Jeffrey the Rhinoceros Beetle

Two weeks ago, my parents called to let us know they were on the way to my house with a load of dirt. (My husband would call it soil.) The dirt was for the raised garden bed my husband had built and finally finished. As my father and husband were shoveling the dirt into the bed, my father found a rhinoceros beetle. My children were instantly fascinated and wanted to "keep it." I'll admit that it was pretty cool to look at in a scary way so I headed inside to find a jar. We added a little dirt, some clover, and the beetle.

A. took it to school on Monday to share with her class. A. and L. wanted to keep it as a pet. I said it was a wild thing and deserved to go back to the wild. We finally reached the compromise of keeping it a week and I researched what rhinoceros beetles eat. (It's rotting fruit in case you want to know.) I found some strawberries past their prime in the back of the refridgerator.

On Tuesday, I found the beetle a larger (temporary) home. It sat on the kitchen table for a while.

On Wednesday, my husband set the table for dinner and moved the beetle into the extra chair. During dinner, I laughed and said, "Look! The rhinoceros beetle is sitting in Jeffrey's chair (because Jeffrey is the only "family" member that sits in that chair). We should name the beetle Jeffrey." I wasn't expecting their enthusiastic response. So, the beetle became Jeffrey.

On Saturday evening, with the sky streaked pink and orange, we released Jeffrey into the compost heap where we hoped he would enjoy the adequate supply of rotting produce. I felt a twinge of sadness for this beetle, so mysterious and scary, almost 2 inches long, all iridescent and horned, who had shared my home for 8 days. I think M. put it best as we walked away shouting well wishes. She said, "Bye, bye, Jeffdrey. Luck." We checked back about 10 minutes later and Jeffrey the Rhinoceros beetle was gone. I hope he's doing well. He was pretty cool.