wooly bear caterpillars

[BEEMERS]

I don't know where else to even begin to ask for info on this than the FF.....wooly bear caterpillars have so much myth behind them..at least around here all my life..the brown on them versus the black..determines the severity of the winter...the first day you see them determines the winters harshnest,snowfall..all my life..wooly bear appearance is like an omen of ...I don't know what..(Jeff...any help..)
So..I walk into a bar tonight..a wooly bear on the concrete by the door...29 degrees..i nudge him with my boot hes alive and the biggest Ive ever seen..he moves....I think hes doomed, I come out later its 24 degrees..hes moving if touched...
I brought him home...hes 2 and a quarter inches long and black as coal..
I don't believe in superstition,,but I do believe that this creature there at this date at that temp...may have a lot to say
I don't know what to do with him...did I mess with the cycle by picking him up?dont mean our cycle ..his life cycle..
hes moving and shaking now..I can keep him in a ?? what would I feed him? or should I put him outside...
I think he will freeze....do they freeze normally? I'm stumped..help me out

[DDW_OR]

my two cents, put it out side and let nature take its course.

unless you want a pet  :D 


here is a good read
http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/11/can_woolly_bear_caterpillars_r.html

looks like they have antifreeze inside them

[BEEMERS]

22 degrees tonight...the bigger question..why on the concrete tonight?  I'm warmin up a pileof leaves to give him a head start then outside..i cant imagine it going well... but cant see it going well in a warm house either...

[DDW_OR]

as stated in the article i linked to
"......Woolly bears go through the winter in their larval stage as caterpillars. Woolly bears survive the winter by hibernating under logs or in other protected places.  Natural antifreeze in their bodies allows them to withstand freezing..........."
http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/11/can_woolly_bear_caterpillars_r.html

[Ianab]

They can spend the winter in their caterpillar phase, "hibernate" through the cold months, and don't enter the pupae phase until spring. Apparently they can actually freeze solid, and thaw out again without harm. Then they mate and die, leaving the eggs to hatch, grow through the fall, and overwinter as caterpillars again. 

According to Wikipedia, at high latitudes where the growing season is very short, they can take several years to mature, so survive multiple winters.

[square1]

BEEMERS, you have a big huge heart. Good on ya!

[coxy]

that was a nice read thanks for posting

[BEEMERS]

Thanks guys, and happy thanksgiving..I think that if I had posted this elsewhere Id have just been ridiculed.
Props to the FF. Update on Wooly.....No idea..brought a bucket of leaves in,warmed them up stuck him in the middle and stuck the pile under my deck.
Maybe I will have helped to ensure an easy winter here in the North.

[DelawhereJoe]

I think I remember reading that the spring peep frogs can survive freezing too. I just showed my youngest son on Monday and taught him all about the wooly bears caterpillars . He wanted to make a pet of it, sadly though the wooly had a black head and the rest of him was completely brown.