So there my spiders were, doing their thing and living their best life. charlotte was catching bugs that flew behind the house, ruby caught the flies that tried to get in the shed, odessa caught everything attracted to the porch light, and piper went after the flies that attempted to make it into the well house when the door was open. They seemed to be thriving and i hadn’t seen a mosquito in weeks. For the most part i left them alone.
Then one day i stepped out onto the porch and i noticed the big female praying mantis that had been on the porch when charlotte disappeared weeks ago. She was right next to odessa. Odessa was not as smart as charlotte. She didn’t seem phased in the slightest. The mantis had inched close enough now to grab her and still odessa sat in her web looking positively relaxed. I said, “hold on odessa, i’m coming.” I went inside and grabbed my step stool. They were on the ceiling of the porch. I was five foot. It had to be done. I grabbed the plastic lantern and tried to smash the praying mantis with it. The mantis moved. I smashed again. She moved again. Every time i tried to smash the thing it moved. Finally it climbed onto the top of the roof and out of my sight. It was on the roof somewhere. I was not getting the ladder out of the shed to go after this thing. I let it go. I had a chat with odessa about stranger danger. I told her how Charlotte had left the porch to avoid the praying mantis i now dubbed “Rasputin”. I told her she needed to be careful because the porch was a confirmed spider hangout and the mantises knew that. Odessa seemed unphased. She continued on with her routines business as usual. It was her confidence that would be her undoing in the end.