Banded Wooly Bear Caterpillars

[Shin]

(Sorry, but you are not allowed to access the gallery)

There were tons of milk weed pods, the favorite food of Monarch Butterfly caterpillars all along the road by my uncle's house.

I kept looking for pineapple weed, a little weed with little stalks with the shape of tiny green pineapples on the ends, that smell like pineapples.. but couldn't find any upstate.

I did see a fuzzy black and brown caterpillar crossing the road, and cheered him on to make it before it was too late. He was very quick for a big fuzzy fellow.

I looked him up later he's a 'Banded Woolly Bear Caterpillar' and there is a project for children one can do with them (or Monarch Caterpillars if you have milk weed, which is what they eat).

How to Capture a Bear
 
   1. Find a brown and black banded woolly bear caterpillar in October (check the lawn, garden, or even the road)
   2. Put it in a clear plastic jar with a lid (be sure to punch holes in the lid)
   3. Add a twig in the jar and include some fresh grass for your bear to eat.  Note:  Put fresh grass in everyday.  Soon your bear will tire of perching on the twig and will go to sleep on the bottom.
   4. Remove any remaining grass but leave the twig in the jar all winter long.
   5. Find a place outside that is protected from bad weather (a covered porch is nice) and you will be able to watch it hibernate.
   6. In the spring, when weeds start to turn green it is time to feed your bear.  Feed it fresh grass every day.  Soon it will spin its magic cocoon of silk.
   7. In about a week it will become the Isabella Tiger moth.  On a nice day, take the jar outside and set your "tiger" free.

[Shin]

I'll note I had great fun raising a Monarch caterpillar into a butterfly in a special little butterfly container for that purpose as a child. 

Saw plenty of tadpoles in my uncle's pond, which too is a fun project, watching them become frogs in a little aquarium! 

[Brigid]

We called them King Fuzzy Wuzzy Caterpillars when I was young. We kept them in a jar for a couple of months and put them on a place cocoons usually were, because we were bored with it. They were usually black and orange or black and yellow (yes, like bees ).

Watching tadpoles become frogs was wonderful fun!

[Shin]

We called them King Fuzzy Wuzzy Caterpillars when I was young. We kept them in a jar for a couple of months and put them on a place cocoons usually were, because we were bored with it. They were usually black and orange or black and yellow (yes, like bees ).

Watching tadpoles become frogs was wonderful fun!

My aunt said they were called Looney Bears!

I like King Fuzzy Wuzzy!!

This fellow was fast, I could hardly believe such a fuzzy looking fellow could move so quickly across the road. Sensible!

Image above is not the actual King Fuzzy from NY.

[Brigid]

I don't know whether it was my brother made up that name or my father or someone when he was young.

[Shin]

Fuzzy Wuzzy Caterpillar

Fuzzy wuzzy caterpillar
         in the garden creeps.
He spins himself a blanket
         and soon falls fast asleep.

Fuzzy wuzzy caterpillar
         wakes up by and by
To find he has wings of beauty,
         changed to a butterfly.

The Fuzzy Caterpillar

(to the tune of "The Eensy Weensy Spider")

The fuzzy caterpillar
Curled upon a leaf,
Spun her little chrysalis
And then fell asleep.
While she was sleeping,
She dreamed that she could fly,
And later when she woke up
She was a butterfly!