When I was 8 years old and in second grade my aunt bought me a kit to raise Monarch butterflies. I was then, and still am obsessed with butterflies. The kit came with the Monarch butterfly eggs, food for the caterpillars when they hatched and a little cardboard house to raise them in. I thought that it was the coolest thing in the world that I could raise my own butterflies. I got to watch the eggs hatch, watch the caterpillars eat and eat and eat, and then form a chrysalis, and then suddenly I had butterflies fluttering around my little cardboard house! Now, 14 years later, I am once again raising caterpillars, only this time they will turn into moths.

Here at Audubon we raise Promethea moths. Promethea moths are a local species of moth that live in deciduous woodlands. You may have seen them as caterpillars, as they are pretty common. As caterpillars they feed on lots of different plants in our area such as Tulip Tree, White Ash trees and Magnolia trees. As adult moths they don’t feed.

About a month ago we collected the eggs from our moth cage so that we could raise the caterpillars and further the population of Promethea moths in the area. I don’t know how many eggs we collected but we have about 100 fat little caterpillars. It is still surprising to me how fast they grow. It seems like yesterday that they were little tiny black and white caterpillars all in a line on the leaves. They were about as thick as a toothpick and as long as a thumbtack. Now they are huge green caterpillars and a few have even made cocoons.

As they grow bigger they both shed and change color. They start off as black and white caterpillars, shed once to black and yellow, shed again to green with yellow horn-like things, and then once again to green with orange horns. When they are young they feed together but they feed alone when they are older.

I guess I didn’t realize when I was younger, or maybe I was just too excited to have butterflies of my own, but caterpillar care is an everyday job. You wouldn’t believe the amount of poop that a little caterpillar can make! We clean the containers and provide fresh leaves for the little caterpillars and then go home for the day. The next morning when we come in and there are millions of little black balls of poop, all over the container. Every day! I guess when you don’t eat as an adult you need to eat a lot as a larva. And with a lot of food, comes a lot of poo.

Once they are ready to form a cocoon they use silk to make the cocoon and then stay in the cocoon over winter. They will emerge as moths in the spring and mate to produce more eggs. We are not at that stage yet, as I said only a few have cocooned. Once they do we put them back in the moth cage so that we can continue collecting eggs next year and continue raising caterpillars and moths. It is a really cool experience and it helps to further the species.

If you think this is as cool as I think it is, and would like to come check out the moth cage, or the caterpillars Audubon is located at 1600 Riverside Road between Warren and Jamestown. The phone number for the main desk is (716) 569-2345 and you can ask for one of the naturalists. Jeff Tome is in charge of moth operations and can answer any other questions you may have about Promethea moths, or just moths in general. Audubon is a great place to learn awesome things about nature. There are tons of nature oriented programs for all ages on many different topics, or you can just come and hike the trails and check out the wildlife that calls this place home. Trails are open from dawn until dusk and the Center is open from 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. daily, except Sunday when we open at 1 p.m. Visit jamestownaudubon.org for more information.

Carly Polisoto is a Summer Nature Education Intern at Audubon Nature Center.