I had the kids look it up and it is a Gypsy Moth. This really is the biggest caterpillar that I've ever seen and it's colors are really pretty.

Oooo your kids will have fun watching this one too :D:D:D

eeewwww, that is creepy. but beautiful at the same time.

They are going to love watching this one "progress" thru it's changes!

These guys cause some real damage to out trees. I'm glad I did not see any this year.

we were wrong, it's not a gypsy moth. Now I gotta find out what it really is now.
The other one we have, the luna moth, is still in it's cocoon. Still waiting for a change on that one. :)

They are destroying all kinds of trees. Massive spraying goes on to get rid of these. Do not allow it to hatch. Get rid of it.

Keep that off any tomato plants you might have! They can demolish it! Aren't they so ugly they are kinda cute?

http://www.pbase.com/bfmom/_cecropias
Here is what it is. It is a Hyalophora cecropia. The gypsy moth looks way different that this. It is NOT a gypsy moth.

11 months! Cool that you found the Genus species.

That is NOT a gypsy moth. Gypsy catapillars are small and brown and create huge silken nests in tree branches and do tons of damage. This is a LUNA moth catapillar!

No this is not a hornworm catapillar.

Naw - just creepy LOL

Great up close & real as a learning experience for your kids. Just glad it is you & not me up close to that thing LOL

Wait, now that I see those orange things on the back, it is not a Luna, Here is alink

http://lifecycle.onenessbecomesus.com/caterpillar.htm

It is a cecropia moth.

Oops should have read through the posts your figured it out already.

Beautiful! We have those moths here but I havent seen them in the caterpillar stage. Thank you for posting.

Sorry to say that looks like the tomato worm we just had on our tomatoes! Nasty!

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-145479-1.htm

here is the luna moth as a caterpillar we found.

Cool!! We used to get silk worms for the kids to watch...it was so fun watching them eat the mulberry leaves and then go into coccoon. Only problem was, to get the silk you have to kill the moth while it is in the coccoon. I never did that...I just let them come out as moths. I couldn't kill them!!

Lol, we didn't really figure out what it was at first either. :)

I've never seen those before. I've heard of them. I know my kids are having a blast doing this. I don't think I could kill them to get the silk either!

Glad we dont have them...my wife would have a heart attack...and they would be really bad for all our gardens

The caterpillars found on tomato plants turn into Hummingbird moths. Plant a "host" tomato plant for them. No problem. Google hummingbird moths. They are beautiful.

Ladies,
Here in our fields we call it a tobacco worm. Of course, they can wipe out a patch of tomato plants. Most fun to pull off and squish,(only if he has eaten a tobacco leaf).

Looks kinda like like a tomato worm. Pretty though.
IdahoSandy

We used to have oodles of these when we grew tomato plants.

They love to eat tomato leaves and always did a lot of damage.

We would encourage my son (3 or 4 years old at the time) to stomp on them with his cowboy boots which he thought was great fun.

This looks just like the ones my daughter buys for her bearded dragon to eat! He's so lazy, but when he sees one of these, he comes to life!

Neat! I haven't seen a cecropia moth caterpillar since I captured one as a kid, put it in one of my mom's empty quart jars and watched it spin its cocoon. One spring day I came home from school to find a beautiful moth!

I've been picking off tomato horn worms from my plants -- 4 yeaterday and 3 today -- they are 2 to 3 inches long -- UGH !! nasty things -- and they can strip a plant of all the leaves in a short time

Not my fav job -- Mim -- But when my kids were small they loved to see them

If I had run into that creepy thing I would still be running and screaming, screaming and running, and at my age that ain"t easy!!!!! :shock: :XD:

Ok I had a long shudder. I hate these things. Give me a snake anytime.

Sure looks like a tomato worm to me.
Just googled hummingbird moth - they sure don't look beautiful to me. I don't think they look like hummingbirds either, not the ones I see around here..

They are called tomato worms, but they can strip a tree bare in a day!

That's really neat. My grandsons would love to watch one of these. I think they are cute!! (That's the tomboy coming out of me). Are you going to give us updates throughout the ptrocess?

Tomato worms have a horn and they can sting a human. Ask me how I know. They also are as green as the tomato plant and sneak up on anyone not paying attention.

I agree with QuiltnNan. It might be very cute or pretty but it's still would creep me out if I saw it. As a kid I loved all that stuff but as an adult --- ewwwwww!!!!

I seen one of those before. I acts just like a hummingbird...until it landed. I thought that was the neatest thing. :)

One of my kindergartners brought this type of caterpillar to school, we fed it correctly and it spun its cocoon. They do not emerge until spring (nine months as a pupa) and should be kept in a cold protected spot.

And, please try to relocate the tomato hornworm which also becomes a gorgeous moth. It's called a hawkmoth or hummingbird moth because of it's ability to feed without perching by rapid wing movement as do the hummingbirds. I've been briefly fooled more than once by one hovering over a blossom.

Whats that bug is a great web site. Many of the cocoons will over winter that way. If they have not hatched in several weeks you may have to wait till next spring.

sure will. Right now it is starting to spin its cocoon. I will take pics shortly.

We did find out that it stays in a cocoon for that long. We will keep it safe for that long. We have long winters here...it's going to be a fun waiting game.