tiger the caterpillar

For those of you that don't know me that well, I am an insect lover. I'd prefer if they were not running free in the house, though I tolerate some species more than others (who knew ladybugs liked apricot jelly?). Jimmy is partial to the woolly spiders that feed on window sills, but the agreement is that if they stray from their designated area, they are fair game for the vacuum cleaner.

When I was a kid, I used to find caterpillars in the yard and keep them in jars in the house. My mom would save those green tubes you get from the florist, and I would put their vegetation in those tubes to help keep the food fresh. Once the caterpillars turned into butterflies or moths, we let them go. It's one of my many fond childhood memories.

When I was in college, I conducted an investigation with painted lady butterfly caterpillars to see if modifying levels of protein in their food would significantly affect their development. The experiment was a little more involved that that, but basically I ordered about 30 caterpillars and their food from a catalog. I then had different groups of caterpillars that received the exact same amount and type of food, except I modified the levels of their protein source. Once the experiment was completed, I had about 25 butterflies in late November - not the best time of year to be releasing butterflies outdoors. The species only lives for about two weeks in the butterfly stage, so my Mom graciously allowed me to keep the butterflies at her house in my brother's old bedroom. A few of the butterflies had deformities (the ones that were fed lower levels of protein) and could not fly, so they were put in a special area on the floor. The others lived the rest of their days flying around my brother's bedroom and feasting on a fabulous diet of sugar water and fruit.

So today when I found this guy, I couldn't help myself. After about an hour of internet surfing, I think he's some species of tiger moth (Spilosoma), but I think I need to track down an identification book. And hence, I named him Tiger. He's currently living in an old Tupperware container, but I need to move him to something bigger. As I type, he's next to me eating a leaf from my peony plant. And he's chewing so loud, I can hear him over my typing.