My granddaughter and I put a caterpillar into a glass box (covered with Saran Wrap with holes poked into it) with some twigs and leaves and it built a cocoon in about a day. It’s been there for a couple weeks and I fear that life, as we know it, has ended for that little feller, for reasons unknown. However, I really don’t know how long to keep it before I have to dispose of it. It was some sort of furry yellow guy with a few spiky hairs on its back, maybe 2-3 cm long. I haven’t been able to ID it and I can’t find much info on how long they take to metamorphose to adulthood. Any guides? Any ideas? On the southern shores of Lake Michigan.
Monarchs take about 2 weeks. I don’t know what the range is for all butterflies/moths.
Is this your guy? If so, this is what he’ll turn into.
I can’t find pupal durations for that species, though. (Spilosoma virginica, Virginia Tiger Moth…it has a presence on the south shore of Lake Michigan, though)
Paging Colibri.
[QUOTE=jayjay]
Is this your guy? If so, this is what he’ll turn into.
I can’t find pupal durations for that species, though. (Spilosoma virginica, Virginia Tiger Moth…it has a presence on the south shore of Lake Michigan, though)
[/QUOTE]
Hard to say, but the moth looks familiar, so it could be. In any case, if moths or butterflies stay in their cocoons no more than 3 or 4 weeks, I’m verging on getting rid of it. I just need to know the outside range so that I can safely figure that there will be no metamorphosis here.
Legitimate bump/update:
Two weeks, 4 days. No action. Should I keep it?
Keep it. When I was a kid, I plucked a cocoon (of unknown age) off a tree and placed it in a old cigar box with foliage of various sorts. I looked at it everyday for a couple of weeks, and then forgot about it. Way later (my memory says well over a month, but I was pretty young, so who knows), I noticed the box in my closet and opened it to find a huge and very lively moth. YMMV.