It has been a months we observed caterpillars outside Ee Rynn's school. It fascinate us. They eat non-stop. It fun to observed the girls reaction. My eldest daughter touch the caterpillar. She has seen caterpillar crawl on her teacher's fingers. Ee Wern will say: caterpillar eating. This is my first experience, learning caterpillar's life cycle.
I gathered my courage to adopt a caterpillar. I kept the caterpillar in a box with lots of holes (for air) with leaves I gathered from another plant. We were fascinated with their wonderful digestion system. They eat a lot. As a result, they poop a lot too. The last 2 legs will open as they pass motion. The poops were in green, similar to the colour of the leaves. The first night was a disaster. The caterpillar refuse to eat leaves in the box. He was trying to escape! It was the same night that I wasn't feeling well. Stomach flu. It was heavy rain too. With a heavy heart, we have to send the caterpillar back to its home so he don't starve to death. We did! Standing under the rain, we gently transfer the caterpillar. From this experience, I learnt that caterpillar eat leaves from the same tree or fresh leaves from citrus plan or curry leaves.
The next morning, one of Ee Rynn's schoolmate's mom adopt 2 caterpillars from the same tree. I told her my experience. She was hoping it will turn out well. A day after her adoption, both caterpillars turn to cocoon. She was kind to donate one for us. It's hibernation period. No activities and the cocoon is not moving. Ee Wern said the cocoon is sleeping every day. She would point at it and said : cocoon! cocoon sleeping! So cute.
The cocoon was broken this morning. Today is Wednesday, 20th November 2013. It's the cocoon's 13th day. I was so sad and thought the cocoon didn't make it. But when I was trying to look through the box, I saw an insect! The colour on the body was so dull and I was confuse. With first look, I thought it was dried leaves. With second, I saw a moth! We shout for joy! But it was not moving at all. Is he dead? All of the sudden, the moth moves its head. Then, we knew it's alive.
The cocoon was broken this morning. Today is Wednesday, 20th November 2013. It's the cocoon's 13th day. I was so sad and thought the cocoon didn't make it. But when I was trying to look through the box, I saw an insect! The colour on the body was so dull and I was confuse. With first look, I thought it was dried leaves. With second, I saw a moth! We shout for joy! But it was not moving at all. Is he dead? All of the sudden, the moth moves its head. Then, we knew it's alive.
We brought the moth to the park. I opened the box. The moth flap its wings. We thought it will fly away. But it remain in the box. Ee Wern was observing and said moth! moth! no more cocoon! As it was windy afternoon, we placed it under a big tree. A few hours later, we went back and the moth is still in the box. We learnt that moth will fly at night instead. After saying 'bye bye', the girls continue playing at the playground.
When the moth breaks away from the cocoon, it has to flap it's wings to gain strength. This process is similar to a crying new born. The first cry will open the baby's lung and starts breathing. The lung will continue to gain it's strength daily, similar to a moth's wing. When the moth breaks away from the cocoon, it was wet and sticky. When we gave birth to a baby, it's wet, sticky and bloody. God has beautifully made all the creatures on earth.
It was a fun journey for us and we hope to adopt another caterpillar with hope it will turn to be a beautiful butterfly.
