Our Very Hungry Caterpillar

In December Ethan found a caterpillar crawling near our rubbish bin. He asked me if we could keep it in his 'creeper keeper'. I agreed and Ethan named him Mr Caterpillar.

We have had a string of unsuccessful attempts at keeping insects in Ethan's 'creeper keeper' with most not living for very long. So this time I googled "keeping a caterpillar alive" and followed the instructions I found. We trialled different leaves to see what the caterpillar liked and changed them daily, removing the old dried leaves. We added sticks and rocks for the caterpillar to climb on, tried to ensure there was enough moisture and a good temperature etc.

A little while later Mr Caterpillar started to make a cocoon. Then he (or she) stayed in there for longer than the website indicated should happen, so we assumed Mr Caterpillar may have died. We left the cocoon in the 'creeper keeper' but stopped checking on it. Then a couple of days ago Ethan discovered that a moth had emerged from the cocoon. He changed Mr Caterpillar's name to Mr Moth and declared that the moth looks "creepy".

We released Mr Moth into the backyard.