Did anyone else get a higher than usual infestation of those green caterpillars on their tomato plants this past summer?

@LordShadowfire
What is a bearded dragon?

@swirlie A fun little reptile native to Australia.
She likes cuddles.

@LordShadowfire
Oh, I see! So your bearded dragon likes to eat green tomato caterpillars..? 🐛

@swirlie She does. I buy them at Petco, but I kind of wish I had tomatoes so as to attract them.

@LordShadowfire

I was born and raised on a farm where my parent's had a market gardening farming business where they grew vegetables exclusively for Heinz and French's. My job as a teenager, was to run their private roadside vegetable stand at the end of our laneway adjacent to a gravel road.

We had millions of tomatoes pass through that place each season and in my mom's private tomato garden behind the house (as if she needed her own private garden), we had dozens of tomato plants and hundreds of those green tomato caterpillars each year!

We never used pesticides on our private tomato patch, which meant that my mom and I and my two sisters would check every single plant every day and remove those green caterpillars by hand, or else they'd eat the plants in a single day!

@swirlie Oh, I'm sure. Judging by how big those things get, I absolutely believe any and all stories of how destructive they are. But my scaly baby loves them.

@LordShadowfire
The biggest one I've ever seen was 4 inches long and as big around as a person's thumb!

How does your scaly baby eat them? I've never seen that happen before!

@swirlie Well, they don't come that big from Petco. Usually about an inch or so. Any bigger than that, and she couldn't wolf them down.

Next time I feed her one, I'll be sure to film it.

@LordShadowfire
Yes! Please do! I've always liked watching stuff like that!

@swirlie Me too. Literally the whole reason I have a bearded dragon is I loved watching them being fed at the pet store.

@LordShadowfire
Oh wow! That sounds so cool! What's the best part of watching a bearded dragon being fed for you when you watched at the pet store? 😀

@swirlie Bearded dragons are what are known in the pet industry as enthusiastic eaters. Introducing live food into their cage is so entertaining it should come with free popcorn. When I was there during feeding time, they were putting crickets in there, and the beardie just picked them off one at a time. It was like Jurassic Park in miniature.

Today I'm going to the pet store to pick up some hornworms and some regular superworms. I'll be sure to film.

@LordShadowfire
Wow! That sounds so exciting to watch! Now that you mention it, it was hornworms that we had on our tobacco and vegetable farm because tobacco plants attract them equally as much as tomato plants do!

@LordShadowfire
Did you remember to film 'feeding time' at the pet store for me?! 😋

@swirlie So, I tried to get a hornworm to feed her at home, but the pet store was out. So I was going to film her eating a Madagascar hissing roach, but it turns out she doesn't eat those anymore. She's just decided they're friends. Then by the time I filmed her eating anything, I forgot whom I was filming for.

@LordShadowfire
That is the funniest story! Are you surprised that I would have that same interest in common with you?!

@swirlie I figured somebody else would be interested.

@LordShadowfire
Somebody else? Why not me?

@swirlie I meant somebody else on this website. I didn't mean to say not you.

@LordShadowfire
Oh, okay.. 😆