When do elephants lay eggs?

We kept the two Elephant Hawk Moths from the moth trap and gave them some Fuschia (as their caterpillars eat it) and a Buddlea flower (so they had something to drink). This morning there were little white eggs all over the Fuschia. A little annoyingly, we also left a Buff Tip and a small brown moth in the cage, so we can't be sure which one laid the eggs!  There were also a few clusters of eggs laid on the netting of the cage. I assume two different moths laid the eggs, as some are in a cluster and others are individually laid on the plant.

We can only hope that the eggs on the Fuschia are Elephant Hawk Moth eggs. We'll keep them all and see if they hatch. We'll know if the caterpillars are Hawk Moths as they have a little tail and I don't think the others will.

Hopefully Elephant Hawk Moth eggs, but we shall see!

Maybe Buff Tip eggs?

It's been a very exciting morning for Bug Mad Girl. Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillars are very cool. We found one last summer and they have big eye spots on their heads and a long 'trunk'. When they're startled, they puff up their 'trunk' and it makes their eyes look enormous (to try and scare away predators).

An Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillar that we found last summer