Meet Cheeto!!

Last August, we found a caterpillar that was getting ready to spin its cocoon on our fence. In this state, he was vulnerable and a spider was trying to capture him as his treat. This is what prompted us to bring him inside and place him in a small bug container that Max had gotten for his birthday. We then named him Cheeto and took his picture because we knew that soon he would be inside his cocoon!! Its easy to tell why we named him Cheeto!! We did some research on the computer to see what kind of butterfly he would turn into. We were happy to find out that he would be a Spicebush Swallowtail!!! Normally the only caterpillars we find are the ones that turn into moths, so this was exciting!!!! Here is Cheeto when we found him August 25, 2008:
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If you notice the two "eyes" on the back of his head. They are used as a defense against predators, it makes them look like a SNAKE. That very night, he did, in fact turn into his cocoon!!! The research we did told us that because he was the orange color, that was the indicator that he was ready to make his cocoon. They are a green color the rest of their caterpillar life. We also found out that because his cocoon was brown and not green, that he would be staying with us all winter long!!! Here is a really good webpage for reading about our butterfly: http://www.butterflygardeningandconservation.com/butterfly/st/spicebush.php

Here are our pictures of Cheeto in his new and pretty butterfly form:

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In these pictures you can see the cocoon, the front of the butterfly after it emerged, the underside of the butterfly, my husband and Max feeding the butterfly, and the new bigger home for the butterfly!!!!

These butterflies live in and feed on the leaves of Sassafras and Spicebush trees, and they also feed on the nectar of azalea, honeysuckle, milkweed, and thistle. We fed Cheeto some of my hummingbird nectar last night when he emerged. It has been raining like crazy out and there are no leaves on the trees and no flowers yet, so were researching to see what we should do until Spring is officially here and he has food outside.

You know what I just found out?? Cheeto is a SHE!!!!! Female butterflies have iridescent blue hind-wings, which Cheeto has, and males have bright green.

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Pretty cool stuff, huh!! :)

xoxo

S