I lost Laverne, my first pet mantis, when our neighbor's cat jumped into my terrarium. My parents and I went back to Descanso Gardens last Sunday to find another mantis, maybe a brother or sister of Laverne. We almost gave up minutes before the park closed when, on top of a rose flower, a fierce-looking mantis was spotted by my mom's aimless videographing. Right away, my dad slowly put his forefinger next to its front legs to invite the insect for a ride. And indeed, the mantis climbed up to my dad's palm. We brought him home and set up the terrarium once again. Because of the way this mantis looks, like a hungry predator, I named him Barbossa.

Last night, my mom caught a medium-sized cricket at the backyard. She fed the live cricket to Barbossa who was then out on my dad's palm. Here is a series of pictures of how hungry Barbossa gobbled the cricket piece by piece in just a few minutes.