Info needed on Elephant Hawk Moth Caterpillers !

Buttercup · #1 (**permalink**) 22-08-2010, 09:47 AM

Can anyone help. We have in our garden two of the most beautiful elephant hawk moth Caterpillers you have ever seen. Both have spent the last week feasting on two seperate fuchsias in pots. One is still hanging on and feeding everyday, where as the other has completely stripped the plant bare leaving nothing but the stems! This one made it's way off of the pot and has since spent the last 24 hours crawling round the garden,in and out of the flower beds and across the grass. We have tried moving it back onto a fushia but it just crawls off and continues crawling round the garden. Having previously watched it eat a leaf in record time we are now abit concerned that it hasn't eaten for a day. Can anyone give me some advice on what I should do with this caterpillar or on what it may be trying to do !!
Thank you

triops · #2 (**permalink**) 22-08-2010, 11:01 AM

Hi buttercup,

Your caterpillar is now fully fed and looking for somewhere to pupate, to change into a pupa or chrysalis. It would burrow a short distance into the soil, or under loose vegetation to do this. Give it a container of soil, and don't disturb it for a few weeks. If you look then, you will find the pupa. Keep it in a sheltered place, like a cool shed, and watch carefully next spring to see the adult moth. Put some twigs in the container before the moth hatches for it to climb to expand its wings. Good luck!

Buttercup · #3 (**permalink**) 24-08-2010, 09:23 AM

Hi, thanks for your advice.
Our caterpillar that was on a march around the garden has now buried it's self just under the grass next to one of our flowerbeds so we have left it there with a Marker to keep an eye on it.
Our 2nd caterpillar yesterday made the great escape from the fushia flowerpot it was on and proceeded to do the same as the last one. We took your advice yesterday and have put it in a container of soil along with a few fushia leaves and left it in our cool shed. On checking on it this morning we have noticed that it has eaten some of the leaves, so now we are not sure wether he was ready to hide away or wether he just fell off the fushia and just couldn't get back!
Do you have any other advice.

triops · #4 (**permalink**) 24-08-2010, 03:52 PM

Hi buttercup,
Just give him a leaf or two if he seems to need it. It's unlikely he fell off, so he should stop feeding very soon. You seem to be doing the right things. Good luck!