Caterpillar identification?

[User65412]

Can anyone identify this caterpillar please? I'm wondering if it's a hawk moth but not sure what kind. Googling leads me to elephant but I know nothing! It's about 7cm long.
It was on the slabs in the back garden. I managed to save it from the dogs just in time! I currently have it in a large kilner with a muslin over the top, some dry compost and a selection of leaves from the garden. It's buried itself right into the compost already. I'd love to keep it until it transforms if possible.

Yes, that’s an Elephant Hawkmoth caterpillar! Lucky you! It might be ready to pupate, by burying itself, be careful it doesn’t overheat in the killer jar.

If you do keep it it will need to be at outdoor temperatures, out of the sun. Indoors it will emerge too early next spring/summer. Should be plenty of information online about looking after caterpillars/pupae.

Their main food plant is willowherb, usually rosebay, but I expect it would eat the other types. They also feed on fuchsia. When they're ready to pupate they crawl away from the food plant and bury themselves in the soil. So cool!

I found one of those last week, DH identified it and I tucked it in to the base of a clump of rosebay willowherb.

Thanks all. I did consider popping it back into a flower bed but my little girl would love to see what happens. I've always had a bit a fear of moths so hopefully this will help ease that a bit!
There's no fuchsia or willowherb in my garden so perhaps it was dropped by something? I have a high walled victorian garden with only 2 square beds and potted herbs and trees. I think it's ready to pupate but I'll stick grab some willowherb tomorrow and pop it in.
Thanks for the advice regarding temp - perhaps the shed would be a good place to keep it. Or I have a downstairs loo at the back of the house which has no heating and is always cool.

I kept mine in a plastic box full of dead leaves in a shady part of the greenhouse, started checking them daily from end April. You can tell when they’re about to emerge, colours start showing through the skin. Both of mine emerged successfully.

If you google, there’s a set of youtube videos by a teenager who took a caterpillar through the whole process, I pretty well followed that. “Leopard Gecko” is what he calls himself. The videos are very worth watching.

I was about to say could you keep it in a plastic or wooden box in a cool place? I don't think it's going to be comfortable in a kilner regardless of where in this heat.

Keep us updated.

Thanks all. I don't have a suitable plastic container at the moment - I'll see if I can get one. It's one of the very large kilners I should have said - not standard jar size! The lid is also off as I've just popped a muslin over the top.
It's not eaten any of the willow herb and has remained under the surface of the dried leaves/compost.
How long does it take for the first part of the process to complete i.e caterpillar to pupa?
Thanks again!

It seems they over winter as a pupa under leaves rather than burying themselves (Woodland Trust), so keep it somewhere cool where mice can't get to it. Apparently they will also feed on plants in the bedstraw family, goosegrass, sweet woodruff.

I think a shed or garage but check on it regularly jic this overly hot weather accelerates its life cycle.

A few days from caterpillar to pupa once it stops eating as far as I remember. One of mine glued leaves round itself, the other didn’t.

Have you seen its poo? Utterly amazing. Must have an anus like a fancy icing rose.

Apparently they will also feed on plants in the bedstraw family, goosegrass, sweet woodruff. Are you sure this is Elephant Hawk Moth? I thought they were pretty specific. Other hawk moths will have different food plants

Another one! On the slabs again.
I've got a large plastic container.
Can they go in together?
I've also found a sneaky willowherb in the middle of my purple plant bed so that is perhaps why they are about?

I had one the same the other day OP! The dogs were fighting over it and I thought it was a shrew!

I

I sent pic to my friend who is an insect fiend and he said elephant hawk moth

I put mine in the hedge. I wish I'd kept it now

You lucky thing. I hoped to have some this summer on the rose bay willow herb but haven't seen any.

Wow! 🤩 DS1 is obsessed with moths at the moment and identifying new ones in our garden, we were just talking about the elephant hawk moth this morning and how much we would love to see one!

Nah, I'm not 100%, I got it off the Woodland Trust site, so I think they'd be fairly accurate. I wouldn't trust wiki because maybe continental EHMs might have different appetites and confuse the information. But I thought WT would be pretty UK specific...unless they got their info. from Wikipedia. Sweet woodruff might have been a stretch on my part as in bedstraw family and might be grown in a garden.

Totally agree about hawk moth caterpillar bums.

I spoke to an entomologist decade's ago at Manchester University, way before internet. Someone had given me a hawkmoth caterpillar and I was trying to id it so I would know where to put it. It was very frustrating over the 'phone. We narrowed it down to two, that had lime in common as a food plant. I took it to a park and left it at the base of a lime tree. So, some species seem to have a broader diet than their names would suggest. Just as well, fresh out of elephants.

Can they go in together? Yes, mine did.

Nah, I'm not 100%, I got it off the Woodland Trust site, so I think they'd be fairly accurate. Woodland Trust are basically trees, so they wouldn't be my go-to for insects. But in this case they’re right. I’ve looked at Carter and Hargreaves, “Caterpillars of Butterflies and Moths in Britain and Europe” which classifies by foodplant, a wonderful book now out of print and only available for scary amounts in the secondhand market. It gives EHM foodplants as Willowherb, Bedstraw, Vine, Bogbean, Evening Primrose and Fuchsia. Three of those are Onagraceae, the other three seem a bit random

@catinboots123 I thought this was a mouse! Still very mouse/shrew like at the head end, very weird! It was rearing up at the dogs like a little snake, they were terrified!
@MereDintofPandiculation No I haven't seen any poo yet - I'll keep a keen eye out for little roses!
I'm fascinated by how long it takes. I always (stupidly!) thought it would take a few weeks and didn't realise many breeds actually over-winter. Hopefully I'll be able to update this thread next year!
Once a pupa, will I be able to gently get them out and have a look? Lots of pics of pupas (pupi? Pupai?) on the net so presumably so?

Once a pupa, will I be able to gently get them out and have a look? You will do, but I wouldn’t do it too often, they are aware of what’s happening outside.

One of mine didn’t glue leaves to himself, so it was easy to lift leaves to look at him.

Have you looked at the “leopard gekko” youtube videos yet that I mentioned earlier?They are very informative

@MereDintofPandiculation I've just watched it this morning! What a great little series. Thanks so much for the recommendation!
Both caterpillars have created a kind of nest around themselves.
Caterpillar number 1 seems to have pupated and number 2 I think is still just about still a caterpillar but it's very hard to see. There's a very fine, sticky silk visable on the materials they've used to build their nests. So cool.

Here's a close up of number 2 inside it's nest. Hard to make out but I think it's the head end!

Classifying by food plant is such a good idea.

Thank you for the updates and photos.