Does anyone have any advice for raising a five-spotted hawkmoth? My 4-year-old nephew was so impressed with the hornworm on my tomato plant that he wanted to bring it in. We put it in a suitable container with food and a stick, but now I'm reading that they pupate in the soil. What should we do - put some dirt in the bottom of the container?
Dear Heidi, Guten Tag. my un-expert advice: dry leaves are fine, it will go to the bottom and wriggle out of its skin and leave the shiney chysalis. if the temp is ok it will develop into a moth without drying out.
right a couple weeks. watch the color of the chrysalis for the expected change before it hatches. Put sticks in the container for the moth to climb-up to dry their wings.
If you want to find out which type of caterpillar you have go to this site and inter the information for your location and it will list them. Just put moth in the first spot. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/checklists
forget to add that there is a number of them in that family
I wish I'd taken a picture of it. We're now trying to figure out if it's tomato or tobacco hornworm. Thanks for the site! That will help us ID it when it comes back up as a moth.
