Twig/Bark Mantis Rescue

This little Sh!t and his sister where rescued from the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) in Bethlehem, Free State, South Africa. They were rescued by climbing up the fence together and dramatically when we walked past them. They knew and we knew.

They were brought up on a Big Cat Animal Sanctuary 30 km outside Bethlehem.
They knew no rules, loved everybody and every animal. There were free range wild animals on the Estate and as they grew, they learnt to stear clear of the Zebra, but the Waterbuck were very calm and good company.

Much to our complete fear and anxiety they never arrived home with any broken legs or wounds. What they did arrive home with were birds, beheaded poisonous snakes and loads of the cutest field mice, with a little stripe down their backs. Nothing was safe. And then ...

We were retrenched and returned to Johannesburg, these precious little furbabies had to now turn into house cats. Dear lord, help everybody and everything in this neighbourhood. I am glad to say that they settled down nicely, we just make sure that they are fed well twice a day.

However today my little lad came trotting into the garage where I was working with something in his mouth that was twitching and writhing.
I managed to grab him by the scruff of his neck and he instantly opened his mouth ... and what I thought was a stick insect, fell gently from his mouth.

After locking the cat inside I returned to the garage to find this little fella, it appeared as though all appendages were in tact. I picked him up gently and took him outside. Put him on a little plant on the table and knew instantly that I had to photography him.

Ran for the camera and tripod and my phone. I tried shooting him with the phone, I wanted to be able to show @ridor5301 my attempt, but failed miserably, couldn't get close enough, so threw the dslr camera onto the tripod. I had the 300mm lens on so had to set up a few feet away to get focus.

He just sat there, thank goodness. Its been a while since I pulled the trigger and the first ten shots were useless. Had to take a breath and calm down then it all came back. Of the thirty or so shots I took - this is the only one that is properly in focus. I managed to film him for a few seconds, but haven't worked out how to upload video yet. Quite cool, I caught him preening himself on video.

I know I locked the cats up, but they both returned and were on the roof watching what was going on. So I picked him up and took him out of the property to the park close by and put in some thick brush.

The next drama was finding the SD card reader. Anyway, it was time to find out who this little fella was. I must say that I had two instincts, the first was a stick insect, but he also looked like a pray mantis, but had never seen a brown one that looked like a stick insect.

So I used google lens and habit dictates that I use it twice after telling Ai to be better. The first result was A "Bark Mantis", the second result was A "Twig or Bark Mantis".

All in all, I felt privileged to see this little fella. These things are getting harder and fewer to see. I feel lucky to have been able to save him and record him. Thank you young sir.