Uh oh. It’s the middle of the night and our maniacal caterpillar has eaten himself out of another milkweed plant!
This caterpillar is starting to scare me a little bit. He’s such a ferocious eater, I actually found myself going out in the dark behind the garage foraging for milkweed at 3 a.m. Monday morning.
By Monday afternoon, “Scoobys” poop production was larger than the size of the dime wed been using to measure him.
I don’t know if it’s because this one came from “the wild” rather than mail order like the one we got from the workshop, but this guy is already lots bigger than our first one ever got.
Last week we were measuring his growth against a dime for scale; on Monday a single day’s poop production was much bigger than said dime!
“It’s interesting how dynamic his eating is,” my husband marveled. “His head is pounding up and down like a jackhammer.”
Colleen has suggested we name him Scooby, given that the prodigious nature of that cartoon character’s appetite.
Below is a series of pictures showing his growth over the last few weeks:
Scooby on Aug. 12, two days after hatching from an egg found on a milkweed plant behind our garage.
One week later, on Aug. 19.
Four days later, on Aug. 23.
Two days later, on Aug. 25.
One day later, having moved on to yet another milkweed plant. I didn’t get around to locating the dime, but trust me, he’s still eating — and pooping — like a maniac.
