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Question... Cinnamon
I work at a daycare, and my kids catch caterpillars quite often. When we keep them in the little bug box, though, I come back the next day to find something strange. If they're not still alive, they've made themselves a stringy little nest... You can usually still see the caterpillar through its little stringy nest.

So here's my question...it's kind of a debate around work right now, actually. Are they making a cacoon?

I have a feeling that the caterpillars are reacting to the air conditioning. I think that maybe the catepillars are reacting to the cold air, but they're not mature enough to create a real coccoon?

What are /an/'s thoughts on this? Does anybody know what this is?
>> Bitter Anon !!WJLRQ1cwCyZ
Have you considered not letting the kids torture innocent animals? Just a thought.
>> Anonymous
>>160728
Seconded. If you want to have fun with the kids with caterpillars, buy one of those grow-a-butterfly kits with the baby caterpillars and shit when it's the right season. I loved those when I was little.
>> Cinnamon
>>160728

Um.... Anything from a non-bitter anon?

>>160730

Buy me one, please. Have you seen my pathetic paychecks and bills I have to pay? Thanks.
>> Anonymous
>>160731
If you can't pay for a proper set-up, then prevent the children from killing wild caterpillars. The end.
>> Bitter Anon !!WJLRQ1cwCyZ
>>160731
Stop letting the retards play with the catipillars. Do you let them catch spiders? What about toads and frogs? Or lizards? ALL of those animals are physically harmed by contact with humans. Stop it. Encourage them to look at the creatures, maybe offer them a book with a pictures so they can identify them (or at least, let them think they identify them.. one swallowtail caterpillar looks like another when you're untrained), and teach them about conservation.
>> Sweet anon !ozOtJW9BFA
>>160731
Bitter anon is right. At least encourage the kids to bring in more hardy bugs that won't die easily, like the brown recluse, black widow, funnel spider, giant isopod. or mantis shrimp.
>> Anonymous
>>160747
Or hornets! Kids love hornets! Bring the whole nest!
>> Anonymous
Leave the fucking insects alone and teach your students not to interfere with nature fucktard.

They can take pictures, draw pictures of what they saw, but not touch or pick them up.

Why are you allowing them to take in creatures just to let them die for your amusement?
>> Anonymous
Allowing kids to play with bugs and other living creatures as if they are toys encourages them to grow up with this belief and go on to think that animals exist purely for amusement and that their lives don't matter. Encourage the kids in your class to look at and learn about the bugs, but don't allow them to capture or hurt them. My first grade teacher kept silkworms, we were always taught to be careful around them and handle them properly. We watched them mature and change, and the teacher would not allow us to hurt any of them because you know, she doesn't want us to grow up to be serial killers.
>> Bitter Anon !!WJLRQ1cwCyZ
>>160747
Or a giant black fishing recluseshrimp! As for hornets, it's better if you just tap the nest with a brick or a heavy stick. This signals to the hornets that you want to play. They can teach you amazing dances!
>> Anonymous
i accidentally clicked animals & nature instead of random

are all you guys peta fags?
>> Cinnamon
Okay, I guess I should have clarified this... I don't keep the catepillars until they're OMGDEAD. They're in the classroom less than 24 hours before I take them back outside, and I make sure to get them a lot of food, most of which comes off the plant I saw them eating from. Most of them make it back outside, but some of them just do the weird, light nesty caccoon thing.

Does someone just have an answer?
>> Anonymous
o wow every person in this thread obviously have had childhood trauma concerning caterpillars.

Dude, catching a caterpillar on your own in the wild is completely different from buying one of those stupid kits. All kids should do it at least once. And you're lying if you haven't taken caterpillars or worms out of the ground and smeared their guts across the driveway, trying to write with them.
>> Anonymous
>>160763

No, fuck PETA and fuck you.
>> Bitter Anon !!WJLRQ1cwCyZ
>>160768
>>160763
Same person.

>>160765
It is still irresponsible of someone in a position of authority to teach children it is okay to treat animals as objects. There is no way that a random child will handle a small animal properly (I have a preteen sister who, despite having been given extensive direction on how not to hold a rat, squeezes them), let alone one as fragile as a caterpillar. It doesn't matter if you let them go, most likely they will die. The cocooning that they are doing is a reaction to stress, ie being yanked out of their home environment and isolated. They need fresh air (a few holes in the top of a jar is NOT okay), fresh, living food, and.. just don't.

As we've said, get them a book or encourage them to draw pictures of the bugs. Explain to them that touching a caterpillar can hurt it, much like touching a hot stove would hurt a child. You have a great opportunity to teach them how to appreciate nature without harming it. Please do so.
>> Anonymous
am I the only person who realized that these caterpillars are actually webworms. They spin web around a group of branches and then devours the leaves on it. I think they do that as a way to defend themselves from predators. However, because of that they're usually seen as pest as some of the tree they inhabited may get shocked.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
Webworms/tentworms/bagworms

Time to teach your kids how to use a flamethrower.
>> Bitter Anon !!WJLRQ1cwCyZ
>>160796
>>160781
Motherfuckers. This is /an/ not /helpful/.
>> Anonymous
>>160728

Catterpillars are members of the Lepidoptera family, they're not animals by any stretch of te imagination.

Also: cake.
>> Anonymous
>>160943
They are animals, you fucking moron.
>> Anonymous
>>160943
No, they're plants. Idort.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
No they're pokemons, you morans.
>> Anonymous
>>160958

they're evolving into metapods
>> Anonymous
>>160946

No.. they're insects you cock.
>> Anonymous
Holy fuck is /an/ petafag for caterpillars. I guess kids can't dissect worms and giant grasshoppers in Biology anymore
>> Anonymous
>>161008
I've dissected worms, fish, frogs, and a pig in my classes. What's yer point?
>> Anonymous
>>160968
Actually the description sounds more like a silcoon. Or cascoon.
>> Anonymous
>i accidentally clicked animals & nature instead of random

me too.. me too...
>> Anonymous
>>160978
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta

Insects are animals. This is the kind of thing 6 year olds get wrong. Sage for idiocy.
>> Anonymous
>>160943
How the fuck would you know what "lepidoptera" means and yet not realize that they're animals? Fail.