It's a good thing I had a son of my own before I took on these grandsons! MY son brought home things like lizards, bugs, and an albino rat he named Princess. I hope it is not TOO unlady-like of me to admit that I liked Princess. She had a personality. If she liked you, she let you know with cuddles and squeaky quiet noises. If she didn't like you she had her way of showing that as well, though I shall spare you all the details. Let's just say if you were not liked...you knew it! Unless, of course, you refused to touch her at all. Who knew rats had personaliies?!
In our current study of science, the topic is insects...focusing on the winged insects and winged bugs. They are not necessarily the same. And, we found out, everything dubbed a "bug" by common folk like myself, may not even be a bug OR an insect...just a creepy crawly thing...or a crawly thing, not so creepy, depending on one's perspective on such creatures! I am sure they all have perfectly good names, scientifically at least, but I am not that much into bug-like names.
Anyway, today's assignment and experiment required our capturing an insect. We took it a step further and caught three. One common housefly. One small bee. And one larger fly (not as big as a horsefly, though...not sure exactly what it was. He shall be referred to as the Big Fly for the purposes of this blog.) In catching these insects, with the help of a butterfly net, we also got a wonderful specimen, albeit...dead....of a baby fly. He was caught in the top of the net. He must have had a heart attack or something, as his final pose was with wings aloft, spread in flight...as if he just stopped in motion. It is quite a nice specimen, although we did not mean to take out any baby flies!
The experiments were like this: Put the insect into a container where they still have air and then into the refrigerator. These cold-blooded creatures gave the boys a first-hand show of death and resurrection! Just in time for Easter! Ha! Anyway, we found also that the bee took longer to revive than the flies. Not sure if it is because he was slightly larger than the fly, or because he is a bee. We shall have to research that. That is what we get for doing more than the original assignment!
The next activity was called the "Lazurus Experiment". We took the Big Fly out while he was still groggy enough not to fly away, and "drowned" him in some water. The warmth of the water awakened him quite rapidly and he put up a good fight. Eventually, though, he succumbed to the water. The book said they could stay submerged for up to four minutes, but I was content with just one. He then lay on the paper towel, looking very dead. Then we put the salt on him as instructed in the book. Then we blew it off. In minutes (not seconds...unless it was like, 59) he began to revive. He moved very slowly with his antannae first, and then his legs, and finally, his wings. He had been through so much with us, that I coaxed him out of his jar and onto my finger. He did not fly away. I place him on the back of a patio chair, although he wanted to stay on my finger. He sat there for quite awhile, but eventually flew off. I can imagine the stories he will be telling back in his fly home and community tonight!
We still have the bee and the other fly. Handsome wants to make the fly his pet. He fed it something sticky before I left. I did not ask what. Somethings are best left to the boys. The bee will probably die. I thought about trying to save it, but it has struggled so much because the boys put it in the refrigerator and out about six times! I think he may as well move on! Ha!
We also caught a red wasp. At least that is what it looked like. It escaped the net before we could get the container in position. I would have liked to examine it to see exactly what it was. Lucky for him!
We have ordered butterfly larvae and it should be arriving soon. We do have the habitat all ready and waiting. These actually CAN be pets I hear. Wow! Thankfully, neither boy caught a butterfly today.
I brought the net home with me. It is mine. Lucky insects! I think I really like Science after all! Who knew!?
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