Moths in their baby phase are caterpillars. They belong to the species Lepidoptera. After hatching from eggs, they live on plants that they feed on or dig holes in the ground until they become adult moths.

Silky Terrier Dog Breed Playing Aro... Silky Terrier Dog Breed Playing Around

A moth goes through metamorphosis and has four phases of its life cycle, namely, egg, larvae, pupa, and adult moth. Baby moths live from two weeks to a month before they build a cocoon around them with the plant’s leaf they live on to protect its surface. It stays as a pupa in the cocoon, and then they emerge as adults. 

What Baby Moths Look Like?

Moth caterpillars have scaled and segmented bodies of three parts; a small head, thorax region, and abdomen. The head has a pair of segmented antennae to sense light, touch, and surface. Caterpillars have six pairs of clustered eyes called ocelli on each side of their head. These simple eyes cannot create an image but detect the light intensity. Baby moths have solid and sharp jaws as they spend most of the time eating. These jaws quickly chop leaves into digestible pieces. Mandibles put food in its mouth.

The caterpillars look like tiny rice grain moving around. When they hatch from eggs, they are small up to only a few millimeters and grow about 1.5 cm at the longest. The tiny hairs or spikes called setae, covering their bodies, help caterpillars to sense touch. These are attached to nerve cells and help in detecting contact.

Lepidoptera caterpillars come in a wide range of colors depending on the type of moths they belong to. Usually, brightly colored larvae are poisonous. Caterpillars can be seen in colors like red, green, yellow, and pale white, with patches of orange, black, and white color over their body.