Spanish Moth Caterpillars and Forest Tent Caterpillars

Hubby brought home some caterpillars from a 4 wheeling excursion today. About a half a dozen each of Spanish Moth Caterpillars and Forest Tent Caterpillars. The FTC's look very familiar to me. I am sure that I've seen hundreds of those in one of my trees every year. The Spanish Moth Cats are black and white beauties.

He said there were hundreds of each of these. There was a field with standing water and the "grass" there was at least a foot tall. He plucked a few leaves and put the dozen cats with the leaves into a soda bottle. I've transferred them to a Tupperware container for the night because it's suppose to get to 37 in the morning here. I will put them in the big cage tomorrow.

My dilema is that I don't have a clue what to feed these rascals. I hope someone here will know and that I will have it on hand in the yard or be able to find it.

The Spanish Moth Cats are pretty good size and could go to their chrysalis stage soon. They are much bigger than what it looks like the moths will be. I used BUGGUIDE to ID them. Unfortunately, they don't have much in the way of info about them.

Here are photos saved from Bugguide of the cats and what they will grow up to be. My camera card has been borrowed at the moment or I'd have taken the photos myself.

Janet

When you click on a picture of a species at bugguide, click on the tab that says "info", and half-way down the page there's usually a paragraph about the food the insect eats.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/560

http://bugguide.net/node/view/26706

No big deal, but bugguide's photos are copyrighted like here at Dave's Garden, so it's probably better just to link to their pictures rather than post them here. They might give permission, I wonder if anybody has asked them about that?

I don't know that I'd let these grow up at all. http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/trees/forest_tent_caterpillar.htm

Maggie

Thank you both for your help with these cats. Claypa, I appreciate your advice about the photos. I didn't even think about that. You are right. I should have just posted a link.

I have some Spider Lily that I will use for the Spanish Moths.

I remember the sily webs that the Forest Tent Cats have made in the past and agree that I really don't want these guys hanging around my yard. I'll turn them loose elsewhere and let them fend for themselves.

Thanks again for letting me know about the info button Claypa.

Janet

Janet,

Given that they can defoliate forests, do you really want them back in the wild? Although they've naturalized, they are not native.

Just my 2 cents.

Maggie

Thanks for that 2 cents Maggie. From the article you posted, they seem to be a real problem, mainly in Florida. I've seen them every year here on one particular tree. Within a few weeks, they are gone and the tree seems to be fine. I will take what you've said into consideration though.

Janet