Do you recall that last year I followed the lives of a pack of Milkweed Tiger Tussock Moths? When I first found them I thought perhaps they were going to be Monarch Caterpillars.
Of course, I went hunting for pictures of the instars of the Monarchs, and learned that except for the very first (tiniest), they are striped like the larger, later ones. But I'd only ever seen large ones.
We fixed that last night!
I went out to gather some more milkweed buds for part of my dinner, and when I was cleaning them, look at what I found.
Looks just like the big ones! But with my hand for scale you can tell it's only about a half inch long.
I took him outside and put him on a milkweed. Today he's gone. Maybe he crawled away, or fell on the ground, or became a meal himself.
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6 comments:
I hope he didn't end up as dinner. :(
We used to raise them in fishbowls all over my kitchen. It was amazing to see the transformations of each instar. They'd shed their previous skin like a wee pair of pants. If I remember correctly, I think they went through 4 or 5 instar levels before being a fat chubby caterpillar.
Cute little fellow.
Yikes, stripes :)
He's rather fashionable. I'm surprised there weren't more of them.
He's rather fashionable. I'm surprised there weren't more of them.
He's rather fashionable. I'm surprised there weren't more of them.
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