>>3 inches and light brown... sounds like a carolina mantis, the scientific name is stagmomantis carolina.
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>> -Andrew
Actually, Carolina Mantises max out at 2 1/2 inches long. Does the Mantis you found have a green stripe along the bottom edge of the wings? The only Mantis in the US of the description you gave is the Chinese Mantis, Tenodera Aridifolia. This species ranges from 3 to 4 inches and is the largest species in the US. As for food, Mantises will devour any insect they can catch, and large species like the Chinese will sometimes attack small reptiles & amphibians. As for your question about Mantises being warm or cold blooded, the are indeed ectothermic, and by this time, most of the Mantises in North America, save for those in the deep south, have died from the cold, though those that haven't frozen to death yet will pass from old age before the end of the year, or die when the first frost reaches where they are.
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Give me Mantises, or give me death!