Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i had found my first cat on a leaf and decided to try my dream at raising him, he was doing great growing so much everyday keep him with the freshest leaves but one day he started getting brown spots on him and the next morning i noticed a werid slimy,ovalular,pale yellow worm crawling on the outside of the jar. the next few days his health went and i found 2 more of these nasty boogers anyone have any idea what they could be?

There are some wasp and fly species that lay their eggs INSIDE the caterpillar's body. The eggs hatch and the (wasp/fly) larvae feed on the guts of the cat while still alive. Then the cocoons of the wasp/fly "pop" out along the backs and sides. In your case it sounds as though the larvae emerged directly from the cat body. it is an extremely sad and disturbing thing to witness. On the one hand, this is nature's way of keeping things in check, but some of the these predators have been introduced either intentionally as a bio-control or unintentionally simply thru our (human) global movements. The Compsilura concinnata fly was introduced to control gypsy moth, but has become a serious threat to our native wild silk moths.

In some species, the parasitic wasp/fly is very specific to its "host" (the cat). What species was the cat? luna? cecropia? polyphemus? Where do you live and do you still have the larvae (squirmy yellow thing)? I ask b/c I know someone who does research ion certain species and he may be interested. Nature is certainly interesting, huh??

lele

i live in north carolina,it was an eastern swallow tail cat, i found it on a tulip tree or "poplar" as some call it. i have pics of the cat. i killed the lil guys cause they killed my cat.2 emerged from his body

bummer. natural or not, it is a painful event (for us and the cats.) Though it is theorized that the invader releases a chemical so that the "host" does not feel anything. Of course this is hard to know for sure. ;-/

If you ever have this in the future email me and let me know so I can see if my friend is interested in them. He documents the locations, species, native, introduced, etc. to help determine where, and how to try and deal with any problems (simply put

lele

thanx will do! here is a link to the pic of the poor lil guy. when i went on vacation i even took him!! feared my boyfriend would forget to feed him lol! anyway thank you again sista

Since I rear my silk moth cats in sleeves and indoors they do not get parasitized, but often succumb to a virus, fungus or bacteria. As soon as I notice signs I chill them in the fridge then into the freezer to lessen their suffering and to kill the pathogen.

I think it is cute that you brought it with you! Many years ago I had sphinx moth that had been in its pupal stage for 10 months. I was going away for a week and although I could have put him outside I didn't want some critter to get him - so I took him with me. It was a nature writing and drawing workshop so it was appropriate and the other attendees got to meet him, well, his pupal case. He finally emerged almost 2 weeks after I got home!