By the last week of the project I knew that my beetles were dead. I wish that I would have let them live in my room instead of the living room. I feel as though my room would have been a better environment for them to live in successfully. With this being said, the beetles didn't eat any of the apple.
During week three my group members and I decided to test if the beetles would eat oats. My beetles didn't eat many of the oats. In fact, I suspected that they were dead but I wasn't for sure. After moving the bugs around a bit, there was one that moved his legs a little! At least one was alive. However, I wasn't sure if he ate any of the oats or not.
On the second week we decided to test if you beetles would eat cheese. Since by beetles died this week, I didn't get to leave the cheese in for a whole week. The beetles seemed to like the cheese. Immediately after I put the cheese in the cage, the beetles went over to it and seemed to be eating it. Since I was very busy with school and work this week, I didn't get to spend a lot of time observing the beetles.
Note: When doing an investigation it is imperative that the researcher allow his or herself enough time and schedule time to work on the investigation. Observing the beetles was an important factor for this experiment, and I feel like I didn't have enough time to really observe them. I was pretty impressed with myself in the beginning of the assignment. Everyone's bugs were dying EXCEPT for mine! Until I found that my bugs died the second week of our investigation. I believe this is because I changed their location.
First location: the kitchen table Observation: I know that this is disgusting to some people, but I didn't have an issue with it since the beetles were in a cage. I just wasn't freaked out by having the beetles on the table (it wasn't a big deal to me.) While they were on the table, I noticed that they were very active and in good standing. Why I chose to put them on the table: I chose to put the beetles on the table because my roommates like our home to be rather cold, I sleep with my heater on and I thought that it would be too hot or stuffy for the beetles in my room. So I decided to leave the mealworms on the table because the temperature would be consistent (I turn my heater on and off, the temperature is constantly changing in my room) and probably the same as it was in the classroom. Moving the the beetles: After some disagreements concerning the beetles on the table, I chose to move the beetles to the living room floor. I believe that the beetles started to die once I changed their location. I think that the beetles were closer to the vents and as a result, their environment became too cold. Looking Back: I wish that I had brought the beetles into my room, my room probably would resemble the same temperature as outside during the beginning of fall. From the moment I moved the location of the beetles, the whole experiment changed. They begin to move slower and were less active. (sad face) Observing the beetles: I am noticing that the beetles are still very active.
Putting lettuce into the cage: After a few days of having the beetles at home, I put lettuce into the cage. Almost immediately after putting lettuce in the cage, the beetles started to walk towards it! This made me feel very excited! The beetles went to the lettuce and started to eat it, or at least they looked as if they were eating it. The whole night I watched the beetles and they never left the piece of lettuce. Sometimes it even looked like they were playing on the piece of lettuce. Nevertheless, it seemed like we were correct, beetles eat lettuce. My group members and I decided to conduct an experiment in which we sought to discover what mealworms eat. We already knew that they ate cornmeal because our teacher kept it in the cage at all times. As a group, we decided to test four different foods by putting them in the cage at different times. We decided to test if mealworms ate lettuce, cheese, oats, and apples. Also, we kept a little bit of cornmeal in the cage at all times just to make sure that the mealworms didn't die. We decided that we would split the individual stages of the mealworm up. For example, two of us would take the beetles, 2 would take the mealworms, and one would take the cocoon. I was chosen to take two beetles home.
Observing the beetles: I am noticing that the mealworms are very active! Both of the mealworms keep ending up on their backs. Why is it that these mealworms continuously end up squirming and trying to get off their backs? I am realizing that I will not be able to keep turning them around, they will have to stay on their backs sometimes. Will this kill them? If they were alone they would have to figure this out on there on right? |
ms. dANIELSINVESTIGATING MEALWORMS |