Need pet advice
 

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?

You have a pet worm? O_O

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?

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

I think those white things are eggs.

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.

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

They may not be as good as dogs with bees in their mouths so that when they bark they
 

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.

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.