Tenerife forum

[MaryJ]

We have saved the lives of 2 harmless insects, we hope.

Last week there was a praying mantis on the terrocata tiles outside our door on the walkway on our complex. He/she was there for at least 2 hours staying perfectly still. We had builders in at the time and one of them said the insect thought it was camouflaged and was waiting for insects to eat.

Eventually we decided to trap it in a pint beer glass and slide a piece of paper under him/she and deposit him/her on a palm tree in our communnial gardens before someone came along and trod on him/her.

Yesterday we found a dragonfly all soggy in a puddle of the rainwater on the top of a plastic storage unit we have outside our door. Mr J got it onto a damp cloth out of the water and we left it to dry out. An hour or so later we looked at it and it was moving about and flew off and landed on an ornament on the wall next door and then flew off.

Hopefully they were both OK.
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[bardofely]

That is great news, Mary! I would have done likewise! Though in my case I would have picked the insects up because they are quite harmless and do not bite or sting.
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[MaryJ]

Hi Bard,

I am not frightened of them but I worry about handling such fragile insects in case I hurt them as they look so delicate.

We did gently touch the mantis and it stood up and went into what looked like a defensive position so we thought the plastic glass was a good idea to transport it onto some foliage.

The dragonfly looked like it was dead as it was floating in the puddle. It was wonderful to see it recover after scooping it onto the cloth. After a while it started cleaning its face with it's front legs. I have never been able to observe a dragonfly so closely before.

It was a wonderful to watch it recover and fly away.
_________________
Growing old is mandatory. Growing up is optional.

[bardofely]

They are a lot stronger than they look. I rescued a dragonfly from a pond in the park in Icod some years back so know the situation you are describing. I think that although they are excellent at flying if we have very high winds they cannot cope and may end up being blown into water and once their wings are sodden they cannot get out.
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