haha! Yeah I think they are adorable. It funny how usually people love them or hate them. Should of heard me an hour ago when I found this tiger swallow tail caterpillar in one of the bins with the cecropias. It must of been on the leaves I got this morning. I was like, "Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww" Swallowtails have adorable caterpillars for the most part, alot of them mimic snakes. This little guy even has a fake snake tongue he can stick out when he feels threatened. AKA caterpie.
Lots of growth! The lunas have to be close to cocooning. They are fat. Two pics below show food consumed in 21 hours .
A number of the cecropias have reached their last instar. These guys get the biggest some of the larger ones might start cocooning soon. They top out at around 4". They stop eating eventually.... Their head and feet won't get any bigger lol. First few pics are of one that just recently reached the 5th instar, huge feet/head and he looks all wrinkly. Last one is a luna compared to a cecropia that has filled out a 'little' . Also a few short videos of Cecropia and luna
Time for an update. All the luna caterpillars except 1 have cocooned now. So pretty much just like that *poof* they are gone and done. Put them in a small cardboard box which is where they will stay for the next 9-10 months. The cecropias will join them shortly
Two of the biggest cecropias started 'walking' this morning. Which is when they loose all interest in food and just kinda wander around for awhile before making their cocoon. They go in a seperate bin with lots of left over sticks and leaves, as their running around kinda pisses off the other caterpillars. The lunas all cocooned very nicely compared to the cecropias who will wander around in circles all day then pic the worst places to cocoon. One of them managed to scale the bin earlier today and started trying to make a cocoon on the TV stand like 2 inches outside the bin. I ruined his plans and now he is back to running around amongst the unsatisfying sticks and leaves with the lid on this time . Here is a video from today. Many of these guys I will be releasing or giving to nature centers in the next week as I go on vacation on the 25th as not all will be cocooned by then.
Caterpie is growing nicely and busy being adorable. Here is a video of me pissing him off