The Luna Moth Chronicles: Day 14

The Luna moth larvae are now in their 4th Instar. The two largest caterpillars molted overnight on Day 14. I found this discarded skin and a little "skull cap" from the caterpillar's face in the container. Sometimes they eat their molted skin but this time Corvella did not. Clover ate her skin but not the little cap. (Sounds gross!)

The caterpillars spin a bit of silk to anchor themselves prior to molting. You can see the silk threads in this photo, attaching the skin to the leaf. I took the picture on my journal page where I make notes about their progress.

Nenington, the runt of the litter, was preparing to molt on day 14. He seems to be one day behind the others.

Since the death of caterpillar #4 I've been paranoid about sickness among the remaining caterpillars. When they stopped eating I thought surely I was going to lose the rest of them, but it turns out they do this when they get ready to molt. I never observed this before because they were all together in one container. One out of the four was always eating and pooping so I assumed it was coming from all four. I wish I'd separated them sooner, it's been very enlightening!