Our new caterpillar friend, 'Sammy'

My father in law found this caterpillar crawling across our yard yesterday. I caught it around 11 and by four he was busy making his cocoon.

I named him Sammy because he reminds me of the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland....and all I could picture was Sammy Davis Jr. as the caterpillar smoking a hookah.
Here is a video....he's blue but huge is the point. If you ever watched the 1985 version of Alice in Wonderland then you must watch this, it took me back.

After some internet research I think he is a Robin Moth Caterpillar or Cecropia Silkmoth, which is the largest moth in North America according to Wikipedia. Some guy had one and photographed it's life cycle....the thing stays in the cocoon for almost a year! He kept the cocoon in his crisper drawer in the fridge...I'm thinking garage beverage fridge instead. Very interesting though here is the link... http://www.wormspit.com/cecropia.htm
However, when I caught him I never imagined he would be this big of a time investment. He has his cocoon so stuck in the hermit crab cage that I don't have much of a choice now.

Here are some real pictures...

He is as big as two of my thumbs end to end!

Around 6:00 pm yesterday.
6:30 am today