These little creatures are each about a millimeter (ONE millimeter!) long, and there are just so many of them. Here's a super-zoomed-in view of the above picture, where you can even see their tiny little legs:
I have no idea what these caterpillars are going to do next -- there are no plants nearby, which is usually the case when you're in the middle of a window pane. The only thing I can think of is that they might eat each other, and maybe that'll get them big enough to go exploring (many, many feet) and find a suitable plant to munch on.... Who knows! I'll keep an eye on them and see what happens. Nature sure is crazy sometimes!
Wow! One of the science teachers where I work recently hatched a bunch of monarch caterpillars and I was floored by how tiny they were at first. I think yours may be even smaller.
ReplyDeleteThey are super tiny! It's hard to believe these little things can grow big enough to become a decent sized moth -- or a monarch for that matter! Of course they have to find food first... right now the caterpillars are starting to spread out, and some have made it as far as the edge of the window pane, but there's still really no green food in sight....
ReplyDeleteWow! 5 days from laying to hatching - I guess they can't wait around, colder weather will be coming soon - but 5 days! Boggles my mind? Great 'baby' pictures! ;-)
ReplyDeleteWow... Thank you for these photos! I am a nature/creature lover and never kill anything. I had some eggs on my house next to my sliding glass door a few feet under my porch light. I have a 2 year old and when I first saw them I thought the cluster was a brown fabric bandaid particle. So I tried to scrape it off. It was quite disgusting when the eggs got up under my fingernail. So I left them alone after that and today they have hatched! I've spent about an hour trying to find out what they were and here I am on your blog and I know that they are; Moths! Thank you! :o)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad my pictures were helpful, CoCo1318! Enjoy your little moth family. :)
ReplyDeleteGlad I found this site! There are a lot of people trying to figure out what type of creature these little things are and this is the first site where I found an answer. The image matches ours exactly. Except I found these growing on my bathroom walls. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! Happy to help. :)
DeleteMy goodness! Did you ever see what became of them?
ReplyDeleteI never did see for sure! All I know is they had all gone after a few hours.
DeleteThanks so much there are 7 clusters of these on my porch! How do I get rid of them?
ReplyDeleteGlad I could help! If they're moth caterpillars like these ones, I'm guessing they'll probably just go away by themselves (they'll wander off to find food or die).
DeleteThanks! I just moved into this new house and every week I have to tackle a new creature!
DeleteSame thing just happened to me on my window minutes ago.
ReplyDeletewhy am i finding these tiny things in my kitchen i have searched and i cant find where they are coming from, all i know is they climb up the side my kitchen units, i don't understand why they are not outside in the garden.i live hull east yorkshire uk.
ReplyDeleteI am from New Zealand and the other night there was a moth, about 1 1/2 inches in size on the wall in the bedroom. It was gone the next day and there was this mark on the wall. I see it is moving down the wall at this time. Just as well I had a look at this forum so I won't spray them. Hopefully they go outside soon.
ReplyDeleteUm I don't think you are going to answer this but I have these little moth like things on my walls and I don't know what to do
ReplyDelete