Our first pet ~ Praying mantis

This past weekend we acquired our first pet–a praying mantis!  My husband found it in our front yard.  He said he has never seen one in its natural habitat before.  So, we first had it in a pickle jar.  We fed it a butterfly, a moth and a cricket, which were also caught in the yard.  The pet store was closed on Labor Day, so yesterday the kids and I bought a larger cage and some crickets for it.  As soon as we transferred it to the larger cage, it clung to the top and hasn’t moved.  It has had crickets and moths to eat but hasn’t eaten anything.  I figured it must be dying.  But I just did some research and found out that a praying mantis molts every two weeks.  It will stop eating and just hang there–so that must be what’s going on. Well, it’s an interesting learning experience anyway.  Maybe we should name it!