Can anybody help with our caterpillar please !!

Camlissie · #1 (**permalink**) 18-01-2010, 06:22 PM

Hello - before Christmas my husband went shopping to Morrisons and in the bottom of the fruit and veg bag we found a large, bright green caterpillar. We don't know what he dropped off of because all the fruit and veg was wrapped up.

We put him in a big glass jar with a twig and some cabbage and put an old dishcloth over the top and secured it with a rubber band and left the jar on the landing where it is relatively warm - very much expecting him to be dead in the morning ... but he wasn't !! And now after a month of living in the jar getting bigger and bigger he has dug himself under what can only be described as leaf litter and is now in a brown cocoon. It's not stuck to anything as from time to time it wriggles around but can anybody tell us what this caterpillar might turn into and what we do when and if it does !!!

I've scoured the internet looking for european species also just in case it came in vegetables from abroad but all I can find are cabbage whites which look nothing like ours and other green caterpillars appear to have stripes on them which ours didn't !! Any ideas would be greatly appreciated ... we've probably been rearing some killer moth or something !!!!!!

Hope someone can help - thanking you in advance
Emma

Jason Green · #2 (**permalink**) 18-01-2010, 06:33 PM

Hi Emma, and welcome to WAB!

I have no idea which caterpillar you have, can you post a photograph of it if you have one? The habitat you've provided him with sounds perfect - very well thought out! 'Leaf-litter' is the right word as you said - presumably leaves with soil below.

From where did the fruit/vegetables originate? This won't get us much closer to an identification, mind! What have you been providing it to eat?

Please, please post a photo of the adult moth when it hatches! Some don't live long when they emerge as they sometimes have a short lifespan, so it's best you release it once you've taken a photo as it'll need to mate and eat.

Sounds interesting, keep us posted!

Take care,

Jason

Camlissie · #3 (**permalink**) 19-01-2010, 08:38 AM

Hi Jason - thanks for responding so quickly.

Unfortunately we didn't think to take a picture of him as we thought he'd just be a cabbage white or something and to be quite honest we didn't think he'd survive ! We fed him on cabbage leaves and carrot peelings - all seemed to go down well and as I say he grew huge and very fat compared to how he was when we found him !

How long do you think it will take him to hatch out ?? I'm worried that because it is nice and warm on the landing he might get confused as to what time of the year it is and hatch while it is too cold to let him outside - I haven't got a clue but I don't want to lose him now we've got him this far !!!

Listen to me calling him him !! The kids call him Kit as in Kit Kat-erpillar ... we've become quite attached !!!!!!!!!!!

Is there anything else you think we should be doing ?

Thanks again and I'll keep you posted

Emma

Lance Morgan · #4 (**permalink**) 19-01-2010, 08:51 AM

Not sure about the size and what you call huge. If the pupa is 25mm ish the most likely answer is Angleshades Moth or another noctuid like Large Yellow Underwing or Bright Line Brown Eye. If you are keeping it indoors it will emerge before Spring and you will need to provide a bigger box for the moth to emerge in and something for it to crawl up and hang freely whilst drying its wings.