emergency caterpillar relocation!

sooo.. i've had lots of little babies the past week or so. four or five at the most at one time.. but i had noticed i was missing a few. i had to do some emergency vine borer removal on my pumpkin who's planted next door to the fennel.. so i just assumed i had probably knocked off some and accidentally buried them.

nope.

i came home to do my daily after work inspection.. only to find this horrible little bitch. the caterpillar was half eaten when i first noticed the wasp.. by the time i ran inside and got my camera, she was only a head and guts. UGH.



look at her just gnawing away! UGH. i know where her home is. i've been kind up until now.. because wasps really are good beneficial predators. they eat larvae of all kinds, even the bad ones...

BUT NOW.. that nest is coming down. i'm not harboring murderers!@!




so i decided to do some emergency fennel relocation and take it and the babies to the green house. i have a few spiders living in there.. but no wasps! hopefully it will be a safer environment for them..


that is.
look at her coming back to look for the other juicy caterpillars i've moved.







if the fennel makes it.. if it shows any sign of poop outage, i will be at the store buying a new fennel plant before the night is over, just for my babies to live on.


HOWEVER, i'm an idiot, and cut the stalk with the chrysalis on it. hopefully it will be okay even if the fennel dries out. i have a few spiders in the greenhouse that i'm worried about. but if i see the chrysalis start to open i'll take it directly outside.