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@moth-momma-updates
Day 19: the worms are molting again! They are molting way earlier than last time. It took them nine days to molt but now it’s only taken then a week! Five of them have started and the rest are still munching away. Nothing much to report today!
Day 19: not a lot to be said today! I gave the worms some fresh leaves again. They seem to really like doing the caterpillar pose, I guess it’s because they are caterpillars haha. I took one guy out to keep me company while I practiced some French, he liked to climb in the paper. Sorry for the late post! I was busy with school and life stuff, typical right? Hahaha
Day 18: Guess who got new leaves! These guys! I have noticed that the only ones that throw up are the little ones, because now they barf on each other. The bigger ones don’t seem to mind being touched at all. Now that I’ve had a chance to look at them, their body has spaced out a lot! They now have two little sections dividing their true legs and their caterpillar legs. They have one section that separates their butt legs and their caterpillar legs, pretty cool. I think it’s funny how they do that pose from that one caterpillars in Alice in wonder land. I like it when they put their hands together like they are thinking about something haha, there is a large size difference between the caterpillars, which makes me want to separate them.
Hope you enjoyed the update!
Day 17: Today the kids ate SO MUCH. Three of them ate a whole oak leaf in just one day, when it would have taken them three before! I worked with one of the moths and they felt comfortable enough to crawl around on my hand. You can actually feel them walk around now, before it felt like nothing. Their hairs are a black and white with grey tips, and they have a new row of hair on their sides. Their feet have turned a brownish color, honestly the whole look reminds me of a teddy bear! I’m just leaving them be for now but I’ll give them a refresh of food tomorrow!
Day 16: Not a lot to report on today. The worms are in the peak of their edgy teen phase and hate to be touched now. They vomit on me if I move them around too much, and I worry it’s going to dehydrate them so I’ve been hands off ever since they molted yesterday. I was out with friends for most of the day so we didn’t interact a lot, but tomorrow I’m planning on working with them more to see what they prefer handling wise. I’m going to give them new leaves tomorrow because they already ate through the new ones I gave them yesterday. Hopefully I have more news tomorrow!
Day 15: OMG!! ok so I was checking in on the moths, and I caught one mode molt! What exciting about that is that I got to see him pop is head off! Remember how I talked about that yellow spot in the back of their head? THATS THEIR NEW HEAD!! the skin right there splits open to reveal the head, so cool! I got a blurry photo of theirs happening in the second picture. When his head cap popped off, his face was a ghostly white opposed to a dark bark color, which is even more cool to see! The worms are a lot more aggressive! I used to be able to pick them up and touch their backs but now the throw you off and will squirt water on you! I think it’s teenage angst. They hate to be touched now so I’ve been leaving them alone as to not stress them. Their grip has also gotten crazy strong! Like you can make a chain of leaves if you put a caterpillar in between them to hold them together. In their new form, you can really see everything a lot better, including their true legs (which look like peg legs). They lost their black stripes and they are now yellow stripes, their hair is longer by their face almost acting as a shield. I also concluded that they shed their hairs off and don’t keep them as they go. I changed them over to oak completely and they have taken to it just fine, they eat a ton now so I’ll have to add more leaves to feeding time.
Here is a comparison of the second instar head cap (left) and the first instar head cap (right). The second one is so much hairer and larger. I think it’s cool to see
Big update! Thanks for reading!
Day 14: the kids are officially two weeks old! Unfortunately we weren’t able to celebrate too much because they are all molting! The behaviors I noticed before are still the same, head down yellow spot on back of head, true legs up. Something cool I noticed is that they sorta freeze in place! The first little guy that’s showing you his handsome face decided to molt hanging off the edge of a leaf! He’s a daredevil apparently. No cleaning needed to be done because they don’t eat while they molt. I have noticed that their hairs are not as long as I remember. I wonder if they keep the same hairs throughout and are just pulling them through their skins as they go? I hope to have some stage three moths to show you in the next few days (hopefully tomorrow)!
Mini update!
So i was bringing in the mothies for the night and venting their container when I saw the bigger ones were getting ready to molt! I would like to correct my last post because I hadn’t realized it had been eight days since their last molt, so it’s definitely time! I’m hoping we will have some level three moths by tomorrow night, two days max, stay tuned~
Alright stay safe
-Moth Momma
Day 13: Lots of changes for today! So in the first photo is one of my larger caterpillars, I decided to use the flash on my phone and look! So many details! Speaking of larger caterpillars, in this blog I’ve only been taking photos of the ones that show the most growth. In my menagerie of worms, size differs greatly. In the third photo, I took one large caterpillar and one small caterpillar and put them together so you can compare. I see quite a difference!
