Caterpillars

A few weeks ago, I discovered a cluster of vivid green insect eggs on one of our net curtains.  Through an innate sense of wonder at nature's miracles (or more accurately, an innate laziness and tendency to put off tidying as long as possible,) I left the eggs to see what would happen.  Sure enough, a few days later, they hatched into minute green caterpillars.  Pickle was very interested in inspecting them with her new magnifying glass, and I thought it would be fun to keep some.

We made a home out of a transparent tupperware box, added some sheets of kitchen roll to the floor, and then we had a quandary.  All the information I could find about caterpillars made it clear that they are fussy creatures, often only eating one particular plant, and that was usually the species the eggs were laid on.  I wasn't keen on the idea of donating my net curtain, so we collected a few leaves from plants outside the front door.  We put them in the box, then covered it with a muslin cloth and and elastic band.  After an hour, the results were pretty conclusive.  There was barely anything left of the dandelion leaf, while the others remained untouched.  This was a relief as my shoddy weeding skills ensured we had a rich supply of food.  Boy, can caterpillars eat.  And poo.  Lots and lots of poo.  Or frass as it's apparently called. 

The caterpillars got big, and even my weedy garden was struggling to keep up with demand for leaves, so we set six of our twelve captives free.  Not long afterwards, the remaining inhabitants began to become brown, and seemed quite lethargic.  Their insatiable appetites eased off a little.  I had no idea what species they were, but due to where they were laid, I guessed they might be some sort of moth.  The Internet informed me some species of moths form cocoons underground, so I added some soil.  One caterpillar instantly burrowed out of sight.  When we next checked, another three had followed, and two perfectly formed cocoons lay on the surface.

The visible cocoons.  I should probably have photographed them at the other,  frankly more interesting stages.  But I was too busy feeding them and clearing out improbable quantities of poo.

They are now in a bigger container, and we're awaiting the transformation, although whether that will be in the next couple of weeks, or next Spring remains to be seen.

It's been our first attempt at keeping insects, and has sparked lots of related activities.  More on those in another post!