Well, sad news. After putting each ‘pillar in its own cup:
The smallest one become disconsolate, didn’t eat, and went legs-up a few days later.
The two fatties then began a very strange dance. They ate all their food, then crawled up the sides of the cups to the coffee filter tops. They took their own paths to the top – but once they got there it was Olympic Synchronized Crawling. They couldn’t see each other, but every time I looked they were angled the same direction.
My Friend #2, Hot Mom, checked on her identical twins in their sleep once and was a little freaked that they were sleeping in exactly the same curled up position. I thought of that when the ‘pillars began curling toward the magnetic North Pole or however they did it.
They were two identical little fuzzy J’s when I left the house. Gary had the day off, and I called mid-day for a report.
“They are both hanging straight up-and-down.”
“No,” I said, “They were like J’s. The Painted Ladies turned right into brown chrysalises next.”
“What can I tell you? They’re hanging straight up and down.”
Those things better not die on his watch, I thought as I hung up. When I got home later I rushed straight to the cups.
This is what I saw:
“Damnit Gary! You let them die! They pooped and died. There’s just poop and a shriveled ball of fuzz!”
“They were there the last time I looked!”
I held up the cup and peeked upward. “Well they aren’t here now. It’s just poop, fuzz, and a green leaf they didn’t eat – ” and I almost dropped the cup.
It would seem that right before they pupate, Monarch caterpillars straighten out, void their bowels, shed their fuzz, then turn into a green plastic thing in a few hours. Very unexpected. It’s kind of like if Hot Mom had gone in to wake up her twins the next morning and they had both turned into steam irons.
8 responses to “Freakapillars”
Imagine if, when you called, they were shedding the fuzz, and Gary told you they were “falling apart”. I’m sorry you missed the actual change. I’d like to see that some day.
Why wait when there’s YouTube? This has everything but Gary screaming tin the background:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY-Fiyq8jc4
Whoa. It’s hard out there for a pupa.
OK, I don’t understand why pet/insect owners are so obsessed with their pet’s POOP. All night I had to hear “Does my Buddy need to go poo-poo?” ACK! And I don’t want to know your fart schedule either!
But you haven´t said how beautiful the chyrsalises are, with their gold dots and all! Aren´t they just so elegant (how odd, no question marks on this crappy internet cafe keyboard in Lima).
Congratulations on you new jalapenos!
I’m sad for little ‘piller who didn’t make it. I guess the trauma was too great.
Becs – These are high-class pupa. Not a lot of gold dots..75 – Well, I thought these were death poops. You know, just like criminals evacuation their last meal after the death sentence.Big Dot – Mine don’t have hardly any gold dots! The color green was just like that luminous spring new grass green.3 – I do wonder what they taste like.Sherri – Well, I just traumatized the chrysalises by transferring them to a place I could mist them. But the little one had childhood trauma, that’s worse.