METAMORPHOSIS

 

It was a surprising when Savvy K found FAT caterpillars in our garden. Being her delightful self then at 12 years-old, she asked "Can we keep them and watch them grow into butterflies?"

I was surprised that these caterpillars had their own food preferences.  

They only ate the leaves of my desert rose (Adenium obesum).

 I had three pots of this plant and caterpillars had invaded all three,   

munching happily.

We collected 10 Katy Kims, as what Savvy K called them and

placed them into plastic containers. Oh my, they had voracious appetites! They refused to eat any other leaves and our desert roses were almost bald. 

We had to ask for "desert rose leaf donations" from neighbours and my colleagues at work.

They just chomp through the leaves like razor blades.

Savvy K was very diligent and cleaned their "homes." They "pooped" a real lot, but thankfully as dried pellets, so house keeping was not a problem.

Every one had names - "Hello Yellow, Momok Jin, Smoky BBQ, Ali Baba, 

Little Bean, Tiny Boo, Lil Jinx, Plump Daisy and Bloated Submarine."

They started their pupa stage when they stopped their "cat" walk and turned a hardy brown. They looked like bullets with eyes. We placed the containers in a safe corner and left the lids opened.

 Every so often, the pupae would do a "jiggle" or "shake." Savvy K was sad she never saw the butterflies, only the pupa cases remained in the mornings. During the nights or early mornings when it was cool, they completed their final stage of metamorphosis and flew away through the opened windows. Savvy K did a GOOD job. ALL the Katy Kims successfully transformed into butterflies.

Boey's butterfly inspired hand-painted T-shirt.

AH HA, I did find one butterfly in the morning 

resting on the jasmine shrub.

CATY KIM

Meet Caty Kim II, our pet pupae to butterfly. We found Cathy Kim on the underside of a wild lime tree in my vegetable plot. The wild limes, also called " limau perut," have very fragrant leaves that are commonly used as spices in curries. Obviously, the caterpillars must find them quite delicious too as they can destroy a small tree as they nibble the leaves voraciously. We transferred the pupae to a plastic container as we did not want it to be pecked by the birds. Punched some holes in the cover and left it quietly in the kitchen. Not so quietly as MartianGirl kept peering and moving the container hoping to see the butterfly emerge. What is it with teenagers that they do not listen and have absolutely no patience? After about 2 weeks, it completed its metamorphosis. I got up one morning and found the butterfly waiting patiently for me to throw open the kitchen windows.

This is the second time we have kept a pet grub. Cathy Kim I was a bright apple green caterpillar when we found it. I picked lime leaves and put them into the container everyday. The word "diet" does not exist in a caterpillar's vocabulary - it actually ate so much I had to buy fresh lime leaves from the market as my wild lime tree became bald. I did not know if caterpillars needed water so I sprinkled water inside daily. It was one fat, greedy, nibbling grub that eventually progressed into a brown pupae. It might be that mornings are cooler as I had the opportunity to watch it slowly emerge as I prepared breakfast. It took a long, long time and I was so tempted to help it along as the wings struggled to unfold from the small cramped pupae. But, I controlled my fidgeting hands as helping it would have only damaged it's wings. The whole process from caterpillar to butterfly was pretty educational for MartianGirl, a city slicker who onced called a goat a dog.