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February 06, 2008 / Wednesday
Squirmy Update
Just now, I found Squirmy the moth hanging out on the blinds near the kitchen. I'd been worried that he wouldn't find anything to eat, so I decided to catch him and set him free. Into the wormy jar he went, then out to the balcony. I have to say, I was a little sad as I headed out there with him. I hoped that he'd find something to eat, and that a big bad spider wouldn't get him. I set him on the railing and took my hand off the opening. "Bye Squirmy." He didn't move. I didn't blame him; it was cold out there! I ran inside, grabbed my camera, and snapped a few pictures. Finally, he fluttered, and landed at the bottom of the jar. I waited a while with him, but he didn't seem to want to leave. Just as well; I would have worried about him freezing in the middle of the night.
I took him back inside, where he continued to stay in the jar. Finally, I decided to just keep him in there; I didn't want to deal with finding a starved Squirmy corpse in my apartment, and I figured I could try to feed him in the jar. But what did he eat? I didn't have any more bok choy. How about some broccoli? I figured since they were both part of the cabbage family that it'd be close enough. Besides, I had two pounds of the stuff in my fridge.
In went a broccoli floret. Squirmy didn't seem to care. Okay, then, All-Knowing Internet, what does Squirmy eat? The answer: Maybe nothing, maybe water, maybe nectar, maybe sap. Nectar? Sap? How about some orange juice? I pulled an orange out of the fridge, cut off a little piece, tossed it in the jar, and ate the rest. Squirmy's reaction? Meh. Maybe he's not hungry.
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Update to this update: Squirmy digs the broccoli!
Oh, and I took the saran wrap off the top of the jar. It was creating a greenhouse environment and making the sides of the jar too slippery for Squirmy. (I guess worm feet are gripper than moth feet.) It's been a couple hours now and he hasn't gone anywhere. I wonder if he'll still be in the jar when I look tomorrow morning.
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Update to the update to this update: This morning, Aaron went to check on Squirmy.
A: He's not in his jar anymore.
V: He's not? Where is he??
A: He's next to the jar.
He's been changing locations, but he doesn't venture far from the jar. I don't know whether that's cute, or if he's just too weak to fly very far.
Comments
A lot of times the moth part of the life cycle is pretty much just for reproducing, so they don't really eat. Depends on the type of moth, obviously some do and some don't, but he may just be on the lookout for a nice lady or man moth. (I would make a joke about looking for mothballs here, but I'm far above that kind of thing.)
Posted by: Mike at February 7, 2008 06:18 AM
But I don't have any other moths around for him to mate with! Poor Squirmy. :(
Posted by: Viv at February 7, 2008 10:55 AM
ay! i think squirmy headed over here...i pulled out my bok choy and there were little holes all over the dark part! i half thought to bag it up and get it to you so squirmy has a friend but it'd still be wormy and i was too grossed out to look.
Posted by: i, andrea at February 8, 2008 12:47 AM