It all started when my FIL beckoned the girls to see 'something' on his plants a fortnight ago. Then I overheard them saying caterpillars so I decided to check them out myself the following day. I was excited about them cos I had not been in contact with catepillars since I was in primary school. Think my mother caught one or two for me and we put them in a glass jar. Can't recall what happened after that though. Anyhow, I wanted to relive that part of my childhood.
Aha! To my delight, my sharp eyes found not one but six over the next two days! I decided to transfer them all to a container so that we could watch them grow. So very educational, right? I even pulled out the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and bought another Butterfly book by Time Magazine for Kids to read with the girls.
Meanwhile, husband kept bugging me to release them and even claimed his father would be 'sad' if he couldn't find any caterpillar. I just rolled my eyes and ignored him. True enough, my FIL noticed the caterpillars were all gone and began wondered aloud. Ying Ying tried to tell him they were in our room but he couldn't comprehend her blabbering. I quickly pulled her aside to tell her to keep that a secret.
You see, my FIL is a man paranoid about cleanliness (he insists on washing his own hankies because he doesn't like the idea of mixing them with other dirty laundry like undergarments; he also has a habit of wiping the sink and kitchen countertop many times than necessary cos he doesn't trust the maid to do a proper job.) What will he think of my hygiene level if he found out I was harbouring some 'dirty' insects in our bedroom?!?!
Ying Ying was curious initially but her interest waned after a while and she showed no interest in touching them. On the other hand, mei mei was very keen but I had to keep a close watch on her cos she was quite rough in handling them - she kept wanting to wave the leaf about, with a caterpillar on it.
Unfortunately, barely a week later, the fat, lovely green one (shown above) ended up dead. :( Actually, it already wasn't moving much when I caught it. At first, I thought it was getting itself ready a cocoon so I left it alone. I only realised it was dead when it had no reaction at all even after I gently poked its tiny liveless body a few times. Plus it seemed to be decomposing! A part of its body started to change colour (can't be cocoon right??) and so I flushed it down the toilet bowl. :/
After that, I decided to 'release' the rest so they wont have to suffer the same fate. Maybe they thrive living off on fresh leaves on plants and having fresh air instead of eating stale plucked leaves in a closed plastic container with holes.
Well, I was so eager to watch them transform into cocoon to butterfly but it was not meant to be. A few days after the mass release, they were nowhere to be found!!! :((
I suspected my MIL could have thrown them outta the baloney though I didn't dare to confront her about that. Cos once, she caught us staring hard at her beloved pot of lime plant (we were trying to look for the released catepillars) and asked what we were doing. When told about the catepillars, her immediate response was to quickly get rid of them cos they would eat up all the leaves!!! I protested mildly by saying just a few leaves, nevermind lah. BUT eversince that day, I never saw any of the caterpillars again. :(
THEN, just yesterday, I saw her using newspapers to swipe and chase away a rather big yellow and black butterfly which was flying about the plants. She complained it would lay eggs on them and even said that butterfly was once a caterpillar there. I thought so too - probably that was why it was so bold to even fly beyond the planter into the living room for a while. Wait a minute, maybe it was even once under my care and had come in to say hello to me! ^_^
Ahhh..... the case of the missing caterpillars!!!
Anyway, all is not lost cos yesterday Ying Ying saw me standing in front of some potted plants outside and asked if I was looking for caterpillars. She then said aloud (one) must look out for munched leaves cos it means caterpillars could be somewhere on the plant. I was pleasantly surprised cos I didn't expect her to link her experience at home to outside context. Hey, I also learned something new about catepillars:
1) They are BIG EATERS.
At first, I put in freshly plucked leaves and discarded the old ones everyday. Then I realised they are eating more and more (at snail's pace though) and at the rate they are eating, there wont be enough leaves to last them all. They only like lime leaves btw. So I started recycling the half-munched leaves by just rinsing them and putting them back. Perhaps that was why Eric Carle was inspired to write a book about a very hungry caterpillar. It's all real!! They are very hungry creatures!!!
2) They SHIT A LOT!!!!
I used to clean their container daily and drizzle a little bit of water in it for moisture. Once, we didn't go back to my IL's place for one day. The whole container base was filled with caterpillar shit and leaves munched to stems. I felt so guilty of neglecting them. :(
3) They SHIT when they are scared.
