This post should be titled: “The Things I Will Do To Get a Picture”, because the minute my daughter brought this awesome little fellow to my attention, I was smitten. I know! Weird isn’t it, a girl who loves big fat gooey green caterpillars.
Who knew!
To get this picture I was on my tummy about inches from him…now that is a picture in itself.
eeeeew!
Riley ran to get my camera, Jake ran to get the empty terrarium that I wanted to toss several weeks ago, thank goodness I didn’t. After I got gravel impressions all over my tummy and knees for these great pics…Jake scooped him up and placed him in a lush habitat, in the terrarium that is. I just wanted to look at him awhile longer, then I had plans to take him to a wooded area and let him go.
This was Sunday…
Monday morning I go out to look at him….get him ready for his woodsy adventure and he was gone! Or so I thought. But upon closer inspection, I believe this little guy began preparation for his big change.
So now we wait. I think it’s safe to say that this story will have to be continued at a later date.
Anyone know how long?
I wonder what he will turn into….
butterfly?
moth?
Godzilla?
What is your best guess?
peace.love.rust
Rustique Art 
Hi Cindi, we just hatched some in my prek classroom… (different caterpillars) it took about 2 weeks for them to go from tiny, tiny caterpillars to big, ugly, fat, hairy ones… then they turned into the pupa stage… then in less than a week we had butterflies! At this point it wouldn’t hurt to put the pupa in a big jar to watch the transformation and then let it go when it turns to a butterfly. We also did it with a Monarch and it was so cool to see the butterfly in the jar the next morning!
It is amazing for the children to see!
Susan
Homeroad
I remember every year in elementary school, we would save our milk cartons from lunch and we would each get a silk worm to keep in our carton, it was make it’s little cocoon and we would wait for it’s emergence as a moth. It is one of my favorite memories of school. You’re an awesome teacher!
Looks like a tomato worm to me. They wreak havoc on our plants around here.
yep. but I have no tomato plants yet. I’ve always wondered where these creatures come from. It’s as if the just appear out of no where!
Hi,
I just discovered two of these little babies on my pepper plant….only after they had totally decimated it. The funny thing is we have dear in the area who will sometimes come into the yard and I had noticed the plant had been been half eaten away the day before. My first assumption was that a deer got in…I never even noticed the worms until the next day. By that time the plant was gone. I don’t know where they come from either. They just appeared out of nowhere. I moved them to a remote part of the property. I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for more. Good luck with your garden!