Tadpole Larvae

I was so excited for a fun home grown science experiment. Leila saw some little thing swimming around in a garbage can full of water at my Mom's. She asked Grandma if she could take some home thinking they were tadpoles. We had a cute little jar with holes punched in the lid. Leila was fascinated and Nathan was too. She named four of them: Zippy, Wiggly, Mark and Nathan(she originally named Nathan Kathryn, but thought it looked more like a Nathan.). We fed them some baby cereal. Some of them stopped moving and laid on the bottom of the jar(but not the four she named.). She loved these little tadpoles. She spent hours talking to them, showing them around the house. She even introduced them to her teacher who stopped by for a home visit. Leila was probably fantasizing about bringing them to school for show and tell. And in her heart, they were like a new pet.

Funny, we noticed a mosquito laying on top of the water. I thought that was strange since I hadn't seen it before, but maybe I just missed it. I left it in there- I hate mosquitos with a passion. Recalling nights when one would buzz in my ear and feast on my arms. And the grossness of they way they leave big bloody marks after I would squish one that was likely my own blood.

Beth called me the next day with some very bad news. Her boys had taken some home to watch the transformation of tadpole to frog. She reported that these were not tadpoles. These were mosquito larvae. EEEW! I get the creepy crawlings even now writing about it. I thought my drama queen would fall to pieces as certain death was now in Zippy's, Wiggly's, Marks and Nathans future, but we told her what they were, and what mosquitos eat and she didn't bat an eye about getting rid of them.

Jeremy threw them in the neighbors yard. I hope they died and won't come to pay us a visit. Mom ended her mosquito breeding complex by dumping out that water too. Beth's boys were grossed out and disappointed too, but we are all much smarter in terms of larvae.