YUCK!
So it is becoming a yearly ritual. We find a hornworm in the field. We google all the info we can about it. We trick it to pupate by feeding the right food then simulating an under ground chamber. It pupates(cocoons itself), we refrigerate it from October to May, we take it out and put it in a dark cupboard and it hatches into a beautiful large moth, we let it go. We did this successfully last year with one.
This year has been different. Here is Jessica with the hornworm(hence the horn on it's back) she found early September 2007. We did everything right, it pupated, refrigerated, pulled out in mid may. It was suppose to hatch after 7-10 days, like the other one. It is still wriggling when we hold it, though much slower. It looks rather cramped for space in it's clear cocoon.
The eclosion chamber in October
Mr. Cocoon today June 26 still hanging out in my cupboard...teaching us patience.
Maybe he is slower than the other one
because he heard we bought a shadow
box to pin him in after he hatches?
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