I found this on the driveway, and thought, perhaps, he was lost. Not wanting a bird to get it, I scooped it up with an envelope and put it in one of my trees, but he doesn't seem to interested. He's about 2.5 to 3 inches long, but I can't measure, as he whips around with his spike when I touch him. I'm allergic to a few things, so if it's a stinger, I'd rather avoid it! What I need to know is what it eats so I can put it on it's natural food source. Please help!
It's not a stinger, that's the "horn" of a hornworm. Here's a DG article I wrote on tomato hornworms (they eat other plants, too), with some information and photos of the lovely moths they become: http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1270/
most likely it was going off to pupate into a cocoon. They usually don't leave host plant otherwise
Good point, Donna. It's about that time of year -- and it sounds like he's nice & big!
I read your article, Critter, and I agree it looks very much the same, but yours seems to have stubby little legs where mine has many tiny appendages that don't lift his body up. Also, i noticed, when raised up, your seems to have whitish "something" on the front underside. I'm sure now, thanks to you, that it is, indeed, a hornworm, and I thank you for that, but now I need to know which one, for there are no tomatoes growing anywhere nearby. Your article's mention of "wild cherry tomatoes" made me wonder if they would be atracted to wild cherry instead, for those are quite abundant. :)
Well, Critter, you must be right. Perhaps my guy was just a little tired, for as much as I googled, there are just too many sphinx moth caterpillars to go through! So I know what it is, and if he doesn't need to eat anymore this year, I suppose I'll place him safely in my nightshade vines, since they're close related to tomatoes, and hope for the best! Thank you much for your help (I still don't like that horn, though!) ;)
I FOUND it! It's the Sphinx drupiferarum larva or the (guess what?) the wild-cherry sphinx!
Thanx again for steering me in the right direction.
Cool! I didn't think it looked quite like a tomato or tobacco hornworm, but I figured there were some links that might point you in the right direction... I hope you see him next spring! :-)
