I am here to tell you of one my peacocks conquests. His name is Thor. Most of the time Thor stairs out at me (very rude) and its kinda like hes saying "what the hell do you want?" little bastard haha. Hes a lot of fun still though and I love him to death. He can club all kinds of food but he specializes in blue crabs that I catch locally. I am going to tell you of one such battle.
It was a pretty large blue crab and it was kind of like my warriors "test" for my peacock Thor to prove his manhood (yes its a male.) Anyways I introduced him (the crab aka "the King" due to his cocky "I own this place" behavior) a few days before I went on a trip and I was a little worried because this was a pretty mean looking crab who did his best to get a piece of me during his capture from the beach and later during his release into the tank. I have been trying to train Thor to take on these guys for a few months now and he has been working his way with ease through the ranks of crabs that I throw at him (not actual training but more like letting him sharpen his skills.) This was definitely the largest one I had introduced yet and I had been keeping him down in my wet dry for about a week (kept him fed too! I wasn't going to take away from Thor's glory by introducing a weakened opponent!)
After a hell of a time trying to catch him out of my wet dry in the "king" went to my hungry mantis. I was a little nervous at this point and was ready to break things up if I saw things going the kings way. Thor locked onto the target and...turned and burned. Haha he wasn't having that size of a crab (as wide as Tuco is long, and thats with claws tucked!) but I knew Thor just needed to regroup and re access the situation. A few moments later he came back out in defensive stance and was looking like he had a change of heart. He slowly checked things out and made his way out a little ways. Thor realized that the king had his back turned to him (big mistake!) Thor flew out and gave him a nice big "THWACK" to the back of the head. This crab was a real bad *** I assure you and he was all macho with his claws out and swinging them around like he owned the place but when Thor laid into him with that blinding strike I think he decided someone just stole his spot at top of the food chain and the King was headin for the hills. Thor had done his typical smash and grab attack and was now happily back in his home looking quite happy with himself but you could see he was a predator yearning for more!
It wasn't long until he was back on the trail of the giant blue crab and it didn't take him long to discover his opponents hiding spot. In Thor went into one side of the rocks and after two loud "CRACK"s out flew the King from the other side. Thor got another shot off and did his typical ambush and retreat tactic. Maybe he is more like a Hun instead of a mantis, perhaps Genghis Khan reincarnate? Haha well maybe hes not Genghis but at least a Patton! Ok, back to the story. So by now the "King" was realizing that running was not working out so well and he decided that he was going to make a stand (maybe it wasn't a mental choice) so he wandered to the gates of oblivion (Thor's cave entrance!) And man oh man if there is one thing That really gets Thor going is if you try and mess with his pad! As soon as he came in sight of the sneaking blue crab out Thor flew with multiple blows to the claws and cranium leaving the crab in a state of shock! The Crab was trying to escape but was swimming into a corner right next to his cave so the beating kept coming from Thor until finally one of his claws busted off under a mighty blow from one of Thor's hammers and that seemed to pacify Thor's thirsting hunger and blinding anger for the moment. He retreated back into his cave with the claw and happily had himself a crab arm lunch.
The King was bruised and battered and it looked as if Thor had taken out one of the crabs eyes too. To say the least the mighty crab was not the crab it had been a few minutes before but he still had some fight left in him. I knew that Thor would be tuckered out after his feast and therefore I left him alone to eat and went about my daily routine. I knew Thor was not done with the crab quite yet.
A few hours passed before I heard a loud "SMACK" coming from my bedroom! (yes he is by my bed and he thinks it is his responsibility to wake me up every morning and that my alarm clock is inadequate compared to his banging away!) So of course I rushed back into my room as the battle ensued. Thor was in full chase when I came into the room and mister one arm/eye was on the run. Thor being the mighty mantis that he is was full of his new found confidence and was attacking in a reckless fury (I tried to tell him about this kind of behavior!). The King found his opportunity in the midst of this succession of blows from Thor and grabbed onto one of Thor's legs! OUCH! Thor tried to swim away but the crab had a hold of him now and was not about to let go! Luckily the crab only had one claw at this time and could only hold onto Thor as best he could with his one remaining claw. Thor finding the heavy crab too strong to get away from came back on the offensive! With a couple of furious blows he weakened the crabs grip enough to slip away into the safety of his home.
Thor was not happy about this new development and seemed to be pouting. I think he was embarrassed about his melt down of defense (its a mantis thing I think) but otherwise with the exception of a hurt ego he looked none the worse for wear. I'm afraid the same could not be said of the once mighty blue crab the "King". Like a king who had seen his once beautiful kingdom turned to dust before his very eyes he looked to be defeated in body and spirit. With multiple cracks and breaks in his armor he was looking like his end was coming nearer and nearer as time went past. Thor being merciless as he is and showing no pardon came back with all of his mantis wrath and with one precise and mighty blow he stole the crabs final claw.
The King seemed almost to not care as Thor retreated to feast in his halls of glory. At this time the once all powerful "King" was on his way out and the rest is as you would imagine it and for the sake of shortening an already ridiculously long story I will end here. Needless to say it was a very intense battle and Thor reigned supreme and knocked yet another bully and dictator from his high pedi stool! And thats Thor the mighty mantis's story, I hope you enjoyed it
