Caterpillars

In addition to writing, I’ve been busy designing a brochure about butterflies and moths of Fort St John. During my research, I learned a little about rearing caterpillars, and thought it would be fun to try raising local caterpillars.

In a lot of cases, caterpillars aren’t as well-studied by scientists as the adults. That leaves room for fun discoveries! So I prayed the opportunity would come to rear a caterpillar, and kept my eyes open to the ground.

While walking up to Tim Horton’s during a rainstorm, I found a caterpillar crawling along the pavement. So I took it home. Believing it to be a cutworm of some kind (some of the adult moths are called ‘darts’), I gave it a home where it could dig, as cutworms spend a lot of time underground. It chewed off a ‘cutting’ of some clover, spent time underground and above, and seemed to be behaving like a cutworm should.

I did a little research, and learned that some cutworms in our area ‘estivate’ during mid-summer - essentially, this is the summer version of hibernation. It appeared to be doing that: hiding itself in the substrate and never coming up to eat.

Sadly, I don’t think I set up the conditions for estivation well; and the cutworm died and shriveled up. Caterpillars get their water from their food, so I’m guessing it dehydrated - maybe they estivate somewhere with a good amount of moisture to make up for their lack of eating during this period.

My disappointment over losing this caterpillar was mitigated by the fact I’d already found another in my yard by a dandelion. It ate well, devouring dandelion leafs, growing, and pooping a lot.

As you can see in the bottom photos, one day, I found it weaving itself a cocoon! It took about two days to finish the cocoon and then pupate. Now, I have a little pupa waiting to ‘eclose’ (emerge)!

I’m not sure what species it is… I had been assuming it was a sulphur butterfly, since I’ve seen those in our yard and they too have green caterpillars. But they don’t spin cocoons, and their pupa looks quite a bit different. I’ve researched, but still don’t know what it is… so I’ll get a fun surprise when it ecloses!

Assuming it does, of course. Things can still go wrong in the pupa stage, and the moth could die during transformation. But I’m hoping for the best.

From what I gather, the transformation usually takes a few weeks. If or when the moth ecloses, I’ll send it in to be identified by the professionals at BAMONA (Butterflies and Moths of North America), then let you know what kind of moth it is!

If you want to learn how to raise caterpillars, I’d recommend looking up “Bart Coppens butterflies.” He actually works mainly with moths, and rears both species that are exotic and ones that are native to his home in the Netherlands.