Caterpillar Rearing in Georgia
I've been a major bug enthusiast for a while, but this year was my first attempt at rearing. It started with a Hickory Horned Devil... I'd been practically obsessed with finding one ever since I first heard about them, and in mid-August I discovered two on a persimmon tree. I was thrilled, but these caterpillars were newly hatched/first instar. What I had always envisioned was a hot-dog-sized behemoth of a caterpillar, so I decided to take one home and raise it.
The setup I put together was fairly simple: an old plastic fish bowl with some sheer fabric over the top secured by a rubber band. Later on, I acquired (and in some cases improvised) other rearing containers including the ones in the photos below. I would line the bottom of the container with some moist paper towels. Besides providing food, maintenance consisted of removing frass and lightly misting the 'pillars with distilled water every couple of days.
In order to keep the foodplant clippings fresh, I bought some little plastic bottles for fifty cents at a craft store and filled them with water. After removing the screw-on caps, I carefully sealed off the tops with duct tape. This works well; however, the caterpillar can get stuck if the corners of the tape start to lift... I always add an extra strip around the rim to keep that from happening. The clippings are inserted through a hole poked in the duct tape.
Watching the Hickory Horned Devil grow and change was an amazing experience. To give you some idea of the progression, here is how he (or she) looked when I found him...
5 days later...
Another 5 days...
9 more days (just before a molt)...
A week later...
On the 36th day, he was finally ready to pupate...
By this time, I was also keeping an Imperial moth caterpillar. This one was eating boxelder; I've never been able to persuade any of these guys to switch host plants. This photo is from the beginning of September, his/her first molt...
8 days later...
And shortly before pupation, 17 days after that...
Since both Imperial moths and HHD pupae pass the winter underground, I eventually decided that releasing them would be the best thing to do. As much as I wanted to see their adult forms, I knew I would feel awful if I bungled their care. When it was time (caterpillar wandering off the foodplant/ emptying its digestive tract,) I took each of them out into the woods and waited for them to start burrowing. Neither took long to choose a spot, but the digging was a very slow process.
I did end up keeping cocoons from a few other species I was more comfortable trying to over-winter. I'll try to post photos of them soon, but I think I've taken up enough space for one day. 
Carmen Champagne
December 20th, 2008 at 8:53 am
Fabulous photos! What wonderful creatures.
It's fun to see other people's set-ups. I used to haunt Goodwill and buy up all the old fish bowls and storage jars that I found there. My set-ups looked a lot like yours, but I never thought of buying small jars from a craft store. The jars I used were always a little too tall for the cage.
Now that I do most of my rearing on our screened porch, I use mostly screen cages that I make. That way, if the sun hits them, they don't cook the caterpillars.
Marcie
January 8th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
That reminds me... I left out a fairly important detail: the location of the setup. I don't have much in the way of a yard at my current residence, so I opted to place the rearing containers indoors. A distance of six feet or so from the window kept the caterpillars out of direct sunlight but still allowed them to have natural day lengths; I kept the lights off at night, just in case it confused them. When the cold weather began to set in, I started leaving the window open to allow for a slow temperature adjustment. By then, all of the caterpillars had pupated, and I was able to move them into their winter setup, which I will detail on here shortly. (My computer got a nasty virus the other week, but I was able to rescue all of my files. The next post is coming, I promise!)