It certainly was ugly. Big black spikes poked out from it's nearly three inch long body. When I touched it with my security card to scoop it into the plastic bottle, it curled up into a ball. It now looked like a black marble with spikes. A black marble that wouldn't fit into the water bottle. No way was I touching it with my bare hands now. (The spikes can irritate the skin.) I managed to pry it open enough for it to fall down into the bottle.
I put in a leaf and put it on my desk until it was time to drive home. I would look over every few minutes to make sure it was fine. I don't think it liked the bottle too much. I would hear it scraping the sides with it's feet trying to figure out it's new invisible prison. As long as it was alive. I didn't want to surprise the kids with a dead caterpillar. They aren't as much fun.
It arrived home alive and still in one spikey piece. The family had dinner first before I announced I had a surprise for the kids. (I almost forgot about it.) Once the boys saw the hideous thing, it was like Paula Abdul and whatever substance she's on: they couldn't get enough and the boys became quickly incoherent.
"Dad!Lookitsmovinganditsreallyneat!Whatdoesiteatdoesiteatcandydoesiteatcookies?canitouchitcanicanicani?"
We spend the rest of the evening with the television turned off, the video games put away as we made a new home for our "pet". We took an old fishbowl, put some dirt in the bottom with a few rocks and twigs in various positions. Then we got a few leaves to put in the bowl for food. We took some time to look up what kind of caterpillar it was (Giant Leopard) and what it would look like after it "transformed". It seems to like the leaves we've given it and the kids are constantly staring at the bowl.
It doesn't have a name yet, but we'll work on that later. It doesn't like to move when people are staring at it for some reason. The kids figured out to tell if it's alive by blowing on it. If it curls up into a ball, then it's alive. Anytime it has moved, Tristan will go around making personal announcements to everyone. "Hey Dad! It mooooved! Ethan! Ethan! It.. it.. the caterpitter! It moooooved! Where's mom? I neeeeed to tell her. Mom! Mom! The caterpitter moved!" It's also fun to pull out the leaves after they have been munched on and show the boys.
I'll post the pictures of it when I get a chance. I highly recommend the caterpillar for a pet to entertain your children. It's quiet, has all the qualities a kid likes and they will stare at it for hours on end.
Edit by Erlynne: Here's Chris' picture of the icky spiky calerpitter!
2 comments:
Tatum and her cousin, Livy recently found a ladybug that became their pet Michael. They gave it a bath (I'm sure that nearly killed it...), they gave it a home in clear box and some leaves, and they took it to preschool for show and tell. When I picked them up, Miss Ranelle informed me that she had accidentally killed Michael because he was stuck in the hinge of the box when she went to put him back inside--thus, he was squished. She didn't want 20 crying kids, and only her aide saw what happened. So, she looked all around and said, "Oh no, I think he flew away!" The kids were pretty sad that Michael was lost, and are now determined to find a replacement. :)
For more gross caterpillars than you can pick off in a day, just grow some passion vine [I have seeds or can dig up shoots for you.] Soon after it's established some very ugly bright orange caterpillars with black spikes a blue/purple stripe running lengthwise along the body will shortly appear and feast on the leaves. All last summer in Pottsboro I'd go out and pick them off the passion vines and put them in a can where I could then "dispose" of them in the most proper manner.
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