Elephant hawk moth caterpillar

Our neighbour came in yesterday to tell us about this giant caterpillar which is destroying his fuschia plant. Actually he discovered 7 caterpillars and promptly put them all in his green bin. He had at least looked them up on the internet and discovered that they turn into the most beautiful pink moth. Well I dug one out of his bin and took a photograph or two! I also looked them up on the web to find out how to keep one and I now have one happily munching away on more fuschia leaves and living in an ice-cream tub with a little compost and a twig for company! (The 5p coin is about 1cm across.)

[Catherine P]

Excellent capture

[Sarah Bremner]

WOW That's going to be interesting to watch in the days ahead!

[Ann Williams]

Can't wait to see what happens Judith. It is a pretty big caterpillar. I wonder how big the moth will be.

[Phil Howcroft]

it's a good 'un judith

[wendy frost]

Well done for saving and caring for it. Nice capture look forward to seeing the next stage.

[Tony]

Impressive capture like the use of the coin for scale.

[Babs]

Wow, so interesting,

[Graham Thresher]

First class capture. So interesting.

[Margaret Brown]

Nice capture and very interesting, I've only seen that moth in a butterfly farm!

[carol white]

Super capture and interesting info

[Fisher Family]

A lovely clear and detailed shot, and the coin shows us just how big this caterpillar is.

Ian

[Helen]

Nice shot. Hope it survives & you can get a good photo to show us. Bet the grand children will find this exciting too !

[Issi Bannerman]

Ha ha, I'm just visualising you digging in your neighbour's bin! Interesting find.