I’ve been wondering what my Gulf Fritillary caterpillars would do once they finished off every leaf on the Passionvine. Would they eat the stem in desperation? Would they pack their bags and move out in search of more Passionvine? Would they curl up and die (oh no!)? Would they knock on the door and beg me to go find more leaves?
With not a leaf left to be found on the Passionvine, the caterpillars had to make a choice. Take a look — the caterpillar above has started to strip the vine itself. Fortunately, there is still a lot of green vine the remaining caterpillars can eat, though I imagine they are greatly longing for a gourmet entree, a fresh tender Passionvine leaf. So I get to feel a little guilty that we’ve run out of the tasty food (but they were little piggies, you know). Add to it the fact that we’ve got a major cold front about to pass through — poor little caterpillars! Find a warm spot and tuck yourselves in for a few days!
Huh, that is a fascinating photo! They are industrious little dudes, aren’t they?!
I had the same situation a couple of years ago. They are little piggies:) The first cold front the “cats” went into shock. The second cold front we had, I actually brought them inside (in a jar). Not sure if it was the warm temp, but they went into the chrysalis phase. One of them hatched out a couple of weeks later.
Steph, I might have to bring some of mine inside. But if I can’t, I’m hoping they’ll figure out what to do.
Probably like eating the good stuff on the plate and then having the finish off the stuff you don’t really like! Or did he save the best to last like my children used to do with their Yorkshire puddings! I found a bunch of chomping and poop on my heart leaf skull cap yesterday. I wonder what eats that?
Too bad you can’t get passionvine leaves at the grocery store like you can parsley (for the swallowtail caterpillars).
Love those caterpillars though — look so dangerous!