Carter's teacher sent home pets for the kids. I was less than enthused as I am NOT a pet person, but seeing Carter's excitement over his new pet C.J. kept me from hitting it with a flyswatter and killing it. They each got these little caterpillar type bugs to take care of. Carter was so great at taking care of it. I would see him cutting up grapes into little pieces and collecting leaves and lettuce for C.J. to eat.
I asked Carter how he decided on the name C.J. and he responded with, "Well, we had to write the name a few times on different papers and I wanted something with only a couple letters." Makes sense to me. :)
Anyway, we watched C.J. everyday. He kept getting bigger and bigger and Carter was so excited waiting for him to go into the pupa stage. I wasn't sure what he was talking about until I looked into the jar one night and saw his body cracking. I was disgusted, but couldn't turn away. I shot a few pics of what came out of the shelling.
It was so interesting to watch and I loved hearing Carter tell me all about what was happening. He started out completely white. He stayed this way for several days, but then started to gradually get some color.
He then started to turn a little more yellowish brown.
Everyday, he seemed to be getting a little darker.
His legs then turned black and he got some eyes.
A few days after that he woke up. Carter was a little disappointed because he was slightly red, which Carter said meant he was actually a girl beetle.
But everyday, he kept getting darker and darker.
By this point C.J. was a full grown beetle and quite frankly was grossing me out. I told Carter it was time to say goodbye and let him go outside. Carter was a little bummed, but understood that he would have a better life out in the wild. :) It was cool to watch the transformation.
It reminded me of our pet Squidward the praying mantis. Best pet ever, minus all the spider hunts for food. Yuck! I hate spiders!
Wow. That's really cool that these little bugs get sent home so that the kids can watch the metamorphosis process. Really cool, but kinda gross at the same time.
ReplyDeleteEwwww...maybe you should get him another fish. Don't let it swim or sleep belly up though!
ReplyDeleteI have to say I was really disappointed that it didn't sprout wings and turn into a butterfly. But you are a good mom, I would have tossed him when he looked dead. I definitely would have tossed him when I realized what he had become. :)
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