A peas-ful photo
~
Don’t ask me why little caterpillars merit a fancy French headline, but since that’s all the burial they’ll get, we’ll go with it.
It turns out that I rescued cabbage loopers as the brilliant Manise (no blog) informed me. Why, if they’re supposed to like kale and cabbage they ate my lettuce plants and why they decided they didn’t like their new home and expired over night without munching a single leaf of homegrown lettuce tenderly sacrificed for their health are questions beyond my ken. But they were shriveled and lifeless when I checked this morning.
Hoping it was just the start of the next phase of their life cycle, I left them alone. But don’t you think 12 hours is long enough to see some change?
Me too.
It solves the moral dilemma that Cookie pointed out: I’m the gardener, they’re the enemy. Why was I giving comfort and aid to the other side? Can I be my own Benedict Arnold?
So Manise says I should be on the look out for a monarch Black Swallowtail butterfly caterpillar on my parsley and capture that instead. Even I know what they look like so maybe I’ll do that. I’d better pick up another parsley plant for bait. (ETA: thanks Manise for correcting my faulty memory).
They were boring pets anyway. And they pooped a lot.
But it’s sort of lame, don’t you think, to not even be able to raise a couple caterpillars for 24 hours. I guess it’s just as well I didn’t pursue a career in life sciences.
C’est la vie.
Correction: Black Swallowtail Caterpillars not Monarchs are found on parsley. Here’s a corrected link for you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Swallowtail
Jealous of your peas! They are nom-ie looking.
I agree with Cookie. If they hadn’t died, you should have done it to (for?) them. I have something that is eating my basil to the nubbin, and pooping everywhere. Must be the same thing. Or close. Little sh*t. Big, actually.
Are those sugar snap peas????? They look delicious. How are we having them????
I’m sorry you’re disappointed, sweetie, but I’m glad they’re dead.
Love the peas!
Good thing I was behind in my reading and saw this post before the last one – otherwise I’d be on my way to your house to stomp those little suckers flat.
Definitely go for the black swallowtail. Now that’s a caterpillar worth raising!
You know, you have to protect your crops. You did the right thing!