Name that bug!

MissSkittles

Chameleon Enthusiast
Found this strange little crawler in my just bought wax worms container. It’s tiny...about 1cm long. Any idea what it is?
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its a tiger swallowtail, I work in a butterfly house, maybe that's not fair lol! I cant tell if its eastern or Canadian, the caterpillar looks the same for both species but this caterpillar is ready to chrysalis based on coloration and size. it will purge all undigested food and it will wander off and cocoon on a tree vertically. they need the gravity of being vertical to pull them out of their chrysalis
 
its a tiger swallowtail, I work in a butterfly house, maybe that's not fair lol! I cant tell if its eastern or Canadian, the caterpillar looks the same for both species but this caterpillar is ready to chrysalis based on coloration and size. it will purge all undigested food and it will wander off and cocoon on a tree vertically. they need the gravity of being vertical to pull them out of their chrysalis

correct!
 
finaly found it! It’s the American lady caterpillar. Vanessa virginiensis. Beautiful looking butterfly.
yep!! found it at work lol, story time. I was running entrance and this kid comes up to me and says look we found this caterpillar... I'm gonna keep it... I tell her caterpillars are not for taking in the gardens so she gave it to me and I had to spend an hour with the little guy because no1 else was here to cover me while I put him back not to mention I didn't know what its host plant is... long story short the caterpillar spent a total of two hours with me while I looked through a book trying to find its host plant... that book I think was something like 1000 pages long.............
 
yep!! found it at work lol, story time. I was running entrance and this kid comes up to me and says look we found this caterpillar... I'm gonna keep it... I tell her caterpillars are not for taking in the gardens so she gave it to me and I had to spend an hour with the little guy because no1 else was here to cover me while I put him back not to mention I didn't know what its host plant is... long story short the caterpillar spent a total of two hours with me while I looked through a book trying to find its host plant... that book I think was something like 1000 pages long.............


see I would of just thought it’s a caterpillar so put it on any plant. It will find its way lol.
 
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