Monday, February 28, 2011

Hunting Caterpillars!

That's what I have been doing this morning ... something I haven't done since I was about 6! Here's a pic of my sister and I and some friends in 1979 collecting caterpillars from the ragwort.

The caterpillars I collected today though are vastly different to the tiny little furry black ones we collected as kids! They would have been around an inch long and smaller in diameter than a pencil. The ones I got today are massive! They are green with black markings, thicker than my thumb and between 3-5 inches long!
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Some were heading up the tree (I left them there!)


There were lots on the ground.
A lot of dead ones too.
I gathered up 4 and some leaves and branches and bought them home.
To give you an idea of the size of them!
They can hang upside down quite nicely hehee

And the size of their poops! Oh My! (yes that is a poop, not a pine cone!)
Opps, better get the gladwrap lid back on!
After Samuel and I picked up Maddison from school we went down to the pet shop and got a proper container because I was worried about them not getting enough air. (I did have a great idea of putting an onion bag over the top, but their little feet kept getting caught in it, so that wasn't such a great idea after all!).

One is already trying to escape! :-) Look at his little feet clinging on to the branch.

Can't wait for Aaron to get home and see them :-)
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One of the teachers at Maddison's school told me where to find them - she had got some over the weekend and this morning one spun itself a cocoon! So awesome for the kids to see. She thought that these would be moths.
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Can't wait to see what happens :-)
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Thanks for visiting.

4 comments:

Janelle Perry said...

Oh wow. They are awesome. I LOVE catterpillers...... your kids are soooooooo lucky :)

somebody who needs to love herself said...

Oh wow!!! I have never seen a catterpiller. Love the pictures. Hope you will update. Hehehe. So exciting. Which one is you in the pic? My guess is the one in blue on the left.

My kids are sick!! Erghhhh hope it goes away soon.

Hugs

Steeped in Beautea said...

loving the fashion in that first photo.....love how you went and collected them for the kids. Man the size of the poop was hugeeeeee lol who knew that they did bog poops.

Looking forward to seeing what happens next...

SCRAP-n-CROP said...

i m afraid of catterpillars! aint that embarassing??