Tomato Worms

This was probably the weirdest birthday gift ever: Eldon requested tomato worms. 

He wanted them so he could watch them grow, and then feed them to his gecko!

Where to find them? Amazon!

Their sticky little feet are so weird!

Rex likes them. 

This is a medium sized worm.

We read that the full grown guys are as filling as TWENTY crickets!

Our friend sent us this picture!

Apparently, this hornworm is covered with eggs from a wasp.

The wasp lays the eggs, and as they grow, the babies eat the hornworm from the inside!

"Poor worm!" said the boys...

the same boys who love feeding these worms to a gecko.

If you want to see something even weirder, check out this video!

Bobcat!

Northern Michigan: Grandpa (Bump) got a picture of a bobcat at the cabin! 

They are rarely photographed because they are nocturnal, and terrified of humans! How strange to see one close to the cabin!

They eat rabbits mostly, but will also eat birds, rodents, and even deer! (Though that seems to be necessary only in the winter when food is scarce.)

Snakes

It was a lovely day for snakes at Cherokee park!  It hit seventy- a perfect temperature for snakes to bask in the sun. :) This guy was happily relaxing and didn't seem to mind the sound of nosy little boys!  We think he's either a worm snake or an earth snake (non-venomous)

THIS guy is harder to see- the kids scared him away before I could get a good picture. You can see his head poking up in the first picture, and his body in the second. We are pretty sure he was a northern water snake. 

Look Closely for the snake shape!

Later, I think it was this same snake that Eldon startled on a  nearby rock. He didn't see it until it started slithering away- and then he FELT its tail TOUCH HIS ANKLE! Needless to say he LOST HIS MIND with screaming for a bit (I would have done the same thing!) 

Worm or caterpillar?

We're not sure what this guy is; a worm or a caterpillar. The boys thought he was interesting and looked a bit like poo. :)

This led to googling caterpillars- if you want to be freaked out, check out the goat moth caterpillar found in the UK! We also learned that venomous saddleback caterpillars ARE found in Kentucky!

Then we got sidetracked looking up tomato worms/ horn worms.  And watching cool videos of lizards eating these juicy worms. This then led to ordering some hornworms from Amazon as a birthday present for Eldon and his lizard. (Weirdest birthday present ever!)

Science with boys!