Life Cycle: The Luna moth starts life as a tiny egg that hatches into a plump lime-green caterpillar with tiny orange spots along the sides. This slow-moving caterpillar eats the leaves of the white birch, alder, persimmon, sweet gum, hickory, walnut, or sumac trees. After eating and growing, the caterpillar builds a brown, tent-like cocoon, and eventually emerges as a fully-grown adult. The adult Luna moth does not eat; it only mates and reproduces.