cool and what does L2 mean pray tell?

that means it's on its second molt after hatching :>

ohhh
ok

It's so cuuute! o____________o <3

It's kinda neat that one of the insect world's most efficient predators and a creature that has made appearances in several monster flicks starts out as something as tiny as a fingernail.
It's even got it's... thingies *does the hand thing like Po from Kung-Fu Panda*

this is actually even one of the larger species of mantids; there are others that are far, far smaller than any i have :>

and yeah, they always have the 'raptoral front legs' as they call them. they got through incomplete metamorphosis, so they just get bigger and more defined through molting and don't have a larva-pupa-adult transformation. this small you have to feel them tiny fruit flies so they can pounce and nab 'em without trouble :>