Need pet advice

[phil_]

I think my worm is sick. He's not moving much, but he is still eating his leaves.

http://imageshack.us/a/img843/7508/wormk.jpg

What should I do?

[RobinStarwing]

You have a pet worm? O_O

[Whomper]

I'm not very helpful in this scenario. I'd say "give it worm medicine", but that has a completely different connotation that could prove to be most lethal.

Perhaps soil is needed?

[Tev]

Are the white things all over it supposed to be there?

[Loyal]

I think those white things are eggs.

[phil_]

Thanks for playing along, Whomper wins the No Prize for most clever response.

So, yesterday I came home from class, got a beer, and resumed catching up on the internet conversation concerning the Puchimas anime preview. A few minutes later, _mike asked if I'd noticed the parasitized caterpillars on the porch, which I had not, so we went out to look at them. Normal Wednesday night. Then he got it into his head that it would be fun to keep one, for reasons that may or may not make sense after some explanation.

The critter in the Rubbermade tub is a tobacco hornworm, and it has been infected by Cotesia congregata, a kind of wasp. Mama wasp lays her eggs on the worm and injects it with a virus that stops the caterpillar from becoming a moth and shuts down its immune system, allowing the wasp larvae to enter the worm unharmed. Those white things developed from the eggs when the larvae entered the worm, and are secreting hormones that help the virus keep the worm a worm. We've taken to calling the whole system Cotesia, much like one calls the combined plant/dinosaur complex a Bulbasaur.

Anyway, Cotesia is going to burst open into a jar of dozens of baby wasps instead of becoming a moth, and _mike thought that would be interesting to observe, given that tobacco hornworms are a model species in Biology and thus he has read lots of studies using them. Currently, she is moving around when we're not watching, which is kinda disturbing, but not as disturbing as when we've seen it move, which is just appalling. Especially the first few times, since we thought the worm part was dead. Hideous.

So, yeah, we're gonna try to get a yield of a few dozen baby wasps for some reason. Maybe I'll keep you updated as this develops over the next few weeks.

[Aldurin]

Make sure to burn the jar when you're done.

[synkr0nized]

So, yeah, we're gonna try to get a yield of a few dozen baby wasps for some reason. Maybe I'll keep you updated as this develops over the next few weeks.

You will become their leader and train them. Think of how amazing it would be to be able to yell, "sic 'em!" and have a small swarm of wasps descend upon your target like a tiny, personal cloud of stingy death.

You should get to work on your wasp costume so that you can more easily assimilate them into your swarm upon their hatching.

swarm


OK, yes, this will be the first step in the development of your proto-zerg. I want to see hydralisks ASAP.

[Ecks]

someone email this to nintendo of japan and put "new pokeymans idear" in the subject field

[Magus]

Of course it's still alive, it has to keep going for a little while looking for sustenance so the baby wasps have something to eat. Namely it.

[RobinStarwing]

someone email this to nintendo of japan and put "new pokeymans idear" in the subject field

A possible 6th Gen Starter? Bug/Grass type?

[phil_]

http://i.imgur.com/XOyYv.png
http://i.imgur.com/q9HD5.pngOf course it's still alive, it has to keep going for a little while looking for sustenance so the baby wasps have something to eat. Namely it.Cotesia has plenty of leaves and water, so she'll be "fine."

Also, becoming wasp people wasn't a path we were considering, but now that you mention stingy death clouds...

[Magus]

Pretty soon you'll be screaming THE PAIN! THE PAAAAAIN! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-5gPZaXB4g) with the best of them.

[Ecks]

no phil i mean its a bugger pokeyman and it gets "infected" by a wasper type in a battle

then you get to witness it get eaten inside out after x number of battles or something

i was looking more for fridge horror...

but then paras/parasect was fridge horror already

[phil_]

Oh god we were gone for 34 hours and they hatched and my phone is dead and the laptop camera is not up to the task.

But we have wasps. Tiny, baby wasps who should start spinning cocoons unless something is horribly wrong. Given that they burst out of the worm weeks ahead of schedule a week before we expected, something may indeed be wrong.

Pics soon, hopefully. Pray for our wasps.

And, yes, they can fly, but they don't seem to like doing it.

Edit: This just in, the worm part is moving around, and trying to eat, after bursting open into wasps.

[Loyal]

Why haven't you set it on fire yet.

[phil_]

We're keeping our options open.

[Magus]

Maybe your wasps are evolved wasps, capable of seeding caterpillars, hijacking their senses so they eat and eat and never turn into butterflies, hatch baby wasp larvae out of them which eat their fill, fly away--and return to the still-zombiefied caterpillar next year, to begin the cycle anew.

[Ecks]

we must crossbreed the superwasps with something
this seems like a very useful adaptation

[Tev]

we must crossbreed the superwasps with something
this seems like a very useful adaptationRemember that if we ever get some new action in that forum adventure game we were playing down in Games with our gelatinous pink kitty.

[phil_]

Ok, I borrowed a friend's camera on his phone because my camera on my phone couldn't get a clear shot. Wasps are hard to photograph.

Anyway, here's one showing that we have wasps:
http://i.imgur.com/Bodr7.jpg

And here's one showing that we have many wasps:
http://i.imgur.com/TDjBX.jpg

Also, crossbreeding monsters always sounds like such a good idea until someone does it.

[pochercoaster]

Er, um, wow... That's sick. o_O

[CABAL49]

Yeah, I get circle of life and whatnot, but what the fuck guys.

[phil_]

I guess it's like if an astrophysicist could have a pet black hole? I dunno, this has gone on long enough, for sure. Just gotta find a way to dispose of this that minimizes my chances of being arrested as a public nuisance.

[Menarker]

Hmmmm... the container looks like a standard plastic one with lid. If you're willing to destroy the lid for the container itself, a possible way might be to get a small nail or the tip of a pointy knife, heat it up using a stove or so and then you can melt a tiny tiny hole in the lid (not big enough for a wasp to go through) and then pour water into that tiny hole until they drown. Better if the water is boiling.

[phil_]

Killing the mess with boiling water has a bit too much of a "sociopath torturing small animals to death in the backyard" vibe for me. I just want to leave it in the woods or something.

As for a hole they can't get through, they're, like, grains of rice. They can get through holes. We've topped it with a bit of cloth held by a rubber band for now, but it's a miracle that none of them left through the air holes in the lid while we were away.

[Flarecobra]

Throw it in a fire.

[Shyria Dracnoir]

Normally I don't like wasps, but that's mostly yellowjackets anyways. Besides, these are bebees. I'd say just find a nice area in the woods and let em go.