Bug Ownership

Things have changed since I took that picture of Ridge’s new pet, the most notable being: It’s dead. Two days after we purchased the critter, as we got ready for our day, Ridge called me into his room. “Mommy, Mommy! I think it’s dead! I poked it and it didn’t move!”

I reluctantly stopped what I was doing and went into the other room, certain that Ridge was being dramatic. As I removed the lid of the box and observed the upside down bug, I quickly ascertained that it was quite obviously dead. No doubt about it. Saddened, Ridge turned his face towards the wall. Aaron and I discussed our annoyance at it having died after being so recently purchased and we wondered if we should keep the carcass so we could return it for a new one. Neither of us could figure out why it died.

Later that day, when I went to work, I began talking to others about the beetle. The ninth graders, who also keep beetles in their classroom, told me it might have not been native to Hokkaido. I used this as a unique English conversation opportunity and we talked about beetle care in general. After class, the science teacher (Mr. Terada) told met that they can be hard to take care of. “But it’s only a bug!” I declared, astounded. He just shook his head a me, and rolled his eyes (well, sort of. Japanese people don’t really roll their eyes) when I said I bought it at Homac (like a Wal-Mart). Kurata told me to just catch one. Apparently, we needed to get up at dawn (3:30 a.m.) and sit under a tree with something sweet. That evening, in my Advanced English class, Nao laughed at me when I said we bought one. “You live in Hokkaido, and you bought one?!” He said that they flock to Seicomart’s outside light at night and to look there.

The next day, Tuesday, I returned to the middle school to attend Kurata’s classes with him. During his eight-grade class, the kids became distracted by something on the window. Lo and behold, it was a large beetle! They let it into the room and put it into a jar for me after class. As I prepared to leave at the end of the morning, we asked the P.E. teacher and main beetle guru to see if my beetle was a girl (it didn’t have the big horns on it). He confirmed that it was and then took me down the hall to the third grade (ninth grade) room. He’s their homeroom teacher. The night before last, he had scooped up a Kuwagata mushi (stag beetle) and put it into one of the kids’ cages. Now it would be mine. So, I walked home that day with two beetles in a box. This one has long pincer-like things on the front of his face. He gets made easily and if you tap is back, he stands up on his back legs, posing. Eventually, he either calms down and goes back to all six legs, or he tips over backwards. It’s rather am using.

A couple of days ago, Ryuya’s father called Ridge over, and gave him three more beetles. This was just too many, and after watching them fight with each other (they are really quite aggressive bugs, and they push each other around, literally) during the evening, Aaron and I set one free. So, now we have 4 beetles in a little bitty box. If we end up releasing our snake, we’ll move them into the bigger cage.

Kuwagata Mushi (Stag Beetle)

Oh, yeah…the snake. Thursday, after picking the boys up from pre-school, Aaron found a snake and brought it home. It’s really quite a small thing. Still, most people around here seem to have a phobia about it. Tizuko and Chihiro wanted to see it, but Fusae just about jumped out of her skin! Nao has no interest in seeing it, either. We decided that if it won’t eat in two weeks, we’ll let it go. Until then, we are trying to get it interested in some nice earthworms from our garden. Mr. Igota, the local biologist, said it’s an Aodaisho, a Japanese Rat Snake. It’s quite mellow, really, and doesn’t seem to mind being handled at all. Our house is turning into a zoo!