I am so busy but so are the tawny emperor caterpillar babies so have some photos. They’re really not very smart but they’re so cute. I love how they are big enough now that I can collect the faces they drop when they molt. Top photo is a caterpillar immediately after molting, before the new face has hardened.
Babies are growing so fast! Day 2 and they are moving much faster, eating more, and making a ton of little green poops (they look like leaf fairy dust).
They may not look much bigger at first, but compare the bottom photo (from yesterday) to the other photos (all from today). Look at how much longer the body is in comparison to the head. They are destroying these hackberry leaves!
I created a tag just for these babies. Check out the “tawny babies april 2017” tag for all posts featuring them. Having so much fun with them, I’ve been bringing them to work and showing them off to everyone. I also feel like I may be the only person ever to bring their pet caterpillars into petsmart. Needed to get a bunch of temporary terrariums for the Audubon sanctuary’s open house, where I will be telling unsuspecting birders all about how awesome bugs are. Excited to see what life stage the tawny emperors will be in at the event in two weeks.
Accurate! Caterpillars are designed to eat as much as possible and put on as much mass as possible in a short amount of time. That one up there is just going to do that, nonstop, until it’s nighttime.
At last! My tiny fluffy teddy bear moths have arrived!
My first southern flannel moth adult emerged from his cocoon this morning. You may remember my previous posts of them: as caterpillars, they are the most adorable fluffy shy hairballs who are also so venomous their stings are considered the most painful kind you can get in North America.
They were so cute and I wanted to hold them SO BAD but the closest I could get was stroking the side of the tank while I wept over how life was so cruel to deny me the joy of holding these sweet babies.
Well, my first sweet baby is here. A boy: his antennae are feathered to detect the scent females let out to attract mates. I knew they were small, but I was still surprised to see this tiny baby. Every surface is covered in fluffy fur.
His little black boots. His fluffy bum. His orange mustache 😭
I’m not going to lie. I kissed him. He is perfect.
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