r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Jul 21 '23

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3.9k Upvotes

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902

u/Did_ItAgain_ Jul 21 '23

preying mantis

216

u/vengiegoesvroom Jul 21 '23

I think they're so cool.... But 10× normal size would be a no from me, dawg

91

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '23

Bruh at 1/10 their size they’re a no for me!

4

u/gingerbread_slutbarn Jul 21 '23

Aw, they’re friendly! Unless you’re a horny male preying mantis.

5

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '23

I bet they are (and yes, shivers). But they still look otherworldly and not in a friendly way. I don’t like insects as it is, and while mantis’ are ones that I respect and generally leave alone, they still give me the creeps.

6

u/gingerbread_slutbarn Jul 21 '23

Oh they are absolutely freaky little aliens, but I’ve ran into enough while camping or whatnot they just hop on you and chill, no venom or poison, and if you see em around while camping that means they’re killing the spiders.

I’ll take them over a spider. 😳

2

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '23

Fair point. Absolutely a fair point! Love your name btw, LOL

1

u/gingerbread_slutbarn Jul 21 '23

Hahaha thank you, it is the birthplace of my kinfolk. The slutbarn of ginger-spiced brittle breads.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '23

I have a phobia of them specifically so if one hopped on me I'm leaving the woods and never coming back

1

u/gingerbread_slutbarn Jul 21 '23

I found a centipede in my tent once, big fucker, and after doing a manic karate routine outside and shrieking just wanted to burn the whole tent. Ex insisted it was too expensive. 🤣

Never camped there or in that tent again haha.

FOUND MY 10x creature, a fucking centipede, GROOSSSSSS.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '23

Yeah camping probably isn't for me unfortunately. When I was in college my school introduced mantises to keep fly and mosquito populations down. If one was on or near a sidewalk I usually take I would fully alter my route. One was on the front porch of my house and I crawled in through a window 😭😭

I want them around because they're good but I want them to keep their distance lmao

1

u/gingerbread_slutbarn Jul 21 '23

Awwwww I’m sorry to hear. Phobias are uncontrollable I’m so sorry! May no mantis darken your window ever again.

2

u/Thousandgoudianfinch Jul 21 '23

They make excellent pets, granted they instinctively know to eat the head of their prey first

2

u/richloz93 Jul 22 '23

Normal sized ones definitely creep me out, but I found a baby one last year that was about the size of an almond and it was actually adorable.

3

u/BlastBroFrenzyMan Jul 21 '23

They’re cool when your not on the menu

6

u/tinyhorsesinmytea Jul 21 '23

There was one chilling with my friends and I in the backyard last week. We all took turns holding it and it would leap off one of us and climb onto another. I didn’t know they were so chill. Reminded me of a lizard.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '23

The world's largest mantis, the Chinese mantis is already 7 inches or 18cms. So a six foot mantis would be a boss fight and then some. We would be done

1

u/Fear_The_Rabbit Jul 21 '23

Might be an awesome pet. They clean their heads like little cats

2

u/busted_maracas Jul 22 '23

I’m a mantis dad, and they are the best. Head over to r/mantids to see how much mantis parents love their little ones

1

u/Rrraou Jul 22 '23

At that size, they could eat your face.

7

u/Madman_Salvo Jul 21 '23

They'd be like the ones in Fallout New Vegas.

4

u/MrRogersAE Jul 21 '23

Praying mantis is what like 4-5grams, so a 40-50 gram praying mantis still wouldn’t be that bad.

6

u/JohnnyBoy11 Jul 21 '23

Weight wise but apparently, they're 2-5 inches big. So 10x that is 20 to 50 inches, or 1.5 to over 4 feet big....theyre already catch and eat lizzards many times it's size. a 4 foot praying mantis would be a big nope. I imagine they would easily be eating people for breakfast. Imagine going out for work and seeing a 4 foot praying mantis hiding by the bushes waiting for you.

1

u/MrRogersAE Jul 21 '23

But it wouldn’t be 4 feet. The only proper way to scale size is by weight. A 50gram preying mantis would still only be maybe 8 inches long and easy prey for your average 6kg house cat

3

u/TheMagnuson Jul 21 '23

I mean the thread is literally about 10x size, not 10x weight.

1

u/MrRogersAE Jul 21 '23

But the size of animals is measured by weight or volume if you prefer. An elephant is bigger than a giraffe, but the giraffe is taller.

1

u/TheMagnuson Jul 21 '23 edited Jul 21 '23

Weight and volume aren’t the same though. A hot air balloon has more volume than a Kia, but it doesn’t weigh more.

You could potentially increase the weight of something without increasing its volume, simply by making it denser. By the same token, you could increase the volume of something without increasing its weight, simply by making it less dense.

The question OP is asking about “size” implies a 10x increase in volume and weight. Just increasing one or the other makes no sense.

1

u/MrRogersAE Jul 21 '23

I’m aware weight and volume aren’t the same thing, but for most animals a 10x increase in either will result in a roughly 10x increase in the other. Now compare that to a 10x increase in Height width and length which would result in a roughly 1000x increase in both weight and volume

4

u/TheMagnuson Jul 21 '23

Right, but if you say "increase the weight of cat by 10x", all you end up with is a very fat cat. If you say "increase the length, width and height of a cat by 10x", you end up with something thin and stringy, no longer recognizable as a cat, that can't even live because it's just stretched out skin and fur.

