Skip to main content

Safe with Me

My rescued moth did not pass away overnight after I rescued her last month, although I knew she didn't have long to live.

Healthy Virginian tiger moths only live for a week or two.

To put that into comparitive terms, one day of a moth's life is equal to about five to ten years of life for the average human being.

She's spending the end of her life resting and sunning herself in peace, protected on the back porch.

Because it was getting cold at night I made a little habitat for her so I could bring her inside.

All this for a moth I found on the road. That's crazy, right? Only something very similar happened to me some years ago. I was rendered helpless by a vertigo attack while alone on the side of a road; I literally couldn't stand up or speak coherently. A young couple pretending to help stayed with me until I passed out, at which point they robbed me of $26.00 and left me there. It was one of the most traumatic experiences of my life, but people always tell me "it could have been worse." I survived, so I suppose it could have been.

Anyway. I did not leave this helpless creature to die alone on the side of the road. I gave her a safe place and more time to live in peace and safety, which is all any of us can hope for at the end.

Labels:

Comments

Maria Zannini said…
There's a special place in heaven for you.

If only all of us could experience such a gift at the end of our days.
March 20, 2024 at 5:53 AM
nightsmusic said…
I remember your traumatic experience. :( What you're doing for Ms Moth is a wonderful thing. I've done this many times though. I'm a certified Monarch Waystation and I bring in injured butterflies and moths, Monarch eggs, I've overwintered Swallowtail chrysalis, brought in Monarch chrysalis so the birds don't eat them (I'm up to four enclosures now) and bring in the Monarch and Swallowtail caterpillars as well. I've even seen a Circropia moth make it from egg to adult. That was a real treat!! If you have questions, let me know, but you're going to want to get a little enclosure for the eggs on the leaf and put fresh food in every day. They have a diet of a wide range of low-growing plants, including ground cover like grass and clover so it should be easy for you to forage a bit, quickly for them. And they'll leave a lot of frass (poop) that will need cleaning out. The whole process takes five minutes, feeding and all. I just dump the frass and old 'food' and start fresh :)

Sorry, didn't mean to write a book!
March 20, 2024 at 6:49 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Holiday Prep

For Thanksgiving this year we've invited some guests from Oliver's mom's side of the family, so I have to start prepping now to get the house in shape for the big day. The first major thing is having the carpets cleaned, which we've scheduled for next week. This weekend I'll be cleaning out four rooms to get them ready for that. I started with my front dining room, which I use as my sewing room. It was kind of a mess already, so it felt good to get everything cleared out. We'll be having ten people at dinner plus two babies, so this will give me a chance to figure out how to arrange two tables in this space. I think this will be my last time hosting a big Thanksgiving gathering. Mike has started his family with a lovely girl who has a huge, close-knit family of her own, while Katherine will likely be off at grad school out of state for the next several years. I'm also not getting any younger. My guy and I will always celebrate Thanksgiving, but ...
6 comments
Read more

T-minus Day

This was our little Thanksgiving dinner last year, when it was just the three of us. Time keeps whittling down my favorite holiday; this year it will be just me and my guy, and we likely won't even have a turkey.* That will be a first in 35 years. I feel about Thanksgiving the way other people do about Christmas, and while it's a lot of work it's my favorite holiday. Of all the Thanksgivings I've had in the past sixty years, only three were truly terrible: one when I was a kid that I don't talk about (#1 most miserable); the time I roasted two turkeys together and hosted fifteen people whom I cooked for and served with zero help (the largest and #2 most miserable); and the one I spent in basic training (the #3 most miserable.) I have no pictures of any of those, thank heavens. In addition to doing all the cooking I'm the one who takes all the pictures, washes all the dishes and puts away all the leftovers. I suppose no one else cares because to them it...
5 comments
Read more

Fell Off the Wagon

I did cut up that plastic dollar tote to make into something stronger, but got caught up with work and set it aside. Then last night some hand-dyed silk and pretty threads called my name, and, well . . . Felt SO good to do some handwork, except my neck began hurting about an hour into it. I tried changing the way I sit and work, but it's pretty obvious that the doc is right.
7 comments
Read more