I have another update on my furry little caterpillars, Wilbur & Wilma the Woolly Bears :) I went to check on them and to my surprise, I caught Wilma molting! These little guys can molt several times before they are adult sized. As they molt the brown band gets larger each time. Folklore has it that you can predict the winter by noting the width of the bands, but it’s more indicative of the caterpillars age, though there is some speculation that the bands can tell you more about the previous winter than the upcoming one.

Wilbur’s portrait was taken right after he molted on the 20th ( which is here: https://plus.google.com/photos/104306683219947597418/albums/5716212246001669841/5779280779902273218?hl=en ) . I had a feeling Wilma was next and there and as I peeked –there she was, not even fluffed out yet. I was wondering what the white spots on her were and +Chris Mallory  had the answer. The white spots are what she uses for breathing. They are called spiracles and you don’t really see them this clearly because they are well…woolly most of the time and all lol

Wilma dried in no time too, by the time I was done photographing her she was already starting to dry. So of course I have after pictures of her in her newly fluffy glory. The first four pictures are Wilma but I threw a couple Wilburs in there at the end cause Wilbur needs love too ;) The second is an even closer up picture of her, I wish these were tack sharp but I was hand-holding ( and doing a crappy job of it lol ) I didn’t want to pop a flash on her while she was doing what she needed to do.

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