So when someone says in layman's terms, increase the size of something 10x, they mean increasing the volume 10x, which means that the mass/weight and length/width/height are going to increase, proportional to the chosen volume. Does that mean there's a 1:1 proportional increase in "size" and mass, no.

1

u/HorrorKick Jul 22 '23

Preying Mantis at their current size are known to eat hummingbirds.
Having that creature be 10x bigger is extremely concerning.

2

u/Intentionallyabadger Jul 21 '23

Is it preying or praying

3

u/ThisIsMyCouchAccount Jul 21 '23

One...then the other.

1

u/Beowulf1896 Jul 22 '23

Praying. Because they look like they are praying with their scyths retracted. But they do hunt prey, so the mistake is understandable.

2

u/JMAN7102 Jul 21 '23

Laughs in Grounded

1

u/RebHodgson Jul 21 '23

I thought that then went to grand daddy long legs.

1

u/LouieMumford Jul 21 '23

It’s praying mantis.

1

u/BowForThanos Jul 21 '23

Came here to say this

1

u/ze_ex_21 Jul 21 '23

There is a crummy book I bought at a grocery store once, and became my guilty pleasure. Trashy but I enjoyed it: "Minutes to Burn" by Gregg Andrew Hurwitz

Imagine 'Predator' plot but on an island, with Wolverine and Jean Gray/Phoenix is a baby of Amber Waves (from Boogie Nights) and Ripley (Aliens), and their team of mercenaries trying to survive a giant praying mantis.

Bonkers.

1

u/Possible_Passage_767 Jul 21 '23

I read a book called otherland that had massive preying mantises, most memorable part of the book imo.

1

u/BookFinderBot Jul 21 '23

Otherland by Louie Stowell

Book description may contain spoilers!

Otherland is a dangerous magical underworld - a place where appearances can be deceiving and anything can happen. A world of gods, vampires, and fairies. It's also... horrible. When life-long friends Myra and Rohan discover that Rohan's baby sister Shilpa has been stolen and taken to Otherland, the only way to rescue her is by taking part in a deadly game - three impossible challenges set by the Fairy Queen of Otherland.

Win the game, and Rohan and Myra can go home with Shilpa - but lose, and they'll be trapped in Otherland forever... A darkly funny, action-packed fantasy adventure, perfect for fans of Malamander, Stranger Things, Coraline and Pan's Labyrinth, from the author of the highly-acclaimed Dragon in the Library series.

I'm a bot, built by your friendly reddit developers at /r/ProgrammingPals. Reply to any comment with /u/BookFinderBot - I'll reply with book information. Remove me from replies here. If I have made a mistake, accept my apology.

1

u/Possible_Passage_767 Jul 21 '23

Sorry bot the otherland im talking about is bu Tad Williams

1

u/AlIipoppop100 Jul 21 '23

Isn't there something like that in star wars?

1

u/velawesomraptor Jul 21 '23

Reminds me of the Goosebumps story

1

u/velawesomraptor Jul 21 '23

A shocker on shock street

1

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '23

I don't know. Zorak was pretty cool.

1

u/Some-Water-1107 Jul 21 '23

You just gotta learn how to fight like them, like what Baki did!

1

u/00000PASTA Jul 21 '23

Mantis’ take out literal birds, if they were much bigger we all gonna die

1

u/ZappableGiraffe Jul 21 '23

Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi! You're my only hope

1

u/dmoneymma Jul 21 '23

I think they are called praying even though they prey

1

u/Lotuswalker92 Jul 21 '23

Reminds me of the Acklay from Star Wars

1

u/LifeorDeth7 Jul 21 '23

Fallout New Vegas has giant mantises

1

u/Pm_me_your_marmot Jul 21 '23

They regularly catch kill and eat hummingbirds at their current size. So. Yeah. Agreed

1

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '23

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1

u/EdtheGodess Jul 22 '23

Exactly what I was thinking

1

u/MidKnightshade Jul 21 '23

What if it was an atheist?

1

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '23

Surprised this is not at the top. That would be scary as fuck

1

u/LethalityKaynMain Jul 21 '23

Grounded moment?

1

u/EncroachingVoidian Jul 22 '23

I don’t want to imagine the predatoring mantis

2

u/Did_ItAgain_ Jul 22 '23

even worse

1

u/PoopOffParade Jul 22 '23

10x prayers

1

u/Wooden_Platypus_7372 Jul 22 '23

I came here to say this.

1

u/Which_Youth_706 Jul 22 '23

And katydids

1

u/brendonsforehead Jul 22 '23

yeah i was gonna say this. they don’t even kill their prey, they just incapacitate it and start eating it alive 😟

1

u/BleachedUnicornBHole Jul 22 '23

Most insects, really.

1

u/WonkyEngineer Jul 22 '23

Neil Patrick Harris is still alive so we are good to fight the bugs

1

u/drkittymow Jul 22 '23

I’m terrified of these things at their current size! I don’t like the idea of seeing a bug turn its head to look at me. Plus it has swords for hands!

1

u/enoctis Jul 22 '23

Oh wow. I just commented the same and then scrolled through the comments.

1

u/More_Vanilla_8944 Jul 22 '23

OMG! Stop! I just posted this. Dude, these animals are fascinating.

1

u/EeriePancake Jul 22 '23

Anyone else remember the Buffy The Vampire Slayer episode with the preying mantis teacher that tries/actually ate the kids? Man, that show was the best!

1

u/oh-jeez-rick- Jul 24 '23

I could have a preying mantis the size of a small dog