CORRECTION: NOT Imperial Moth Lays Eggs

Imperial moths
HI
I love your site and have used it often finding out the names of insects for my small Daycare. I found an Imperial moth this morning and put her into a butterfly cage we have and after some hours let her go so she wouldnt die. On a leaf in the cage are tiny yellow eggs so I guess she was doing more then we thought in there. I kept the eggs and would like to know some information on them. How long does it take for them to hatch? After hatching what do the little ones eat? How long before they will start to make cacoons? Thanks so much,
Karen Maier

NOT Imperial Moth Eggs with Caterpillars showing
(08/12/2007) Imperial moth eggs, me again w. photo
Hello,
Have a great photo of the eggs I wrote you about acouple days ago. I couldnt believe I could actually see the little guys in there. Isnt it great. LOL I will take other pics as they grow but at this rate it probably wont be long before we have little ones running around.
Karen Maier

Hi Karen,
Feed them leaves from a wide variety of trees including Bald Cypress, basswood, birch, cedar, elm, hickory, Honeylocust, maple, oak, pine, Sassafras (Sassafras albidum), Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), sycamore, walnut. Visit BugGuide links for more info.

Hi Karen,
Thanks for sending in your photos of developing Imperial Moth Eggs. We eagerly await updates on the caterpillars progress.

NOT Imperial Moth Eggs Hatch
(08/14/2007)
Well its only been about 4 hours since I took a photo of them and sent it. But checking on them at lunch time gave us a surprise, they were hatching. So I grabbed 4 or 5 different types of tree leaves to put in the cage. Do they need water?? or is the leaves enough. I really want the little guys to have a chance or turning into those beautiful Imperial moths.
Karen Maier
PS let me know if u want any more photos as they grow or if you have enough of that type. dont want to send any you cant use.

Hi Karen,
These are not Imperial Moth caterpillars. We fear you misidentified your original moth. BugGuide has an image of a newly hatched Imperial Moth, and it does not look at all like your caterpillars. We cannot identify your specimen from this hatchling image. We suspect this is still one of the Giant Silk Moths. If you describe the moth, we may be able to identify it. It would be great if you could take a photo at each stage of development, known as instars. Each time a caterpillar molts, there is a new instar. There are five instars before pupation. You caterpillars will fulfull their water needs through the leaves they eat. Thank you for noting in your photo title that the eggs hatched after four days.