Each caterpillar always let out one ball of shit whenever I took them out to clean their container. Lends real meaning to the phrase: scare the shit out of you. Haha.
4) They grow up real fast.
One day they looked tiny and blackish. The next day they were noticeably bigger, longer and turned pale green. It was quite exciting to watch them change. I forgot to take photo when they were at a later stage.
Maybe it's time to get a pet for the girls. I think kids really learn a lot when given the opportunities to handle pets. There are learning points to take away, even caring for some measly caterpillars. Though this means one additional chore for me - who is going to end up doing the cleaning right? Hopefully, the girls will become more compassionate too cos they no longer think of themselves all the time but spare some thoughts for their beloved pets.
Hmmm..... I am thinking of either hamsters or fish for a start. Would love to get a dog but it is not feasible since we are out most of the time. Not very keen on rabbits cos they need a bigger space. Besides, I am still haunted by the 3-4 (!) dead rabbits under my various care many years ago when I was a kid. But then, mei mei loves rabbits so I may reconsider. Will discuss with the girls! *excited* Though I think Ying Ying will rather me to spend the $ on toy cars. :p We'll see how lah!
Well, I was so eager to watch them transform into cocoon to butterfly but it was not meant to be. A few days after the mass release, they were nowhere to be found!!! :((
I suspected my MIL could have thrown them outta the baloney though I didn't dare to confront her about that. Cos once, she caught us staring hard at her beloved pot of lime plant (we were trying to look for the released catepillars) and asked what we were doing. When told about the catepillars, her immediate response was to quickly get rid of them cos they would eat up all the leaves!!! I protested mildly by saying just a few leaves, nevermind lah. BUT eversince that day, I never saw any of the caterpillars again. :(
THEN, just yesterday, I saw her using newspapers to swipe and chase away a rather big yellow and black butterfly which was flying about the plants. She complained it would lay eggs on them and even said that butterfly was once a caterpillar there. I thought so too - probably that was why it was so bold to even fly beyond the planter into the living room for a while. Wait a minute, maybe it was even once under my care and had come in to say hello to me! ^_^
Ahhh..... the case of the missing caterpillars!!!
Anyway, all is not lost cos yesterday Ying Ying saw me standing in front of some potted plants outside and asked if I was looking for caterpillars. She then said aloud (one) must look out for munched leaves cos it means caterpillars could be somewhere on the plant. I was pleasantly surprised cos I didn't expect her to link her experience at home to outside context. Hey, I also learned something new about catepillars:
1) They are BIG EATERS.
At first, I put in freshly plucked leaves and discarded the old ones everyday. Then I realised they are eating more and more (at snail's pace though) and at the rate they are eating, there wont be enough leaves to last them all. They only like lime leaves btw. So I started recycling the half-munched leaves by just rinsing them and putting them back. Perhaps that was why Eric Carle was inspired to write a book about a very hungry caterpillar. It's all real!! They are very hungry creatures!!!
2) They SHIT A LOT!!!!
I used to clean their container daily and drizzle a little bit of water in it for moisture. Once, we didn't go back to my IL's place for one day. The whole container base was filled with caterpillar shit and leaves munched to stems. I felt so guilty of neglecting them. :(
3) They SHIT when they are scared.
Each caterpillar always let out one ball of shit whenever I took them out to clean their container. Lends real meaning to the phrase: scare the shit out of you. Haha.
4) They grow up real fast.
One day they looked tiny and blackish. The next day they were noticeably bigger, longer and turned pale green. It was quite exciting to watch them change. I forgot to take photo when they were at a later stage.
Maybe it's time to get a pet for the girls. I think kids really learn a lot when given the opportunities to handle pets. There are learning points to take away, even caring for some measly caterpillars. Though this means one additional chore for me - who is going to end up doing the cleaning right? Hopefully, the girls will become more compassionate too cos they no longer think of themselves all the time but spare some thoughts for their beloved pets.
Hmmm..... I am thinking of either hamsters or fish for a start. Would love to get a dog but it is not feasible since we are out most of the time. Not very keen on rabbits cos they need a bigger space. Besides, I am still haunted by the 3-4 (!) dead rabbits under my various care many years ago when I was a kid. But then, mei mei loves rabbits so I may reconsider. Will discuss with the girls! *excited* Though I think Ying Ying will rather me to spend the $ on toy cars. :p We'll see how lah!
No comments:
Post a Comment