I'm molting, I'm molting...

(Okay, well, not me actually, but I couldn't resist the play on the famous phrase from the Wizard of Oz!)

Our biggest praying mantis has molted again and this time we got to watch the latter part of the molting process! It was so fascinating (have I mentioned yet how fascinating this whole project has been and continues to be?!)! I'm a little concerned because he hasn't been able to detach the old exoskeleton from the end of his back leg, but we're just going to keep watching it and see what happens. He's eating fine and seems to be getting around fine, and I would assume that eventually the thing will have to rot and fall off! The good news is that he is big enough to actually see in the pictures now! Here he is during the final part of his molt, still hanging from his old exoskeleton on the underside of the branch (hopefully Blogger will let you click on the picture so that you can see an enlarged version):