Tent Caterpillars

Isn't this lovely?
As a child, tent caterpillars were among one of my favorites. I found, and still find, this colorful, fuzzy, predominantly iridescent blue caterpillar irresistible!

Driving six hours across the state of Pennsylvania, one year, was an eerie sight. Many small, leafless, lifeless looking trees had several of the familiar silken tent structures hanging in them. In large numbers, tent caterpillars can defoliate small trees, but rarely kill them unless these have already been compromised in other ways like having been through a drought or repeated defoliation.

This year, I brought in two small nests taken off of our sand cherry tree to raise indoors. The larvae have been fed sucker shoots growing from the bottom of this tree, so it's no great loss. This tree was in no danger of being defoliated. I brought these caterpillars in for several reasons, one being to see how many actually make it to adulthood (the moth stage). Many may be parasitized since they've spent most of their larval lives in the wild.

I must stress that I do not ever release insects considered pests back out into the wild. Instead, I allow them to grow, mature, and reach adulthood to observe them, but destroy any eggs that are laid.
--LKR