Now let’s get onto the changes I’ve made. Cleaning is going to have to be done daily, not ever other day like I thought. The fourth photo is what I woke up to this morning, less then 24 hours after I cleaned and changed out their leaves. I also have introduced oak to the caterpillars. I left two large maple leaves but added about seven medium oak leaves. When I was cleaning their container I placed 2-3 worms on each leaf to see if they would take to it. Elaborating on this morning, we have been experiencing a lot of temperature change. Unfortunately that means their container fogs up really easy. It dropped down to about 60 last night and the worms experienced a lot of humidity. When I opened the container it was swamped, I was really worried some of them had died. They weren’t moving and it was to early for them to be molting so I was quite panicked, luckily a leaf swap and a dry container perked them right up. I’ll now be keeping them inside at night. I know this is a large update but lots happened in just one day! Thank you for reading <3
Day 12: They are getting huge! It’s insane I swear they double in size each night. Their personalities are starting to really come through too. When they were little, they were scared of everything, they would hide and run away at the slightest hint of danger. Now the caterpillars are more bold! They are great explorers and love to wiggle around to new places. I’m still getting used to all the upkeep that is required for these guys, I’m changing my cleaning schedule to every other day. I’m debating on switching them to oak while they are young because I read it would make their cocoons larger. I would also like to say thank you for all the engagement! I have my first follower and I’ve gotten some notes! It’s cool to know there’s real people sharing the joy with me and my moths!
The blog is now in real time!
Im all caught up, so now only one post per day! thanks for reading, hopefully you tune in!
Love,
Your moth momma.
Hiya! this is your captain speaking, to celebrate me getting the blog caught up to real time (yay!) I thought i would share some cool things ive collected that wouldn't fit into a normal post. The first image is a one of the worms saying hello! his little hands are peaking out along with his adorable face. Second photo is an old head cap that popped off during their first time molting. The third are two different instars next to each other! how exciting to see all the different changes side by side. You can really see how its a completely different creature.
i hope whoever is reading this is enjoying my posts, im hoping someone stumbles along this and finds it helpful. Love yall and i love the moths
Day 11: Its like they kicked into high gear. If i thought them pooping before was bad, then this is like code red. I opened their container to find most of their leaves half eaten! it used to take three days for them to even make a dent in their food, but they ate half overnight! its both incredible and frightening. Incredible to see them eat so much, but frightening to imagine keeping up with them when they are in their 5th instar! I love all my moths dearly, but im debating keeping some of them behind to pin them, to show the progression of their growth. I dont see a lot of research or pins of the moths so i thought i could be the one to do it for science reasons right? oh Who am i kidding i cried when i thought one was dead yesterday. sigh, tough choices.
Day 10: The moths are getting settled in their new leaves. One thing I have noticed about these level two moths, is that they poop A LOT. I have two theories. One, is that they are pooping the same amount, its just bigger...packages... two, is that they are pooping more because they are eating more. Honestly i dont know if the amount of food they eat stays proportional to their body weight or not? if i really wanted to be as science-y as i feel, i would weigh out their droppings. who knows maybe im kooky enough to try it.
Day 9: We have reached level two! About one third of my caterpillars have finished molting and are in their second instar. Im having Deja vu with this stage because its exactly the same when they hatched, but like everything to the left. The biggest changes that i have seen is the head size, and the coloring. Their heads are significantly larger than their previous size, a lot more red too. Their bodies are larger, but their spikes have turned orange! they also have more spikes on their sides. Their black stripes have faded but are still visible. im excited for them to get some food in them and grow some more!
Day 8: The moths have stopped moving. They no longer squirm and worm around munching leaves, in reality its not so gloomy! the moths are molting. It's very exciting for me. Part of the reason I started this blog is because i saw very little online regarding the day by day lives of these caterpillars. As a person who is rearing Polyphemus moths I thought I would point out some behaviors that indicate molting in these moths. lets go over what i have seen
Day 7: We are getting close! they are super fat! they are slowing down a lot, they are still eating, but its still not as urgent as before. Their bodies are now a blue green, and their spikes bulge out of their bodies. They are still little, but im pretty sure that they are going to molt (spoiler, yes)