Caterpillar Id Please ~ Big Furry Beast!

[Denise70]

Hi Can anyone identify this caterpillar please?

[aeshna5]

Pale Tussock

[Denise70]

many thanks

[jockmcd]

Hello all , very nice to find and join this forum and i hope you can be of some help to me and off course my 3/4 elephant hawk moths.......the story so far :
I found 4 elephant hawk moths on the fushcia in my garden and my father in law, told me to put them in a jar with some fushcia and watch them emerge (i also have 3 kids so they where fascinated by this) so thought why not?
So i done as he said and put them in a big glass jar with the fushcia and leaving the lid a little open to let in some air , they were doing some real large poo`s so i decided to clean out and dry off , renew fuschia etc every couple of days ( i keep them in my garage where it is dark and can be hot at times as my garage is under my house and not a stand on its own garage )
The last time i removed the fuschia to clean out ,2 of them had made a web like silk and joined some twigs leaves together and i could see the larvae/caterpillar moving around inside this , so what i done was replace the the other pieces of fuschia, clean out poo etc , and popped back the the 2 pieces that they had combined into the middle trying not to disturb them.
Next morning i checked them and the 2 that had made a silk/web had fallen to the bottom of the glass jar ( there is no bedding or anything there for them just glass , as the twigs and fuschia are standing upright ) they have been what i think turning into pupae as there heads started to disappear and and 1 of them now is turning a light brown colour and it is lying a little bit on 1 of the other larvae/caterpillars poo`s.
The questions i would like you to help me with are as follows:
1. Does this sound like pupae ?
2. Will they be ok on the glass jar bottom with poo`s in it , 1 of them touching it , or should i move them to somewere else i.e a shoebox with leaves ,cotton wool, netting etc over it
3. Can i remove these things by hand (obviously being careful with them) or should i wait a certain length of time before trying to move them by hand to another area
4. I feel the bottom of the jar will get moist with the heat and fuschia in there, im scared they might not emerge if kept like this , what do you think, should i put them in my front room at the window with light or keep them in the dark garage , in jar or box , with bedding with out bedding , separate larvae/caterpillar from pupae to 2 different areas avoiding poo.
Plz help , thank you

[jockmcd]

sorry the above is off subject but i tried to post new thread , i even tried to email it and it still wouldnt send so 2 days later so i thought id try this , so sorry its off topic , if omeone could redirect it then that would be great, if i could get some answers even better ;-) , again sorry

[jockmcd]

Can no one help me out on this ? surely you gotta be kiddin me , this site looks pretty good/big/loads of people but yet no one has answered my post , 4 days later ? they might die cmon folks help me out a little here

[Lance Morgan]

Hi there
1. yes they are shedding their last skin to reveal pupal case. They should not be disturbed during this process until the ('shell' has hardened) usually a couple of weeks.

2. Remove them and keep them over winter in garage or shed unheated. keep them in a secure container to prevent mice getting at them.

3. see 1

4. Bring them in in Spring and put in a large box with sticks so they can climb and expand their wings. Inside spray daily with a little water. do not soak them.

[jockmcd]

Super , thanks for that , i have only just tonight put them in an open shoe box , layered with toilet tissue and then 3 big heaped lumps of toilet tissue and putting all them all in different little areas (toilet tissue to keep the cold from them really) ive already put netting over the top of the box lol didnt know i was to wait till spring duh lol so my next question would be as follows:

Do i keep them in this box ? i see you recomend to use another kind of concealed container so that mice do not get them , are we talking airtight ? can you give me some examples , should they be kept in the dark or let the light at them , they will be kept in a garage.

[Lance Morgan]

I use biscuit tins or tupperware (airtight is ok it will not harm the pupa). Light or dark does not matter either. They do not need to be protected from the cold as in the wild they are exposed to winter temperatures etc.