The Moth Awakens!

I made an entry back in October about a green caterpillar found by a couple of 2nd graders  near the playground.

Since the weather was so spring-like today, I had to check on the cocoon to see if it was considering emerging. Or if it was dead. From the outside, it appeared dead. It is covered by an old dried oak leaf.

Looking at it gave me no answers, so I opened the little cage door, and reached my finger in to touch it to see if I could feel anything.

Hardness. I was so disappointed. I thought that if it were still alive, it would be supple, and soft.

My touch must have stimulated it. All of a sudden, I felt a burst of activity through the hard silken shell.

Concern that it would emerge before morning arose... I want the kids to watch this!

Scratching sounds, like its legs and mouth parts were working double time against its prison-like shell, softly cut the silence of my observation.

I don't know what to do... should I put it in the refrigerator as though it was having another cold winter night, to send it back to an inactive state? Or will that kill it? I don't know.

We're so close to emergence, and I want it to wait until morning when the 2nd graders can be witness to it. Then we can find out once and for all if it is a Luna or a Polyphemus Giant Silk Moth.