No, actually it was in my living room (on the basil plant, where it had really good camouflage). We named it Freddie (after the Elm street murderer) and I really wanted to keep it... only it turned out that mantises (mantii?) tend to get aggressive when you poke a lens and flash at them...
I did always want to take pictures of bugs with all the right equipment: macro lens, flash and tripod. I just never happen to have these things around when I see some interesting critters. Since Freddie was kind enough to come to my own living room, I made a few good shots before he started climbing the camera and jumping me (he was about half an inch tall, but really aggressive! ).
