You've got to see this beautiful moth that just hatched. A friend sent me the cocoon a few weeks ago and I looked up last night and there it was! It's BEAUTIFUL!!! It's a Moon Moth, which is a relative of the Luna Moths. I hope to be able to get it out later to take better pics.
KKB, that's spectacular! How do you know what to feed it though?
-Julie
The adult moths do not eat. I believe they don't even have mouth-parts. They survive on fat stored from when they were caterpillars. That's why these have to eat so much when they are caterpillars.
wow!
S/he is a beauty!
I found out that it's a boy.
WOW
Ok, I have to tell you all this. My friend that sent it to me suggested that if I wanted to keep it preserved and display it, I needed to...kill it (eeekkk) right away before it started beating it's wings up in the cage. I debated on it, mentioned it to other friends, and decided to go ahead and do it. It will only live about a week or so, and since it's not a native moth it won't mate, so it doesn't have much of a life. I would really love having it to display and enjoy forever, so I just did it. I put it in my garage freezer because it's really cold. It started fluttering as soon as I did, and I got all teary eyed. I guess the mother in me just felt horrible. After about 20 minutes or more I took it out, not wanting it to be frozen to a breaking point. That was a couple of hours ago. I took it down from a shelf to look at it's wings to see if they were going to stay open or if I would have to hold them down with something. I noticed one starting to barely flutter. AAAHHH!!! It was thawing out!!! LOL Of course, this would happen to ME! Now I feel like I've tortured it so I quickly put it back out in the freezer, only to notice it started fluttering again when I did. I'm afraid to go get it now! LOLOL
Grit your teeth and leave it be for couple days.
In the freezer?!
Yes.
koncreteblond:
Tell me quickly. Do we hold a baby shower or a wake?
It's beautiful.
I remember finding these in the parking lot of my high school one day when I had to stay after for detention or something! It was a really old one so the wings were all tattered and the poor guy was so weak. I took it home and put it in my backyard and it dissapeared!
Then I found it's wings under a log... hmmm.. maybe I wasn't doing it such a favor afterall.
Instead of the freezer method, isn't it easier to make a "killing jar"? Sounds horrible!
I think a wake will be needed. If this thing comes back to life again, I'm letting it OUT! LOL Reminds me of an old Twilight Zone that scared me for years! (Talking Tina)
I don't know what a "killing jar" is, but don't think I want to kill any more of these. I already have a box of dead Cynthia ricini moths that I still haven't mounted or displayed. Those all just died naturally tho. Luckily they weren't very active so they still look good.
What I had wanted to do was make a paperweight with one in it, but never could find the stuff and just gave up. I'll just get a couple of small display boxes now and put them both up.
You could try a snow globe and fill with clear floral gel. They have make your own craft ones at craft stores.
kkb, this site recomended using the freezer or rubbing alcohol to kill butterflies humanely:
http://www.mdc.missouri.gov/conmag/1997/07/40.htm
John
p.s., this was my google - kill butterflies humanely
