But.. it looks so qt and fuzzy tho fr 🥺

I see that orange/red stripe tho. I’m wondering if I would have had the common sense to use a utensil to interact with it that Dino had lol I’m not so sure as my first instinct looking @ the thumbnail was 2 pick up.

Idk. I love caterpillars and beetles especially. I used to keep both as pets when I was a kid after we did that butterfly thing in 2nd grade. Beetles are literally the chillest insects ever and can get big if you keep em depending on what kind they are (when I say big, maybe a lil smaller than a hamster in my city). And maybe it was just me being a kid, but I swear the ones that lived a long time like a year+ or grew like that, they recognize you. I would take those guys outside on my shoulder and they wouldn’t leave.

When I was in elem school, I was that kid who was the annoying bug lifeguard in the swimming pool - every damn bug that flew into the pool, I stopped whatever games we were playing so I could save it, even if it was a bee lol.

I have a brother who’s a couple of years younger than me, and what he did in preschool when I just turned 5 will forever be burned in my mind, and I think it’s why I’m like this with insects; we were at our grandparents house and there was a snail in the drive way and I was watching & inspecting all aspects of it, I never saw a bug like it before and it was cool, like hybrid turtle/insect to me. Seeing how long it took to catch up to where I moved or the lines on the concrete blocks, I remember thinking it looked like something that belonged in the water with its body, beach like shell and eyes, and I went to gently touch the eyes and was shocked 2 see their eyes retreat and it doesn’t hurt them. I thought it was fucking cool.

Anyway, I ran in the house 2 get my brother after like 20 min of making friends with this lil guy, thought he was a cool insect cuz he had a shell like a turtle (where did the shell come from?! I never saw one outside before back then!), and wanted to show my brother.

I brought him outside and as soon as he saw it, with bravado in his Nike high tops, he fucking slammed down on it with all his 4-year-old might and I swear to you I still remember the crunch to this day. He started laughing hysterically. I don’t remember what happens after that funnily enough but I prolly got in trouble lol.

Shit was traumatic for a kid who just turned 5! 2 this day, living on my own in an apt in my 20’s, I still capture any insects I find and let them out outside lol.