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caterpillar (White-blotched Heterocampa moth caterpillar)

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Caterpillar rearing
by: Moni

Can you Keep Them
Well, yes you can try to rear the caterpillar. If you decide to rear it, make sure you keep doing what the insect needs.
Here is a good website where they talk about rearing caterpillars and you can also ask questions about what to do...they want you to have good results and fun, so please send any questions. - http://www.aprairiehaven.com/?p=711

The rearing of caterpillars is a challenge. Mother Nature does it best. And just so you know ahead of time, when you find a caterpillar in the 'wild', sometimes they have been parasitized ...meaning another insect like a fly or wasp has laid eggs inside the caterpillar. So when you try to rear the caterpillar, it dies from the eggs inside it - not something you can predict.
This insect overwinters in pupa stage...so you would not see the moth until next spring.

Here is a good site for rearing caterpillars...click on Raising.... on the right hand side to read the various suggestions. You can also submit questions - Which I would recommend for this insect. These are folks that raise them regularly.
http://www.buglifecycle.com

With all that said the basics of rearing any insect is to feed it what it wants to eat...fresh (never sprayed with insecticides) food continually. Then, when the caterpillar stops eating...they will typically go searching for a place to pupate. You would put the caterpillar in a jar with a couple inches of loose soil that is barely damp. Then add leaves of its favorite plants. This jar should be covered with a paper/cloth towel to keep parasites from the caterpillar. Keep fresh leaves for it to eat. When it quits eating, it is best to provide layers of barely damp paper towels for the caterpillar to pupate in between. It may just pupate in the soil. Then, this needs to be kept someplace where the temperatures are like they are outside. Like on a porch out of direct sun. For winter, some folks put them in the refrigerator then put a drop of water on the paper towel once a month thru the winter until the trees start to put out foliage. Then you would bring the jar with the pupa outside to let it emerge with the normal weather. Putting a stick in the container for the moth to climb up on.
This is a brief description and may not be enough for rearing but gives you an idea.
Please do a lot of internet research.
It is great for kids to see insect development..so hope you have good success rearing it. Send us a photo of the moth if you do decide to rear it.


Can you keep them
by: Anonymous

My daughter found one of these moths should we let it go? It has the pink on it so it is ready to pupate. Does it need to be outside in order to go through the stages?
White-blotched Heterocampa moth caterpillar
by: Moni

Ardie
Your caterpillar will become the White-blotched Heterocampa moth. Here are photos of the other stages and the moth- http://bugguide.net/node/view/391/bgimage
This insect is found in eastern North America south to TX.
The caterpillars are found in areas where oaks grow as they feed on oaks...do you have an oak tree near the mulberry?
Since your caterpillar is so pink and with faint markings, it means it is ready to pupate. That is probably why it dropped. It will pupate for the winter then the adult moth will emerge in Spring.

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