Outside today, hubby and the kids found something none of us had ever seen before. Pete's sister came over, and a friend of his came over. Neither of them had ever seen it either. Now we are all well into our 40's. Lived here all our lives. This is strange! Even later on, Papa Shot comes by. He's at least 20 years older than any of us and he's never seen one either!
I come to look it up on the Internet. Had the good fortune of finding Bea online. She gave me the bead on where to go, where to look. Thanks, Bea!
Here's a picture from Bubba's cell phone: 
But from the excellent link Bea gave me, we find it is simply a caterpillar for a large plain looking moth! He is as big as my middle finger and we believe him to be about ready to cocoon. So we have him held captive.
At the sight above, there is a chart like this:
Will be back to update the success or failure of our little experiment.
and EW
ReplyDeleteewwwwwwww and that is a bit icky looking!
ReplyDeleted
Kinda scary looking. I voted no. Paula
ReplyDeleteHi Barbara- I can't say I've seen one exactly like that one, but we get quite a few ugly(yet interesting) guys like him around here- if you notice on the map- there's bunches around SW Florida. Some of them though you really have to watch because when they are catarpillars- some of them wreck havock on plants! I just had to spray my Oleander because of ugly orange ones with black spikes, which were eating all of the leaves. I agree with the guys- it's a good possibility they came on storms- Rita or Katrina even as that one passed through S Florida on the way to Louisiana. I have to admit, although I find som of them ugly as can be, and damaging sometimes- God sure made some interesting looking characters! God Bless you Barbara- have a wonderful week! Carolyn :)
ReplyDeleteGlad I could help. I had the website bookmarked, of course. No, I have not seen one of these either... if you cocoon him, there is a site to visit that tells you how to care for it, and about how long you will have to wait.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.kiva.net/~daylight/moth.html#pupae
If it cocoons, I'm interested to see how it looks. I can give you some tips if you do keep it. The most interesting part will be when it emerges in the spring. I've got a feeling that since it's waited this long to cocoon, it will be there for six months. You will need to keep it safe. I kept mine in our garage, with no additional heat. I figured if it was outside, it would have to survive even colder temps. If it gets too warm, it will think it's time to come out, and then you are stuck with a big moth, with no mate for it to seek. (sad) Ever once in awhile I sprayed a mist of water on the cocoon to keep it from drying out too much, but not very often. Mostly it stayed in a dark and cool location all through the winter. For mine, it was 6 months. Good luck. bea
Interesting! Love the internet. We get to learn so much!
ReplyDeleteTraci
BARBARA,
ReplyDeleteTHAT IS A MEAN LOOKING THING.
THAT MAY BE WHY SOME MOTHS ARE SO TUFF. sam
Yes, I have, or one very similar to it. We caught one and let it cocoon and it turned into a pretty brownish/orange (and very large) moth. Be sure to take a picture when it comes out of the cocoon!
ReplyDeleteLori
I havent seen a catapiller like that one here but looking at the map it could be in my area.
ReplyDeleteTerrie