Chatting with RegularSis on the phone this morning, I discovered that she assumed that Fluffy the Fearless Caterpillar was long since dead. If you were thinking the same thing, I’m here to tell you that Fluffy is alive and well, and…thriving. Fluffy munches through at least one incredibly large Sycamore leaf a day. I’m a bit amazed and a bit more nauseated to have witnessed FIRST HAND the prodigious amounts of caterpillar crap one small caterpillar can produce in one week:
The caterpillar crap became so profuse, that we needed to move Fluffy to a new pickle jar this morning, otherwise the Caterpillar Department of Health would have come knocking. Here’s Fluffy’s new digs:
Fluffy has gotten significantly bigger in the past week. I’m feeling pretty confident that Fluffy will survive at least until his cocooning phase, at which point, we may completely screw this up by not providing the right leaf or twig for him to build on. But, then again, we still might end up with a moth.
Other pertinent caterpillar news:
To stave off the jealous whining, I allowed my 4-year-old to keep a small yellow caterpillar with black spots on it that we found at our friend’s house last week during art camp. We took “Yellowy” home and placed him into his very own pickle jar with a bunch of oak leaves since we had found him under an oak tree. I spent a good hour seaching online for the type of caterpillar he was, only to find out that he’s some sort of Sawfly, possibly a White Pine Sawfly except that his feet aren’t the right color.
I showed my 4-year-old a picture of what a Sawfly looked like and said, “Here, honey…this is what Yellowy will turn into.” She looked at the picture of the ugly, wasp-like fly, and her face sort of crumbled as she said, “I don’t want one of those.”
My heart broke for a her a little bit, because honestly…I wouldn’t want one either. They just look nasty.
The good news is that I’m pretty sure the Sawfly caterpillar is dead. I never could figure out what he ate, and I haven’t seen him move in days. I’ll toss him away after a few more days, and keep my eyes open for something prettier for my little girl. I’ve also discovered that if I need a few extra minutes of quiet in the house, I can send the girls out to look for another Fluffy.
That’s it on the caterpillar front. Time to go wash out more pickle jars.
You’re such a good Mom for keeping all those creepy crawlies around.
Makes me think. I remember finding a science site where you can order Monarch caterpillars. We might do this. Could be a solution for your smallest girl. I would hate to have them give up that happy searching time, though.
Yes, I’ve heard of that monarch site too. And someday…maybe we’ll order them. Right now, my favorite part of this project is that it’s not costing any extra money.
Craptastic caterpillar update!
(From the looks of his old jar, Fluffy could maybe use a roll of tp in his new pickle jar…)
; }
Yeah, you’re right, and can I just say that only a mere 24 hours after we transferred him to the new jar, he ate and crapped all over it. I’m thinking he needs the supersize extra strength industrial tp that they sell in office supply stores.
Yellowy is definitely dead, by the way. At least we don’t have to hold a funeral, right?