Fred

Meet the new "pet".  His name is Fred (maybe it should be Marguerite??? I can't tell!)

While weeding and picking tomatoes, I found some stripped leaves and then quickly found Fred.  Fred is a Tobacco Horn Worm (altho around here we usually refer to such as a Tomato Horm Worm - they are close cousins... see https://entomologytoday.org/2013/12/14/how-to-tell-the-difference-betwe… for more on how to tell the difference.) Fat little bum has been enjoying our tomato plants probably more than us!  Besides leaves I did find a tomato half-eaten, still on the vine.

I decided he doesn't get a totally free lunch.  At first I was just thinking of immediately making him into fertilizer..... but then, why not "collect" the little brat and see if I can take him all the way to the moth stage.  They do turn into quite the interesting moth, the Sphinx Moth.

So now Fred is in an insect cage and being fed leaves, mainly selected ones from various tomato plants I have so no one plant gets too denuded.  But since they supposedly like leaves from all the tobacco/tomato family (Solanaceae), I have also put in a couple of eggplant and pepper leaves.

Let's see how it goes.