Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello not really into moths or anything. yesterday a 4 year old i live with found what i believe to be a polyphemus caterpillar. it was about 3 inches long and neon green. he wanted to keep over night so i put it in a 10 gallon aquarium with leaves and branches. i woke up this morning and it has made a cacoon. how do i take care of it now and how long until it turns into a moth. i live in new jersey. thanks in advance for any info.

interesting user name...

Big, green and neon green can be several different species so it really depends on what it is. Did it have any spines, spikes, horns, hairs, etc. protruding from its body? In NJ poly & luna (which are VERY similar looking in the caterpillar stage) will need to winter over in the fridge. If it is a luna it may come out in a few weeks. Do you know what plant it was on? Can you post a photo of the cocoon? I am pretty good at deciphering if the pic is decent.

Go to the site below and look at the first two pix. Thye are the poly and the luna and to the untrained eye they can look identical. Regardless of what species it is you do not want to disrupt it for a couple weeks. Even though the cocoon is spun the cat inside is going thru a very tricky stage of pupating. If you re-orient it, it may not be situated right and could become trapped inside So for now just leave it in the tank.

Post a pic if you can.

lele

>>hello not really into moths or anything. yesterday a 4 year old i live with found what i believe to be a polyphemus caterpillar. it was about 3 inches long and neon green. he wanted to keep over night so i put it in a 10 gallon aquarium with leaves and branches. i woke up this morning and it has made a cacoon. how do i take care of it now and how long until it turns into a moth. i live in new jersey. thanks in advance for any info.
Saturniidae

hello thankyou for your reply. i looked at the site u said it definately looks like a polyphemus. sorry my house was just broken into last week and my digital camera was 1 of the things stolen. i have read they only stay in the cacoon stage for 3 weeks if found in mid summer. i was just going to keep it overnight in the cage for my 4 year old untill i woke up the next day and it was in a cacoon. he found on the ground under a big oaktree in my yard. how do i keep it alive now. does it need some type of water or food? any info will be alot of help. i keep anacondas and retics not caterpillars.

thank you

jim

Hi Jim,

Sorry ot hear about your break-in!

Poly's are double-brooded in NJ but the one you found may be the second which will go into winter diapause (the fridge ) Go to this site and scroll to Flight Times. If yours was a larvae of the second emergence then it will not come out this summer. It is unlikely to just be spinning now from the April/May emergence b/c they only remain in the larval stage for about 5 or weeks.

Just leave it in the position it is in for a few weeks and if it emerges - cool! If not, you can store it in your crisper for the winter. You can keep it in the aquarium with a screen on top so no parasitic wasps get to it. Just so long as it has a stick to climb on to spread its wings, ootherwise its wings will harden in a crippled position and it will not be able to fly. The poly's wingspan is about 5 inches so it needs lots of room. If it does come out you can determine its sex by antennae. They do not feed as adults so once it has spread its wings you can release it that evening!

>>hello thankyou for your reply. i looked at the site u said it definately looks like a polyphemus. sorry my house was just broken into last week and my digital camera was 1 of the things stolen. i have read they only stay in the cacoon stage for 3 weeks if found in mid summer. i was just going to keep it overnight in the cage for my 4 year old untill i woke up the next day and it was in a cacoon. he found on the ground under a big oaktree in my yard. how do i keep it alive now. does it need some type of water or food? any info will be alot of help. i keep anacondas and retics not caterpillars.
>>
>>thank you
>>
>>jim

Polyphemus

can i have the polyphemus moth?

I assume you were directing your request to the original poster (the one with the moth). These can not just be shipped around, especially as adults (only live for about 5 days) or the larva - for obvious reasons.

Why are you interested? Is this for a collection, to rear? for show & tell? Where do you live? You may be able to find cocoons in the winter months and have it emerge next summer. let me know and I will see if I can help you out

lele