unusual!!

Usually Death's head hawk moth ( Acherontia atopos) larvae are yellow with blue stripes. so you can imagine my surprise when this one shed it's skin foe the last time and promptly changed to this colour!
At first I thought this larva was ill and going to die for some reason ( I have had this happen before!) so I put him in a box on his own with several sprigs of privet and went out.....when I came back I realised he clearly wasn't ill at all as he had eaten all the privet, and was looking very fit and healthy!
I then googled images of Death's head hawk moth larvae and realised a small proportion come in this interesting colour way - how interesting!
Since then, he has grown a huge amount and is a huge beastie...Rosie was most impressed!!!
All I need now is for him to pupate and become one amazing moth!!!