I was faced with a bit of a dilemma today, because I like to clean my caterpillar habitat every day to keep the environment healthy, but when the caterpillars began making nests, they adhered them to the sides of the habitat, and I didn't want to hurt or disturb them. However, I realized that it wouldn't hurt or bother them if I carefully detached the nests, and I really didn't have a choice.

The largest nest was the one I was most curious about because it looked like many caterpillars had created a massive nest to pupate in as a group. Investigating was fascinating. First I detached it so I could lift it up. I carefully lifted up one corner and found lots of large, but not pupating, caterpillars snoozing under the warm blanket. Lifting the nest off the ground, I detached a few caterpillars which weren't ready to pupate yet, but were a bit caught in the nest. Then I held the nest up with the sun behind it and looked at the amazing sight! I could see many different pupating caterpillars forming the nest!! It was so wonderful to be able to show this pair of pictures so that you can enjoy this cool experience too! Notice that the silhouetted image in the note above is the SAME as the main image, except that the sun is shining through it! Incredible! I also have another inset image which shows a single nest. The extra blob you see is the shed skin that I showed in the previous picture. WOW WOW WOW...just WOW!!! I hope you liked the show, I know this kind of thing isn't for everyone, but I also know that a bunch of you are just as interested as I am in the life cycles of the animals we find! :) Such a fascinating adventure this has been! :)