Just snapped a lucky shot of Biscuit with her new cage mate Toothless. He is an adult male but he going to need to eat up his dinner and grow a bit bigger to impress her. They are very sweet and cuddle up together but she shoves him out of the way when it's feeding time. There's plenty of fruit mash and mango pudding on offer but when it's crickets I have to take her out so he can have his share! They are both really staring at me saying 'where is the bowl of crickets?'. Biscuit tries to jump onto your hand when you open the door, she's very cheeky!

This is our new baby Indian Grass Mantis. He is called Kush which is Hindi for 'sacred grass'. It won't be clear whether he really is a boy till he's older when I can count the segments on his/her abdomen. When he arrived he was as small as a mosquito! In this picture he has just shed his skin(bottom right on the floor). The joke is that he will grow to be HUGE, but his body will be slim like grass stems.
He is so small I have to go and find tiny flies in the garden (as small as a full stop) which he stalks and pounces on. He then holds his prey pinned in his strong arms and sharp claws and eats at leisure. He is very aware of people, with excellent eyesight and will watch you walk past, which is slightly unnerving...
I have spent months and months looking for one of these and finally tracked down a specialist breeder(the only one in the country it seems!)
I grew up watching Praying Mantis's as a child in Africa and always find them fascinating. I get the feeling one Mantis isn't going to be enough...

Lola's tummy, which is normally a creamy white, has turned salmon-pink! This means she will shed her skin probably within a week.
I have made her bath much bigger so she can have a good long soak every day, but basically I will now leave her alone. She can't see very well now and her skin feels tight and itchy. Lola doesn't want to feed or be handled until that skin is off!