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My Pet Caterpillar!
#11
Thanks for that link LPC. It is sad though.

We can't (or at least shouldn't!) say "Oh they are just worms and it doesn't matter. We can exploit them. They are the lowest-of-the-low and don't have intelligence or feel anything!"....

....Because my Caterpillar did feel things, and did have intelligence. To watch him seeking a perfect place to pupate and checking out every tiny part of those sticks shows me they are intelligent in their own way. And yes he did feel things. If I moved the top of the container too quickly, he would be scared and curl up into a ball. Then after about 20 minutes, he would uncurl, and look up, and see me (I think...unless he sensed my body heat and presence), and stretch up to investigate. No they're not "just worms".
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#12
Thank-you for the link. I was going to look for something to post today. It is sad what we have done to the whole silk worm species. We totally exploit them. 

I didn't know about the ethical peace silk. I hope it catches on. If we just reject silk then the species will die because no one would raise silk worms.

I didn't know they could recycle silk. I am glad they do. It would be sad for the worms to die for nothing.
Interesting that they encourage us to buy second hand silk. I see silk items in the second hand shops. 
Somewhere I have a pattern that uses old silk ties to make a silk quilt. I have thought about it. There are always many silk ties at second hand shops. I have hesitated because I know how silk is harvested.

Silk worms would share their silk with us when they are finished with it, but we choose to steal it. It doesn't make us look too good. 

How is your cocoon?
[Image: IMG_9091.JPG]
Catherine

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#13
Catherine, I'm not sure I would do it now, but..... in the late 1980s, early 1990s, my husband and I ran a second-hand book business in the nearby town. We started out on an open-air stall in a lovely courtyard. We did a good trade. But in the winter it was the coldest place. We had a cold snap one winter (think probably 1989?) One day it was minus 10 degrees Celsius in the morning. Yet we were determined to be there every day.
We paid people half what we would sell the book for. People would come to sell us their books for umpteen different reasons, but usually a sudden financial need. Sometimes it was to take their dog to the vet! Or to pay their electricity bill. So we HAD to be there every day.

I was so cold and went to the charity shop to find something warmer to wear. I chose a vintage fur coat, for which I paid £10. That coat was made about 1950-something. There was nothing I could do about what had happened to the poor animals it was made from. They were gone thirty years. I felt that yet still bought it. It kept me warmer than anything else, even three layers. I wore it every winter.

It has fallen apart now, and I am not inclined to buy any more fur coats except genuine "faux fur"! But what I am saying is, I don't believe it is supporting the current fur industry to buy something second hand which has been around for many years. Although some people are highly sensitive and could not do what I did; wear the suffering of animals, even if that suffering was historical and I did not commission it.
So I feel to buy something from a second hand store which is made of silk is the same thing.
But I don't think one can wear anything like that without being reminded of its origin.

You are right I suppose....if there is no need for silk, then would silk worms still be around? Are there silk worms in the wild?

I haven't disturbed the caterpillar's pupa at all. But it seems to be attached via webs to a dried up cabbage leaf, the very tip of an angled tiny stick,  and the floor of the container. Let's hope it will get by okay.
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#14
Quote:I haven't disturbed the caterpillar's pupa at all. But it seems to be attached via webs to a dried up cabbage leaf, the very tip of an angled tiny stick,  and the floor of the container. Let's hope it will get by okay.

I am sure he chose his spot for a reason. There must be something about it that seemed right to him. I might be a better place for the butterfly to emerge.

I can understand you buying the coat to keep warm. You would have needed it. Back then fur would have been the warmest thing around and  it was second hand.

The second hand shops I go to get their things from donations. They do not support any industry. They have no control over what is given to the store. Silk from that source would not influence the silk industry.

I understand that silk worms no longer live in the wild. We have made them into a dependent creature like many of our farm animals. They may be dependent, but that doesn't mean we have a right to be cruel. We could harvest the silk after the moth has emerged. It would be perfectly good silk.

We could raise eggs and sheer sheep in ways that are not cruel. Everything we do could be done in a kinder gentler way. It is just typical of the way we farm things that we chose to boil the worms alive and steal their silk. 

I will think about the silk tie quilt. It would take years to find all the right ties.
[Image: IMG_9091.JPG]
Catherine

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#15
"We could harvest the silk after the moth has emerged. It would be perfectly good silk."

Yes....and why can't we do that? The moth has no need for the silk when it has emerged. What is it about humans, that the perfect logical solution is something like that -no cruelty involved -yet we have chosen to do it in the meanest way possible? Simply because we don't care about that life form we call the worm.
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#16
Quote:Yes....and why can't we do that? The moth has no need for the silk when it has emerged. What is it about humans, that the perfect logical solution is something like that -no cruelty involved -yet we have chosen to do it in the meanest way possible? Simply because we don't care about that life form we call the worm.

We seem to choose cruelty every time. The silk loses a little bit of quality, but it is still good. There would be a bit less profit because we would have to look after the butterflies. We would have to wait longer for the silk. These are details in the big picture which is cruelty vs. compassion. We can live and work with nature without harming it.

We could find kind ways to harvest rabbit fur and goose down. We could shear sheep kindly and the wool would be cruelty free.
Every way that we use animals cruelly, we can find a kinder way to do it.

Let's start with the silkworm. Let us only use cruelty free silk or recycled, reused silk. It is possible to do the right thing here. So let us actually do the right thing.
[Image: IMG_9091.JPG]
Catherine

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#17
My dear little Moth has flown! Heart

This is what he/she looked like:
https://www.ukmoths.org.uk/species/autographa-gamma/

When I got up this morning I checked the pupa, and saw that it was empty. And the Moth had flown to the window. I caught it easily and put it on a Daffodil outside. It kept hold of my fingers and didn't want to hop to the Daffodil at first, but did eventually. For a little while it vibrated its wings, then took flight.

Go well beautiful Moth!
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#18
Congratulations, you have raised a beautiful moth from a caterpillar. It has been the work of months of care, but it has paid off.
[Image: images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSWT1aTXJllwWWeYz6-sor...qfTr1ITUtm]

I hope your little moth does well out there in the big world. I am sure there are other moths and other flowers. In future when you see a moth or a caterpillar like that it might be the offspring/descendent of your moth. It is a perfect way to celebrate Easter.
[Image: IMG_9091.JPG]
Catherine

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#19
Yes, what a lovely meaningful thing to happen on Easter Sunday morning!

He/she was five weeks and three days as a pupa. I once had a pupa attached to my window frame. That was there for months! But eventually emerged as a butterfly (that one was bigger, and I can't remember what species it was.)
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#20
I have never seen a pupa in my garden, but I found empty pupa cases at the shelter garden. They were monarch butterfly cases so we produced monarchs last year. There are a lot of milk weed plants for the caterpillars and other flowers for the adults. It is a perfect set up for them.

I have milkweed in my garden and flowers so I really hope I get monarch caterpillars this year. You will hear about it if I do.

Five weeks seems like a long time. I am sure many people would give up and think the creature had died. That is why butterflies are such a perfect Easter symbol. Just when you think it is too late life bursts forth!

I don't have butterflies this Easter, but I do have plants starting to grow. There are no flowers yet, but it won't be long.
Nature is amazing. In a few weeks we will forget we ever had winter.
[Image: IMG_9091.JPG]
Catherine

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