Death reason? (1 Viewer)

I had a Buff Ermine caterpillar and I was waiting for it to go into a chrysalis. I only fed it Lettuce because that was the only thing that it liked. I checked it one day and it looked like it was in a chrysalis but it wasn't quite right. All of its fur was around it and it had shrunk a lot. I thought this was just normal so I left it. It hadn't moved at all and wasn't moving. I then realized that it was dead. I gave it lots of air and there was holes in the plastic box. Why did the caterpillar die?

Hi
Looking at the photo it´s clear that it had started to pupate, producing a silken cocoon with some of its own larval hairs attached. The larva looks to be a pre-pupa and in this stage they are fairly torpid and best not moved. It´s just possible that it was still alive and still had to shed its final larval skin to reveal the pupa proper.
However, they are susceptable to distrubance and this may have led to its demise.
Martin

Insects obviously avail themselves of myriad survival advantages to us mammals but, can they digest lettuce?

I know that unless it's 'blanched' in boiling water, the cellulose contained in lettuce cannot be broken down to be digested effectively. This is certainly the same for fish as I used to keep an aquarium and had to blanche lettuce for the vegetarians in the tank.

Andy