It could be a hummingbird clearwing moth caterpillar. I used my computer to zoom in on your picture, but still couldn't tell if the spiracles/breathing holes have an orangey ring of color around them. I also couldn't see if yours has a yellow ring around its "face". There are many different types of hornworms, many very similar to each other. Of course, if yours is an early instar/stage, it might not have those characteristics, because it's too young. If I were you, I'd offer it clean viburnum leaves - no spiders on them, please :) - if you have some, and if you don't you could try honeysuckle leaves. I can't tell the size of your caterpillar by the picture, and even if I could, unless I can ID it for sure, I wouldn't know what the likely instar (stage) might be. When your caterpillar has gone through its instars and is through eating, it should spin a "weak cocoon" amongst leaves, according to my best caterpillar book, if it's a hummingbird clearwing. The moth should emerge this year sometime, just when, I don't know. Sorry I can't be more specific, but a closer-up picture would help. Sherry

Does anyone have any ideas on saving our tobacco hornworm moths? In November, indoors? We've been told by a butterfly expert that they WON'T eat indoors, and they don't seem to be eating, despite: * a hummingbird feeder, with official butterfly food, and we glued a fake petunia on the end of the tube, so it hopefully looked kinda like something they'd try to eat from. If they used it, we were asleep and didn't see it. They sleep all day. * I've brought in some petunias from the window box (amazingly, they're still blooming the day after Thanksgiving!) * I've put liquid official butterfly food in a clean washcloth, nudged one up to it, and it chose to climb further up on the washcloth, last night. (2/3 of his/her right wings are gone, so he'll never hover again.) * I bought them some Stargazer lilies, (probably not their proper food) * They're in the guest bedroom (so the cats don't get at them again) where there's a Mandevilla flower -- big pink flowers, petunia-shaped. I'm going to try mounting the hummingbird feeder so that they reach it from the Mandevilla pot, where they may feel comfortable, blending in with the soil. Don't know if being on soil is good for them, either. But what do I do with them? This is late November; they can't be active in the usually 40+ degree temperatures out there, and there's very little blooming out there for them to eat. (They came indoors because, as caterpillars, they were on a tomato plant that we brought inside when it was likely to frost overnight, and we let them and their 6 sibs eat it ALL up. Most of their sibs crawled away after we put the pot back outside when the weather warmed up, and the tomato was out of leaves). At least these 2 pupated in the pot and came out 3 days ago. They will probably die soon, since they're probably not getting anything to eat. Funny--as caterpillars, they ate all day -- except when they saw us watching. Eventually they lost their fear of us, and ate when we were looking at them. Now, they want out! Little do they know. Another interesting thing: wild moths do not let you pick them up. These don't seem to have the usual fear of me. BEFORE they lost their ability to fly, when their wings had had many hours or a whole day to dry, they let me pick them up -- maybe they remember something from their past lives. Anyway, we're going to crazy lengths to try to give them their normal (2-week?) adult lifespan. Can anyone propose other means to get them to eat? Thanks!

bumping this down

Aw, poor bedraggled thing! That tomato hornworm moth has seen better days. The tomato hormworm moth belongs to an interesting family of Lepidopterans called Sphingidae...we call them Sphinx Moths or, sometimes, Hawk Moths. The caterpillars are all horn worms one of kind or another. Though it would not be incorrect to call ALL sphinx moths hummingbird moths, I don't do so. Some of the Sphinx moths have clear segments in their wings...and are called the clearwing moths. THOSE are the true hummingbird moths and are very commonly mistaken for those little birds. So! All hornworms eventually turn into a Sphinx moth. You can call them hummingbird moths if you want to, but when you see one of the true hummingbird moths in person, you'll see what I mean. Here is a link that might be useful: Some hummingbird moth images