Caterpillar Diaries (Part 7)

Emerging out of it's old skin!

A day later and there's still caterpillars emerging out of their old skins. I was lucky enough this afternoon to witness it happen with one of them. It only took a couple of minutes before it freed itself completely, but it was a magical couple of minutes for me. By the end of its struggle, it emerged bright, green and beautiful. It was as if it was giving me a taste of what it will be like when the moment comes when these caterpillars will emerge out of their cocoons and become moths next year, hopefully.

Enjoying their new home!

After the caterpillar completed it's transformation, I then moved it to it's new home. Speaking of which, this new set up with the new box, bramble branches and the jar of water is proving a real headache to clean out. Though the caterpillars are loving climbing around the branches, I'm finding it a real pain (quite literally) to change these branches for fresh ones and to take out the jar to clear out the frass they've produced at the bottom of the box. The branches just keep catching the side of the box when placing them back in, knocking the caterpillars off. I've created a bridge with a smaller branch with leaves to allow them to climb back up, but I think I may still have to rethink things here.