First I noticed the top of one of my cherry tomato plants was missing all its leaves. I found a green caterpillar, removed him, and gave him a new home in a tree. A few days later I noticed more tomato plant damage…which really pissed me off. What does one do? This garden rookie headed straight to Google. I found out it was a horned worm that feeds on tomato plants. There must be another one in there, I thought. I scoured every plant and leaf. I knew I would find him, so I didn’t think I would be surprised…but I was. Whoa! Oh my God! And A holy $#*! escaped my mouth. I couldn’t believe the size of this thing! 
The monstrous beast. I shouldn’t be shocked by the size seeing how much the sucker ate, but he was 4 inches long!! Eww.
He’s straight out of Wonderland….it’s Hookah!
The moths that come from these are hummingbird clear-winged moths…
You didn’t put that thing in the tree, did you? LOL
Wow and yikes! It made for an awesome photo though! My kids would love that beast!
My boys totally wanted to keep him…I’m the mean mom that said “no.”
I would freak out! That thing is HUGE!
Yikes! I’ve let my garden become a jungle in the past few weeks. Now I’m scared to go in there!
Be careful!
I haven’t seen a caterpillar like that since I was a kid – and that’s going back a few decades! One summer at the lake we were inundated by big, fat, green monsters with huge black spots on each end that were about 8 inches long, three fingers thick and ugly as sin. They were so gross, but turned into beautiful moths or butterflies! I think they were Luna Moths, but can’t really be sure. It was a lo-o-o-ong time ago! Your boys might find it interesting to see what yours looks like after its metamorphosis. 🙂