The Perfect Pet
Big news on Twelfth Street! We have pets!
Their names are Makayla and Mackenzie, and we welcomed them into our home—and more specifically, our crisper drawer—about a week ago.
In preparing some broccoli for steaming at lunchtime yesterday, I discovered two inch-long green caterpillars happily noshing on the florets of one of the two heads remaining in the bag. Sadly, we'd eaten a third one a couple of days before. (In the name of frugality, I went ahead and steamed the insect-free head yesterday but couldn't bring myself to eat it once it was on my plate.)
When I plucked them from the stem to show our son, he immediately said, "Let's keep them! They can be our pets!"
So I put them in a cereal bowl and only wondered for a few seconds what to put in there for food. If they'd survived on broccoli at 37 deg F for seven days, then clearly the crucifer was the right choice.
My first animal-tending error was not putting anything over the bowl to keep the critters inside. When I went to peek at them a couple of hours later (yes, I'd fallen for the little buggers), I only found one. A thorough inspection of the kitchen turned up the other, who was crawling down the leg of the butcher block table.
With perforated Saran wrap in place, "Caterpillar Cove" has effectively contained the creepy crawlers for over 24 hours now. I'm not sure how long we'll keep them, but what I am pretty sure of is that I can keep them alive longer than I did our last pet—a goldfish I believe I asphyxiated by not treating the tap water with which I filled his bowl after cleaning it. Just a couple of crudite and a little peace and quiet and they seem to do just fine.
Their names are Makayla and Mackenzie, and we welcomed them into our home—and more specifically, our crisper drawer—about a week ago.
In preparing some broccoli for steaming at lunchtime yesterday, I discovered two inch-long green caterpillars happily noshing on the florets of one of the two heads remaining in the bag. Sadly, we'd eaten a third one a couple of days before. (In the name of frugality, I went ahead and steamed the insect-free head yesterday but couldn't bring myself to eat it once it was on my plate.)
When I plucked them from the stem to show our son, he immediately said, "Let's keep them! They can be our pets!"
So I put them in a cereal bowl and only wondered for a few seconds what to put in there for food. If they'd survived on broccoli at 37 deg F for seven days, then clearly the crucifer was the right choice.
My first animal-tending error was not putting anything over the bowl to keep the critters inside. When I went to peek at them a couple of hours later (yes, I'd fallen for the little buggers), I only found one. A thorough inspection of the kitchen turned up the other, who was crawling down the leg of the butcher block table.
With perforated Saran wrap in place, "Caterpillar Cove" has effectively contained the creepy crawlers for over 24 hours now. I'm not sure how long we'll keep them, but what I am pretty sure of is that I can keep them alive longer than I did our last pet—a goldfish I believe I asphyxiated by not treating the tap water with which I filled his bowl after cleaning it. Just a couple of crudite and a little peace and quiet and they seem to do just fine.
posted by Lisa Strandberg at 4:02 PM
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