Everyone knows that fruits and vegetables are supposed to be washed before eating. But what would you do if you found bugs, worms, or insects in them? Freak out? Use them for making compost?
According to Mirror UK, 27-year-old FM radio presenter Sam Darlaston found 7 green caterpillars in packets of broccoli he bought from the supermarket. So he decided to name them (Cedric, Janine, Slim Eric, Broc, Olly, Croc, and Carlos) and become their ‘dad’.
Hey @Tesco I was about to cook my favourite vegetable of all time (broccoli) and after unwrapping it, to my surprise, found caterpillars inside! They’re really nice and we’ve ended up keeping one as a pet and naming him. but just as a heads up, some of your broc has c-pillars😳🐛 pic.twitter.com/3VLIQAEogG
— Sam Darlaston (@samd_official) June 11, 2020
Evening Standard quoted him saying,
“I didn’t think they would survive if I put them outside straight away. I read that caterpillars only eat their host plant and I didn’t have any broccoli in the garden. So I thought, the best bet is to keep them with some broccoli and they can leave when they’re older.”
The supermarket gave him a gift card for the cost of the broccoli and added,
“It seems like a hungry caterpillar made its way into Sam’s broccoli. We’re really sorry about this and apologize to Sam for providing an accidental pet with his greens. We regularly test our fresh produce for quality but as we encourage our growers to move to more natural production methods and greatly reduce the application of pesticides, this can occasionally lead to the very odd insect being found.”
Here is the story of the 7 caterpillars which has romance, adventure, transformation and finally freedom! Take a look.
In case anyone is interested, the name we’ve gone with is Cedric, he’s from Spain (at least we assume so because the broccoli is) and he dances after eating spinach and broc all day long 🐛🐛🐛 pic.twitter.com/tO1EyMgeG1
— Sam Darlaston (@samd_official) June 11, 2020
OH MY CHRIST. Just bought another broc and before I’ve even opened it I can see caterpillars 😭🐛 pic.twitter.com/xUBFmuiT5B
— Sam Darlaston (@samd_official) June 11, 2020
SO IT TURNS OUT THAT THIS BROC CONTAINS ANOTHER 5 CATERPILLARS????!!!! 5!!!!! Also it turns out that THIS… is now a caterpillar thread pic.twitter.com/7M0UIcUxrU
— Sam Darlaston (@samd_official) June 11, 2020
DJ Khaled: ANOTHER ONE gif pic.twitter.com/k6EUDGHaXB
— Sam Darlaston (@samd_official) June 11, 2020
WELL! What do you know! My housemate just went to cook his broccoli and BAMMMMMMM, he’s got green mates too. Open to name suggestions for our 7th caterpillar child 😭🐛🐛🐛 pic.twitter.com/Gs02yjtPLr
— Sam Darlaston (@samd_official) June 12, 2020
The process of metamorphosis has begun! For the uninitiated Caterpie, Metapod and Butterfree are names of Pokémon based on the evolving stages of caterpillars.
The OG caterpillar Cedric has begun evolving… is Caterpie is about to become Metapod 😮 pic.twitter.com/sRRXnrR3qs
— Sam Darlaston (@samd_official) June 12, 2020
Day 3, and we’ve got our first caterpillar romance story. Janine and Slim Eric nap together, eat together, and occasionally dance together 🐛 pic.twitter.com/t883KOVgi0
— Sam Darlaston (@samd_official) June 13, 2020
Also, a closer look at Cedric who is now 30 hours into his chrysalis stage – now fully renamed Metapod until he elvolves into butterfree 🦋 pic.twitter.com/Ryx4jVjgxf
— Sam Darlaston (@samd_official) June 13, 2020
WE’VE GOT AN ESCAPOLOGIST – this rebel has grabbed some vanilla sticks!! tesco you can pay for me to get a new set of vanilla sticks now, they’re fackin frazzled pic.twitter.com/tMI5YHaylR
— Sam Darlaston (@samd_official) June 13, 2020
Oh god, it’s actually started cocooning and spun silk round it, so it won’t come off, it’s gonna have to chrysalis outside the cage with a house plant, this is CATERPILLAR CHAOS pic.twitter.com/gdvLp4rkTO
— Sam Darlaston (@samd_official) June 13, 2020
These are Spanish white cabbage butterflies. Sam has released 6 out of 7 of them, the last one is still in its cocoon.
Broc then became a chrysalis on Friday night… But then on SUNDAY MORNING I WAS GREETED BY CEDRIC!!!! he’s changed a bit 🦋🦋🦋 pic.twitter.com/KvqorlRFKh
— Sam Darlaston (@samd_official) June 22, 2020
Remember Cedric the caterpillar? Feel old yet? 🐛🦋 pic.twitter.com/EfTPqIlSXY
— Sam Darlaston (@samd_official) June 22, 2020
IT’S FRIDAY FRIDAY GROWIN WINGS ON FRIDAY. 🦋 Time to say an emotional goodbye to Clingy Carlos 😭🐛 it’s been real. 6/7 butterflies are now hatched. Just waiting on the escapologist (still cocooned under the candle holder) 🥦 pic.twitter.com/LnVcJ660tA
— Sam Darlaston (@samd_official) June 26, 2020
We love how he turned around a freaky incident into a sweet lockdown pet story!