I couldn’t contain my excitement when hubby told me he spotted a huge caterpillar on the branch of the tree in front of the house. I didn’t realize how huge it was until I saw it with my own eyes. Dang! It was gargantuan. All the earlier ones we found on the Calamansi Lime tree were puny compared to this fella.
Utilizing the zoom-in on the iPhone XR
I had to get the ladder to climb up close to see. And standing two-third high on the nine-foot ladder (the ground wasn’t even to be higher safely without falling), we figured the big fat fella’s at least four inches long. It’s a stupendous sight and discovery indeed!
This may sound disgusting but even its poop was big, peppering the front lawn untidily, as I took my ruler to measure – one centimeter wide. Eeesh…. Eeeesh. This is the real munch pot!
The behemoth creature was proving to be a delight in other aspects too. We discovered that it sort of glowed in the dark. I took a picture of it in the evening and it stood out with much contrast from the foliage. Pretty cool.
We are no caterpillar experts and had to google to find what species it might be because the features are not similar to the earlier Munch Pots at the garden. The exceptional features were the long tubercles on the body and no other color markings. As I researched, I found some interesting caterpillar facts and eventually, managed to identify my behemoth Munch Pot.
It’s an Atlas Moth caterpillar. Wow.
And looks like I will be monitoring the branches the next few days because eventually it will morph into its next stage. I just hope it can last till then because these fellas, being at the bottom of the food chain are easy meat for predators if discovered. So far, it’s survived well to reach this size, hiding under the leaves and branches to eat and eat and eat.
Quite a sight this behemoth caterpillar
Angieneering 
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