I was getting kind of worried. It had been in there for over a month, and I was told there was a REALLY good chance it was a parasitic wasp. Meaning, that the caterpillar had a parasitic egg laid on it and when it went into metamorphosis (cuccoon) then the wasp would take over and grow and use the caterpillar for food during this process. Still a really important part of the bug cycle, but kind of creepy and dissapointing. But it was not! It was a MOTH!
The moth (and caterpillar) is a Ruby Tiger Moth. I had never seen one, so this was really special. It was in the container Saturday, just a day or two after the last time I checked. We missed it coming out, but we were able to enjoy it a little since it didnt hardly move until dusk set in. It is, of course, a moth, so it flew away at night. Really cool.
Here are some pics of our little friend:
In reality, it was a magenta color. A real red. Not this rusty brown.
You can look this species up at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltese_Ruby_Tiger_Moth. The description is for a variation of this, but the picture is good. Or here for a really good pic: http://wordpress.com/tag/ruby-tiger-moth/feed/
Im definitely going to do this again. But this time, we build the cage first! Cant wait for fall so the kids and I can go looking for a new caterpillar.
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