OPERATION HORN-WORM

 We found these two Tobacco Horn-worm moth caterpillars in our garden. They were so huge! We took them inside and started feeding them. Eventually, they started shrinking! We thought we had done something wrong, but really they were just getting ready to make their cocoons.

 These types of caterpillar do not cling to branches like most do to make a cocoon, they burrow! Finally          mine made theirs, so I dug them up and put them in a container.

  I misted them once a day, just to make it easier for them to hatch. They turned from green, yellow and brown, to a dark earthy brown. Then, one morning I noticed that one cocoon

was laying on its side of the container, empty? Then, I noticed something else...

there was a big Tobacco Horn-worm Moth trying to climb up the side of the container!!!  It's tongue was about 5" long! Its wings had still not dried yet so it probably hatched that morning. Some other names for the tobacco Horn-worm moths are Six-Spotted sphinx and Tobacco-Fly. The Sphinx are definitely my favorite moths.

Post by Ethan