Sigh.

It was a great looking squash.

It held a secret.

There was an intruder.

No signs of forced entry.

No apparent abrasions.

The crime: Butternut Battery.

The sentence: Death by refrigeration.

The Perp:

Exhibit A:                                                                     Exhibit B:

This squash was purchased last week. Murph was going to enjoy the final 1/3 of it, but not now. What I do, is after washing my darling lizard’s veggies, I slice off that which will be eaten & then toss the remainder into the refrigerator drawer. When I use it again I slice off the air-dried tip, toss it outside for a wild creature to eat & give to Murph another section of stated vegetable.That means this food has been cold for quite some time.

After purchasing the groceries & getting them home, I placed most of the vegetables into the refrigerator immediately. I do not know if the multi-legged perpetrator was DOA or if the coldness killed him or her. I know that insects will often get so cold they cannot move, so in case it was alive I put the whole thing outside. It resembles a superworm, a commonly purchased food supply for lizards:

…except it was darker, with a shorter body, and legs more like a caterpillar’s. I was grossed out by the unwarranted surprise, but wished (if it was dead as it appeared) it had passed away untrapped in our squash… outside, perhaps in the sunlight.

When I sliced the squash, it appeared as though a nasty bruise was in the flesh of it.

I hypothesized that it looked like no ordinary bruise.

I investigated.

I performed an autopsy with a surgeon’s accuracy, slicing carefully at the exact spot of suspicion. As seen in Exhibit B, the lighting of such reveals an unmarred insect individual.

My conclusion was correct.

The moral of the story is this: A bruise may tell a much deeper story, not all bruises are from bumps, not all bruises are visible, and finally, the living or the dead can be discovered at any moment – when or where we least expect it.

Lil’ Murph will be happy with his medley of food without the squash. I have to tell you, the next food items I prepared were organic arugula & a banana. Guess what. The banana was horribly bruised & soft. I had a passing paranoia directly after the encounter within the squash, so the banana was launched. It had a graceful flight out the back door to land as a meal for a critter or improve soil quality, or something, I don’t know. Check those bruises!

 

*superworm photo from:    https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Stages-of-Super-worm_fig4_328551486

 

 

“Give me Lizardry or give me Death! – ♥ Dawn Renee