Thank you everyone for your help :D I put some moist compost into the bottom of the container today and as soon as I put the caterpillars in they all burrowed down immediately. I now feel sorry for the moths I kept as a child that were forced to pupate in the bottom of a glass jar! I will be keeping...

I take it back, they are moths. I looked the moth up online and found this photo that looks exactly like the big caterpillars I have: http://ukmoths.org.uk/images/hires/2154M_brassicaeLarvaDG.jpg I was convinced it was the butterfly because when I looked up small cabbage whites the photos looked lik...

Both the brown and the younger green caterpillars have a pale green-yellow line along either side of their body but no stripe down their back. They also have no humped segment.

I am pretty certain they are butterflies - the caterpillars started out translucent green, and very tiny, then turned a more opaque green and finally brown when they reached about 3cm. The eggs were pale yellow and laid singly on the underside of leaves. I will try adding a few inches of soil to the...

Hi, First off, I know caterpillars shouldn't really be kept indoors, they should be left outside on their natural foodplant. But these particular caterpillars (Small Cabbage Whites) were on my mother's cabbages and the choice was between me keeping them indoors or her killing them - either way, they...