Colin is (was) the proud new owner of Catty the Caterpillar! (Admit it, you thought I was going to make a big announcement or something, didn't you?!) While we were camping in early April, we found this little caterpillar and Colin BEGGED to keep him. We couldn't resist, mainly because we know caterpillars have very finite life spans. So we brought him home in a water bottle, but later gave him the proper home of a tupperware container. Every day, Colin very carefully took Catty out to the back porch to "play" with him, gather fresh grass and leaves for him, and put a little fresh water in his home. Despite our best efforts, Catty did not get big and fat like the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Rather, Catty got smaller, developed black spots all over, could barely move, and began to smell really bad. I'm no veterinarian, but I was pretty sure Catty was half-dead. So after 3 whole days of being pet owners, we released Catty into the wild (a.k.a. the backyard) so he could fulfill his destiny of becoming a beautiful butterfly (or so he could die in peace, which is what we suspect he was well on his way to doing).
Can you see Catty? He's at the bottom right.
Colin was very proud of himself for taking care of Catty
**Though Colin tried so hard to be careful, I'm pretty sure "playtime" was terrifying for poor Catty. He had 4 children (that's EIGHT hands and feet) hovering over him, trying their best not to squash him, and shoving grass and leaves at him so he would eat or move. I could be wrong, but I think it may have contributed to his untimely death.
I love it! What a cute story.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were little, we found a hole in the sidewalk. We'd find every roly poly we could, put them in the hole with grass to munch on, and then FILL the hole with water so they wouldn't get thirsty. We coudln't figure out why the roly polies always died when they clearly had enough water to drink.