I'm so glad some folks found this a worthwhile post and also thanks for sharing your story. It seems that these caterpillars just eat/grow/molt ceaselessly until it's time to spin a cocoon!

These single-subject, old school design websites make me nostalgic for the early web.

p.s. Coming across this site made me want to build an entire grade-school curriculum based on "silk". There's so many subjects to cover, including: Biology (worm lifecycle, climate) History (trade, Silk Road) Chemistry (why silk is so strong) Arts (what can be made of silk, production process)