Each 2 oz. piece of caterpillar food was placed into a 16 oz. clear plastic cups and the food was pressed into the bottom of the cups using another cup. The food was pressed into the bottom of the cup, because that is how many of the caterpillar supplier send out their caterpillar. The surface area needs to supply 5 +/- 1 caterpillars with food for about a week. These 8 cups are designed to handle 5 eggs each for eventually housing a total of about 40 caterpillars.