Tony update

Tony the caterpillar isn't a pupa yet. But he has come back from a vacation at little foster parent Finn's house, where he had a blast with various children, dogs and amphibians :)

Once home, he looked like he might pupate - there were little silky strands hanging off his rear and and he seemed to have shed a piece of his head  (or tail?).

But the next day, all was as before and he was a hungry little caterpillar.

Soon, we ran out of hackberry leaves. I tried feeding Tony some apples and julienned carrot out of desperation.


 "Is this the forbidden apple?"

 "Don't know, so best not to eat."

 Whee! A carrot rope ladder!

 Peekaboo!

 Cheeeeese!

 BE the carrot. I AM the carrot.

 Tony was playing with his snacks, but not eating them. I tried convincing Ro we should return Tony to Waterloo (where we found him) or to Finn's hackberry tree. Of course, Ro wouldn't hear of it. So backup plan - I asked Ro to walk up to a neighbor and ask them if their tree was a hackberry tree. It wasn't, but when the man heard of our quest, he said he would bring us a plant that he had at his work. Sure enough, we got out own hackberry plant today! Three cheers for the goodness of strangers. As soon as Tony sniffed his host plant, he went to  work chewing away on the leaves. This picture is blurred right around his head from how fast he was nodding and gnawing away.

 Still eating

 Can't get enough of hackberry leaves

All is well (for now) in Tony's world. I hear this species hibernates through one summer and only pupates in the next. I hope to goodness this is the second summer because I can't imagine watching this guy for a whole year, cute as he may be.

But really, there is something to learn from each pet. Just a few years ago, I considered caterpillars nothing but ugly green worms. Now I see his little nodding head and I can't stop looking at him. I hope we soon get to share the experience of seeing Tony pupate and turn into a butterfly.