Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Gardening

Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

Can anyone help me ID this caterpillar?

33 replies

Cw112 · 01/09/2024 18:50

I found this randomly in the house the other day, presumably it came in on a ladder that had been outside for ages. DS made a little habitat for it and it's really enjoying the nasturtium leaves I've put in but not really touched much else? Is it safe to handle? It seems like it's doubled in size in a day!

Can anyone help me ID this caterpillar?
OP posts:
Thread gallery
9
MereDintofPandiculation · 03/09/2024 12:52

StiffyByngsDogBartholomew · 03/09/2024 09:39

@MereDintofPandiculation i wish some would come and eat my fuschias. They are from the old owners, I hate them and nothing kills them ! Plus I love moths and would be thrilled so see one here !

DS and DIL hate them too. I find this incomprehensible Grin

PoliteOtter · 03/09/2024 12:56

I had a sycamore moth fall out of a tree on me last year. Lovely creatures. Your caterpillar is a beauty too OP.

MereDintofPandiculation · 03/09/2024 22:45

The best thing about the hawk moth caterpillars is their poo - presumably they have anuses shaped like an icing nozzle (picture isn't a hawkmoth, but they have the same poo)

Big caterpillar frass - Eacles imperialis

An online resource devoted to North American insects, spiders and their kin, offering identification, images, and information.

https://bugguide.net/node/view/842314

StiffyByngsDogBartholomew · 04/09/2024 09:09

This is the beauty of Mumsnet, never before have I thought about the pooing habits of caterpillars and now I know a new word.

Cw112 · 04/09/2024 16:43

I was genuinely delighted to learn that their poop is called frass. Don't ask me why but I think it sounds a bit whimsical. I was not prepared for how much of it there would be and that I need to clean this little dudes habitat out twice a day!

OP posts:
ErrolTheDragon · 04/09/2024 17:42

Cw112 · 04/09/2024 16:43

I was genuinely delighted to learn that their poop is called frass. Don't ask me why but I think it sounds a bit whimsical. I was not prepared for how much of it there would be and that I need to clean this little dudes habitat out twice a day!

When you consider how much leaf caterpillars can chomp their way through, the volume of output is perhaps unsurprising!

Cw112 · 13/09/2024 10:01

Just a little update on my fluffy friend. He's now massive and ravenous. However the only leaves I've found so far that he seems to like are nasturtium leaves. Unfortunately my nasturtiums aren't doing super well so I'm worried about running out of leaves. Any idea what else I could try feeding it? If anyone would have such wisdom!

OP posts:
MereDintofPandiculation · 14/09/2024 17:09

Nettle, honeysuckle, hop, birch according to this

New posts on this thread. Refresh page