All the cecropia caterpillars have made their cocoons now – the last one finished on Saturday.
It’s fun watching them build the cocoon out of silk – they spend lots of time waving back and forth, reaching to attach the silk, and bending around to spin it and attach it somewhere else. In its early stages, the cocoon looks more like a spider’s web. It takes about a day to become cocoon shaped, and about 2 days to get completely opaque.

Here’s a picture of the beginning of a cocoon

All the caterpillars made cocoons attached to the cage except the one which attatched to the water jar. Two of the cocoons actually overlap – I hope that won’t make it difficult for them to emerge.

Here are 4 of the cocoons

Now nothing will happen until next June or July. I’ll take the cage to the farm and leave it on the screened porch to spend the winter.