Wooly Bear Caterpillars
Posted by Kaitlyn Pesch on October 6, 2008
Q: Ok, I have this Wooly Bear Caterpillar and its not dead but its kind of like sucction cups on its back legs are not working so I do not know what is going on,also he's not moving around as much as he used to be when I first got him.WHAT CAN I DO I DO NOT WANT TO KILL HIM IM TRYING TO BECOME A SO CALLED NATURLIST TELL ME WHAT I CAN DO PLEASE.I just put my caterpillar outside were it is cool to see if that might help.
State: Minnesota
Habitat: field/meadow
A: Well Kaitlyn, sounds to me that your placement of the caterpillar outside was the perfect thing to do. Keeping the animal in your house, where it is warm, can really mess up its "plans for winter". Take a look at one of our units on this animal and you'll understand what it's doing. Check out: www.enaturalist.org
If you release your caterpillar in an area with lots of leaves, twigs, and other kinds of ground cover, it will certainly find the right spot to spend the winter months. Woolly Bears are interesting animals and not all that hard to find so you might want to keep it in mind if you need to write a paper on some topic for school - just a thought.
Thanks for writing and good luck with your little guy.
John Wiessinger ( October 7, 2008)