The Circle of Life Continues...What did I get myself in to?

Remember our quest for a praying mantis at the San Diego Zoo? (in case you don't you can read about it here).  Well, apparently my son was as vocal about it with his friends as he was with my husband and I.  The request came in for it to be his birthday present and after calling every pet store and garden store around I learned that praying mantis' are not easy to come by.  I have learned that most praying mantis only live about 13 months, so the theory being you need to get one at a young age so you have it for awhile.  After speaking with the local garden center I learned that they actually sell them at certain points of the year (like lady bugs), but that it was a few weeks too early in the season for them to carry them. 

Not being daring enough to order one from an online retailer I explained to my son that as soon as they were "in season" we would get him his praying mantis.

Little did I know I had already been outsmarted by Kyle.  He had put out a bounty on a praying mantis.  As I picked him up from school one afternoon the grin on his face was priceless.  "LOOK MOM!!!!"  Simon caught a praying mantis in a jar and brought it to school for me.  I was stunned.  I was exhausted from a really long work week and the last thing I wanted to do was stop at the pet store and get the terrarium and other things we needed to get this guy set up.

But I had made a promise and I knew I HAD to keep it.  So off we went to the pet store where we bought a cool terrarium for $90 (yeah... all this for a garden caught BUG) and crickets.  Oh joy.  It eats LIVE crickets.  Are you kidding me?  I played with Barbies and Jem dolls as a little girl and now I'm setting up elaborate terrariums and buying LIVE crickets to fed other insects.  Save me please.  This is right up there with finding a GIANT crab claw in the washing machine.  (missed that one?  read about that here.)

See the praying mantis hanging out at the top left of the terrarium?  Yeah.  An entire mansion and it clings to the top screen upside down all day long.  Ungrateful little bug.

Best part?  Well today Kyle announced that it was the praying mantis' birthday and he caught it a grasshopper at school.  It had been in his backpack pocket all day but was still alive.  Oh more joy.  Yes, it was fed to the praying mantis (yes, actual picture is at the top of this post).

Seriously, I love my boys to pieces but what the heck did I get myself in to?