caterpillars & pupae ~ 03/31/11 ~ at home

moth caterpillars and pupae in containers

Here's my assortment of jars for raising caterpillars and letting pupae rest. No, I don't keep them on the banister all the time. It's often too windy and my friendly scrub-jay is too curious for her own good to keep them here all the time. I just placed some of the containers up there, because I thought it'd make a better photo with the Monterey Bay in the background.

I'm keeping them outside so that they develop naturally. My plan is to record when they pupate, how long it takes to emergence, ID the adults, and eventually release them so they can find mates. I'm generally not a collector anymore, except for photographs. It's been at least 5 years since I've raised anything, but my curiosity about what a couple caterpillars are got the better of me.

Since I've made a policy on Nature ID to post CA nature photos to the date of the actual photos, you'll have to wait for future posts for the close-up shots. I've already posted a close-up of what I hope is a painted tiger moth.