Unable to see your images.

Please post your images here in this Forum using the small camera icon..

Don't the links work for you? I'm in the middle of dinner right now, I'll try to post them back in a few hours.

The photos opened for me with no problem.

Those are the larva of some insect, not snails nor slugs. They could be the larva of a beetle, moth, or butterfly.

What plant(S) are they on?

Where in the world are you?

kimmq is kimmsr

Thanks for the input on the snails and the photo viewability. Hopefully they open fine for the rest of you so I don't have to post them again through the site.

I'm in HK, on a 10th floor apartment with a space outside for plants. It's a Michelia Alba which has been in the same space for little over a year with no previous issues. No other new plants have been added that could contaminate it that way. I did see a moth the other day hovering over the leaves for quite some time but the little slugs don't look anything like what I've searched online.

I found seven of them, I grouped them all on one large leaf to take pics and observe. I think I killed two when I scooped them up and moved them because they turned black shortly after and stopped moving. The five left seem quite happy and keep eating and sleeping and pooping little black specks all over the leaves they occupy. I initially wanted to throw them away as soon as I had a few pics but I would like to keep them a few more days to see how they progress. Besides observing them I'm having fun filming them with my macro lens, slithering about and eating the leaves so I'll probably keep them for another day or two even if it costs me a few leaves.

EDIT: I said moth, but it could have been a butterfly I really can't tell the difference.

Those look more like sawfly larvae than anything else but which species I can't really say. Sawfly larvae come from a flying insect that resemble wasps. With a containerized plant they should be quite easy to remove by hand picking. Or washing off with a strong stream of water. Or as a last resort, insecticidal soap or spinosad. Note that they do not respond to the same sort of controls used on most caterpillars - Bt is ineffective against sawfly larvae.

Thanks. I did do a search after my last post and realized it was a butterfly. Your post confirms it.

I read a few articles about raising them in containers. I'm wondering now if it makes sense to put them in containers or just keep them on the plant as they are now.

It's a Michelia Alba which was originally outdoors but I put it inside my apartment since direct sunlight seems to burn it's leaves and prevent it's buds from flowering. I don't know which is the ideal placement for it if I decide to keep the caterpillars on the plant. Also, I saw the same, or similar black butterfly with white spots that hovered around the plant the other day, when it was outside, hover outside my window for some time this morning. Maybe it was looking for a plant to place more eggs or visit previously laid eggs (I'm a grown man who thinks this might be a possible scenario), so I'm thinking I might put it back outside.

Any addition input on this would help. Thanks again.

vr46, I'll first comment about your interest in raising the caterpillars. I have extremely mixed feelings about it, knowing that so many caterpillars can die in captivity if the conditions aren't ideal. It takes quite a bit of research to learn what not to do as well as how to do it properly. Many people, though, have learned to be successful at it.

That being said, caterpillars have lots of natural predators, parasitoids, and diseases that greatly reduce their numbers. In nature, that can be a good thing....or we would be overwhelmed by caterpillars bent on devouring every green plant on the planet!

Even the caterpillars on my two lemon trees were preyed upon, usually by birds and wasps. But I always had some successfully fullfill their entire lifecycle, right before my eyes.

I don't believe that your Michelia will be happy inside your home, unless you have great humidity and lots of natural light. The caterpillars might not like it, either.

Your thought that the adult butterfly revisits her eggs is sweet! Truth is, she was wanting to lay more eggs!

Be sure to visit the Butterfly Gardening forum here in GardenWeb. Sometimes, it's more of a Butterfly RAISING forum, so there will be much to learn by reading old threads.

Thanks for all the input. I've been busy the past two days and haven't had time to look into it as much as I had wanted. My interest initially was to find out what exactly they were. Now that I'm sure, my focus has shifted to how best to take care of them while they do what they are supposed to do, or rather how best to keep from interfering with that process.

It's indoors but right next to the main window, no shortage of humidity here in HK, indoor or out. I brought my Michelia in because I recently repotted and I've noticed more than a few leaves than normal showing signs of leaf scorch. Also, my Michelia never seems to flower while on the outside area so I put it indoors when I see buds and it flowers every chance it gets. Anyway, that's when I noticed the little things crawling about. They have since grown considerably, the more active ones are now close to twice the size they were the other day and starting to look like actual caterpillars instead of some alien creature from another planet. Whatever conditions they need to stay healthy and happy, i'm willing to accommodate as best I can.

I mentioned the containers option earlier but I'm thinking it may be best to just leave them alone especially since I've already murdered two of them when I scooped them up to place them all on the same leaf.

I didn't know there was a butterfly section on this forum, I'll be sure to check it out later.

Btw, here's some vids I took:

https://vimeo.com/167259698

https://vimeo.com/167256670

vr46, what does HK stand for? Maybe I missed it.

I've been assuming Hong Kong.....hope I'm right, lol!

Yes, Hong Kong : )

The videos are fabulous! Thank you so much for those, as well as the great images in your initial post.

Yes, caterpillars grow so fast....look at how much they eat! Now that you've explained your indoor environment to me, I think that your Michelia can thrive.