Praying Mantis

[Lacibeth]

Two of the most common, find 'em all over the place, mantids in the US are the Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis) and the Carolina mantis (Stagmomantis carolina). Given that it's only 2" my guess is that it's probably the Carolina mantis. The chinese mantis is usually 3-4" and is either greenish, or has a greenish "strip" down the edge of the front wing.

The other possibility is the European mantis (Mantis religiosa) which is in the 2-3" range but has a black "armpit".

For a 100% ID, check out bugguide.net.

As for sex, females usually have a larger, plumper abdomen and 6 (sometimes 7) segments and are very poor fliers (if they fly at all). Males have a longer, leaner abdomen with 8 segments. Females are typically larger than males overall.

[Whistly]

I think it's a male as a female will have a very wide abdomen. In the photo you I can see that it's body is pretty much a consistent width so I'd say male.

I used to have a female South African praying mantis I started out tempting it with food from my hand and eventually I could hand feed it more than 5 flies at a time.

[pac]

Ok thanks i plan on getting a ghost mantis later

[Zathura]

As an avid insect lover, I have a suggestion that will make keeping him a breeze.

I successfully kept a large mantid (about 5" long) in a 15 gal. tall aquarium for several months before letting him go, without ever needing to FEED HIM!!

The secret?: I found a piece of wood infested by termites, placed it in the aquarium, and he happily ate them at his leisure, with no ill-effects. In fact, I don't even remember having to water him, though I did feed him a wild-caught grasshopper about once a week, mostly for fun.

You probably won't see this method actually advised or recommended anywhere, but it does work. (speaking from experience, not conjecture)

(Edit) On second thought, I'm not actually recommending this myself, just sharing. I have no idea what the actual species of my mantid was, so YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary).

[pac]

Ok he ate a grasshopper he killed it and then later he ate it

[Striped marsh]

This was kind of cruel when i think about it now but back in primary school me and my mates use to make a little ring and get a crab spider or various other bugs and put them against a green type of mantis that we get here (actually placed small bets which is about sad at that age lol) the mantis aways won except for the wolf spider but that was twice it size... anyway nice mantis

[pacmanfr0g13]

It looks like you have a sub-adult or 8th instar male chinese mantis.

P.S. If you like keeping Mantids as pets, I would suggest joining Mantidforum (www.Mantidforum.net). I'm on there as Mantiskid .
Also I have some ghost mantids and am going to breed them soon. I could sell you a few when they hatch maybe? I also have a few Chinese mantis ooths (eggcases) from my male and female (Icarus and Lydia) that should hatch soon. I'll have several hundred hatchlings, so I could sell you some (as long as you don't use them as feeders). Ghost mantids are cooler though because they can be kept communally with very little or no cannibalism. I have a pic of my communal housing set up for my ghosts in my "My Mantids" album.