Hattie, who regularly sees things where others don’t, spied this fat green caterpillar hanging on the bottom of an oak tree limb.
So, we brought it in and gave it a Mason-jar home…and several names: Toby, X-Bottom, Edward, Hermie and Homer.
We were lucky enough to discover a Monarch caterpillar two years ago the day before it made it’s chrysalis. It stayed in it’s pupa stage for about 2 weeks and then emerged victorious a beautiful butterfly!
The Monarch of '07
The Monarch Chrysalis of '07
Naturally, we thought that this fat green larva (caterpillar) would form a chrysalis, and were all very surprised when it started spitting out silk! And once they start spinning silk, they do not stop! We even thought it looked like he or she moved his or her head in a figure-8ish way…all night long. Even this morning I can barely see it inside of the cocoon, spinning pushing the silk into place.
The cocoon spun over one night.
Our new pet is the larva of the Polyphemus Moth – one of the largest silk-moths in the United States. It’s named after the cyclops in Homer’s Odyssey, because when it emerges, in 8 months (!), it will have huge spots on it’s wings that look like large eyes. The adult moth does not eat at all – it only lives for enough days to pass on his or her genes and then starves to death.
In my personal opinion, it looks more like a cyclops in it’s larval phase – in a sci-fi creepy way.
Some people gather used silk-moth cocoons and spin silk out of them. How awesome is that?! See step-by-step instructions at wormspit.com.
If you would like to raise your own butterflies or moths visit Butterfly School for details you will need to know.
Beautiful pictures and more detailed descriptions of the Polyphemus Moth can be found here and here .
Factoids: We learned that butterflies molt one last time into a new life-cycle phase called a chrysalis – they do not make cocoons. Moths do make cocoons. Often, one generation will make a cocoon in spring and emerge about 3 weeks later. A second group might make a cocoon in late summer or fall and not emerge until spring. A pupae (cocoon) that is dead, will be brown. A live pupae will bend itself back if you bend it slightly. And at the end of the pupa phase, moths secrete a substance called cocoonase to help break down the cocoon so that they can get out.
Kids can learn the differences in butterfly and moth life cycles and become familiar with the words egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa (cocoon or chrysalis), adult and emerge. And patience. I think 8 months of waiting on Homer to emerge cause patience to emerge here – and it will be emerging into it’s new form as our sweet Zoya will be emerging into our family.
Grab your best finder and search for your own overwintering egg, larva or pupa today! Some species are not safe to handle, so choose safety by gently handling larvae without touch. There are some great videos of each life cycle here.
We want to learn exactly how green leaves turn into white silk-spit inside the caterpillar at the exact right time. Be sure to share your discoveries!
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