'd be so excited.

This thread is a reason why sightings of most any kind are discounted. You gave absolutely no physical description in any detail. Big. Humongous. What is that relaitve to huge? Everyone has a different concept of "largeness." Use a scale of reference. Was it as big as your Chihuahua dog or as big as a sparrow, or what? A worm has only a body, no tail, so does that mean this appendage was round and long? How long? How thick? How long relative to the body? Specifics please.

Originally posted by Cruizer
This thread is a reason why sightings of most any kind are discounted. You gave absolutely no physical description in any detail. Big. Humongous. What is that relaitve to huge? Everyone has a different concept of "largeness." Use a scale of reference. Was it as big as your Chihuahua dog or as big as a sparrow, or what? A worm has only a body, no tail, so does that mean this appendage was round and long? How long? How thick? How long relative to the body? Specifics please.

Em, in dimension it's about as big as an adult fist, the tail is about 1 1/2 inches long, looks like the end of a worm, excuse me, and about as thick as. . .a regular worm. Anything else?

So you're saying this thing was as big as a jumbo rat? Now I can see why you gave no size reference. Take a look at your fist, mine is approx 5-1/2" from outside index knuckle to outside pinkie knuckle X 5-1/2" from middle joint on index finger to wrist X
3-1/2" from flat outside of curled under thumb to top of first joint on index finger.

No insult intended here but are you sure of this size?

And I was picturing something longer and slimmer like the original grasshopper-like description. A fist is more rat-like in general shape.

Originally posted by jbondo
So you're saying this thing was as big as a jumbo rat? Now I can see why you gave no size reference. Take a look at your fist, mine is approx 5-1/2" from outside index knuckle to outside pinkie knuckle X 5-1/2" from middle joint on index finger to wrist X
3-1/2" from flat outside of curled under thumb to top of first joint on index finger.

No insult intended here but are you sure of this size?

It doesn't fill a the size of a fist, it just reaches out that far.

I agree with the previous poster. It does sound more like a praying mantis than anything, but I don't know what's up with the worm tail though.

a praying mantis holding and eating a worm would look like this. The mantis are meat eaters (i have one) and i could definatly see a big one holding a worm and chowing it down in front of you. Might look like 1 animal.

www.mantisuk.com...

here is one eating a MOUSE!

Oh jeez, that was. . .disturbing. Thanks for the suggestion though. Wow. . .