Cecropia Moth Project, Day 17

3rd instar caterpillar

We are beginning to get rid of caterpillars as we can't keep up with their consumption habits much longer. We plan to keep three total (out of the 14). Yesterday we dropped five caterpillars off on a maple tree in Atwater Village. We kept the caterpillars on a small leaf that they'd been clinging to within the habitat, and we attached this leaf to the maple tree with string to ensure that it would not blow away. By the time we were done tying the string, one caterpillar had already moved on to the tree. In the coming weeks we will drop more caterpillars off until we are left with only three.

Caterpillar molting into the 3rd instar stage

Two of the remaining nine caterpillars have molted into the 3rd instar stage, and a third caterpillar is in progress as I type. The orange and powder blue spines are very flashy. You can see the shed skin and little popped off hat in the picture above.