Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Scientist I am Not

Yesterday, the boys and I found an amazing looking caterpillar and put it in our bug jar.
It was still alive this morning.
We fed it some fresh basil and oregano leaves - the boys want it to turn into a butterfly.
We got home from our outing and it hadn't eaten anything.  We watched it go around in circles in the jar while the boys ate dinner.  Just for kicks, I posted these pics on facebook, asking my friends if they know what it is.


About two hours later, I received the following text from hubs:
"Babe, get rid of that caterpillar." 
And the Wikipedia description of it, the Hickory Tussock Moth:
 Caterpillars are covered all over in long hairlike setae, in spreading tufts. Most are white, but there are black tufts along the middle of the back, and four long black hair pencils (two near the front, and two near the back). These hairs cause itchy rashes in some people (Wagner, 2005). They are microscopically barbed and may cause serious medical complications if the barbed hairs are transferred from the hands to the eyes [1]. There are black spots along the sides, and the head capsule is black. They can bite.

Excuse me?  Did you say ITCHY RASHES?
Did you say SERIOUS MEDICAL COMPLICATIONS?
And BITE?????

Yeah...
So we let it "go find its family" tonight.
Some scientist, eh?
My answer to him was,
"Well....it looked really cool." 

1 comment:

Meika said...

Eeeek! Well... a scientist is always experimenting, right? :)