How long does it take a moth to come out of it's cocoon?

[A home for their hearts]

We found a caterpillar a couple of weeks ago and when I looked it up online it said it will become some kind of moth. Well it made it's cocoon a couple of weeks ago and it still hasn't emerged. Is it dead?

[kwiech]

Hi, I think it really depend on what kind of caterpillar it is. We caught a caterpillar this summer and it took about 3 -4 weeks to come out of its cocoon. I'm not sure what kind of caterpillar it was or what kind of moth. It looked like the run of the mill moth that comes up to our porch light.

We have a cecropia caterpillar also. It just went in its cocoon last week and it will stay there until next spring. It has to be put in the garage when the weather cools down and we wait.

I'd suggest the website www.whatsthatbug.com (http://www.whatsthatbug.com) and see if you can find a picture of what your caterpillar looked like to see if you can identify the type.

Kelly

[Marie in Oh]

4 weeks this summer. It hatched into some icky looking thing though. I wasn't a nice moth. It looked wasp like.

[readwithem]

We found a caterpillar a couple of weeks ago and when I looked it up online it said it will become some kind of moth. Well it made it's cocoon a couple of weeks ago and it still hasn't emerged. Is it dead?

When we lived in the UK we had caterpillars everywhere. One got in my bathroom window and made its cocoon on my bathroom wall. It took MONTHS for a pretty white moth to emerge. I also thought it might be dead. I would be patient with it.

[Laura Corin]

Ours took about six weeks or two months. It emerged as an Oleander Hawk Moth - well worth the wait.

Laura