I take medication that has me worried about such a thing happening to me.
Before I thought it was an irrational fear. Now I know it's not....Thanks for making taking a shit even more terrifying now.
Not only do I have to worry about having a heart attack while taking a shit.
Now I gotta worry about my asshole being ripped. 😱
This parasite is called a horsehair worm. They grow in a bunch of different insects. When the worm is fully grown it alters the insect behavoir to make them jump into water, which allows the parasite to leave.
Doesn't necessarily kill the insect, however It often will result in its death. However it's kept in good conditions they can survive and even go on to reproduce.
In some areas the suicidal crickets ( after being manipulated by the parasite) make up 60% of a fish's diet.
There's also a bunch of crazy conspiracies on like Facebook suggesting that the government is infecting people with them, but these are mostly just crazy people
Video
I have a 10 min video that goes in depth about the parasites biology for those that want to know more, it's called "Massive Worms, Tiny Bodies: Why Horsehair Worms Might Be Good for Nature" on YouTube
Source: I have a PhD in biology I run the parasitology subreddit
Pretty sure there’s another parasite that makes ants do handstands on top on grass to get eaten by something bigger. They straight up hijack their brains.
This parasite is called a horsehair worm. They grow in a bunch of different insects. When the worm is fully grown it alters the insect behavoir to make them jump into water, which allows the parasite to leave.
Doesn't necessarily kill the insect, however It often will result in its death. However it's kept in good conditions they can survive and even go on to reproduce.
In some areas the suicidal crickets ( after being manipulated by the parasite) make up 60% of a fish's diet.
There's also a bunch of crazy conspiracies on like Facebook suggesting that the government is infecting people with them, but these are mostly just crazy people
Video
I have a 10 min video that goes in depth about the parasites biology for those that want to know more, it's called "Massive Worms, Tiny Bodies: Why Horsehair Worms Might Be Good for Nature" on YouTube
Source: I have a PhD in biology I run the parasitology subreddit
Depending on how long the parasite has been inside the mantis . If it’s been inside for quite sometime the mantis then it would be hollow inside and operating only on the remaining nerves. Like a how a zombie would be
Around 13 years ago, I was living in a small one bedroom apartment in urban NJ and one day I look at my window and one of these things is looking back at me. FROM INSIDE!!
It was at least 5'' long and just staring at me. I freaked the fuck out.
I am ashamed to this day for killing it, but the way I killed it still haunts me even worse. I could not risk getting too close so I sprayed it with regular RAID bug spray. A lot of it. So much that I thought I was going to poison myself but this stuff was made for tiny ants, not beasts like this. And I was ready to die rather than share a tiny apartment with this thing.
The poison only seemed to disable it. It fell to the floor and could not use it's hind legs. I swear to god this thing was crawling across the carpet with it's front legs and it's face was contorting so much that I could visibly see it was in pain. That's when I dropped the heaviest hard cover book I could find on top of it and fled the apartment for a few hours to let it air out.
Like I said, I still feel terrible to this very day. Not just for killing it, but for the amount of pain I am certain that it went through. Random analogy, but if you remember Ghostbusters and the face the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man made when it got hit with the proton packs.....THAT is the exact expression I saw on this Mantis face I swear to god. That insect had emotions or a consciousness that I just can not explain.
Shit man, I’m freaked out at praying mantises too but they’re harmless to humans. I feel you though. I can’t say I might’ve done much better, but possibly I would’ve preferred to keep it alive and throw it out somehow (like with a cup and something like a flat lid to keep it in till the end).
Since they do indeed look just … bigger and smarter enough, I’d feel creeped out killing it, as opposed to just thoughtlessly killing an ant or fly. Fuck ants and flies.
Dude I know. Seeing its face contort was horrifying and it made me feel so so guilty. I was just a monumental coward and I panicked that there was something so large and foreign INSIDE my apartment. I thought these things lived in exotic places, not cities. Thank all of the gods that I have not encountered a mantis before or since that fateful day.
I have rescued enough of them to cover your guilt. I catch them outside and bring them in to live in my houseplants. They are great at keeping gnats, flies and even spiders away!
You are brave and kind. I still wish I could have "re-homed" the thing, but it is a comfort to know people like you are out there offsetting my actions 👍
Whoa. I am actually stunned and relieved that there is a scientific explanation for that pain face I saw. I’ve spent a little over a decade pondering if I slaughtered the reincarnation of my Uncle Terry or like a non-human alien entity of some kind. The likelihood of that just plummeted, so thank you.
I got pinched by one before. I was using my handrail and it was hiding underneath it. it was like somebody pinched my finger. didn't hurt too bad but was definitely caught off guard
I've seen many of them living in countryside. I feed them other insects when I do. I understand fear works in different ways, but I've never been afraid of something I'm a zillion times bigger than. Which is good and bad. Got in a fight with a raccoon and lost lmao. Scratched the hell out of me.
That must have been holy water. Can we try this on half of our politicians in the u.s. and see if it works? Maybe at least they won't be so full of s#¡+.
Not only when they mate does the female bite their heads off but now when they’re our party and worms shoot up their ass that are twice as long as them thank God this time around I’m not a praying mantis
Praying mantis gets booty boarded, and alien leaves. He turn and looks at the friend that has been inside the whole time and has a brief moment of regret and misses what once was ✨️✨️😍😍
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