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 weren't staying on her cabbages.
I have been feeding them every day and they have grown really fast, and 5 of the biggest ones have now turned brown and are much more active. I read on the internet that this colour change probably means they are ready to pupate, so I moved these to a separate, taller container just for them and put some twigs in it as well as some leaves at the bottom in case they still need to feed up a little.
However, the internet also informed me that the caterpillar stage generally lasts 2 weeks and this particular species grows to about 3.5cm before pupating. Mine however have been caterpillars for almost a month now, definitely more than 3 weeks, and are easily 5cm. And they are still eating, HUGE amounts now thanks to their size.
I just don't understand why they haven't pupated yet, when they seem otherwise very healthy and fat. They crawl up the sticks and down again, but never look like they are even preparing to become a chrysalis. I used to keep these caterpillars as pets all the time when I was a child and I don't remember it being this much work
Any suggestions greatly appreciated!
