I don't want a pet pray mantis!!!

I was doing dishes today and I looked up and low and behold, a pray mantis is clinging to the inside of my kitchen window. What the heck??

My husband said he found it in the garage and decided to bring it INSIDE the house. Left in the garage, my husband explained, the little green creature would die.

“Put it outside,” I said.

“It’s too cold. He’ll die.” (Notice the bug now has a specific gender).

I wag my finger. “Well, bringing the little sucker inside the house isn’t going to up his odds of survival either,” I said. “I can guarantee that!”

At this point, I am thinking there is a toilet bowl with this green bugs name on it.

“Get rid of it,” I said. No more debating. This is ridiculous.

Well, I forgot about it, and low and behold several hours later—the stupid thing is still there, camping out by the tomatoes I have ripening in the window ledge.

But this time he is not alone, there are TWO bugs.  Double crap!

“What do you think you’re doing?” I ask my crazy husband, because obviously he is nuts.

“He’s hungry.”

I tilted my head and eyed my odd husband. “Soooo, you went outside bug hunting? You brought dinner back for the praying mantis?”

“I don’t like the way you make that sound,” he said.

So here we are playing tug-o-war with the life of an innocent creature.  I still have that praying mantis in my kitchen window on this side of the glass—the side I live on and bugs should not. I’m all for sparing the life of bugs (okay, you caught me. That’s not true. I smash them and flush them without much guilt), but still.

Let nature take its course. Put the thing outside. That is my motto.

But gosh darnit, every time I go to my kitchen to get a drink of water or grab a little bite of something to make my sore throat feel better, that pray mantis looks at me—pleadingly. And just for the record, the kids have taken Scott’s side too. They like the little guy (yes, it’s a boy. Everyone knows green pray mantis’ are boys, duh!)

Ay, yi, yi!!

What am I to do?

I don’t want a pet pray mantis, but it looks like the scales are tipping in that direction.

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