I lost ~ 5 at about the pupation stage. Bill Oehlke said it was probably a virus- can't theink of the name right now. Otherwise I have multiple leaf wrapped cocoons the last of which will go in a flight box today to hatch. the one i bought locally did hatch on the back porch. She/he couldn't fly and I think a lizard got it. the thorax never slimmed down and the wings looked not small but not as big as I had expected. DH took lots of pics with his new camera but I need to get them posted.
Thanks for asking about mine.
Maggie
Luna Moths
Maggie how long until they will make their cocoon??? Since yesterday they are eating as many branches of leaves as I can fit in the cage in less than a day. They seem to have almost double in size too since. They are 18 days old
Wonderful photos!!! Piggies indeed!! That's a lot of food. Thanks for sharing those great pictures. Keep us posted :o)
~ Cat
Mine were just about as big as a slim woman's thumb. Just ballparking (I'm lousy at keeping a diary), your's should star wrapping up in the next week or so.
Maggie
finally at 22 days I have one going into making a cocoon.
YAY! Mine are hatching. If I pick up a cocoon, they start to wiggle in my hand like Mexican Jumping Beans. I've had one pair mate and hope to have several more mate before I'm through. I've put the mated female in a bag to lay eggs. I hope to be able to post some pics soon too. DH took the photos with his camera but I need to load them onto my computer.
I'd like to re-populate this area and have gotten eggs/cocoons from several places for genetic diversity. Any idea how long, how many broods that would take? Maybe I can talk someone else locally into raising some too.
Maggie
Yeah!!!! Maggie WTG. How long did it take for them to hatch from the time they made the cocoon??
up date.......1 died last week, 3 died when ready to pupate this week, 1 possibly dieing was laying in bottom of cage but still moving, 8 cocooned, and 12 still eating
That's interesting Donna. I lost several at the same developmental stage. E-mailed Bill Oehlke and his first thought was Nuclear Polyhedrosis virus. This happened at a time when I stopped changing leaves every day if they had enough to eat because I didn't want to disturb them during pupation. I also had the bottles clustered close together so they could spin in the leaves more easily. The next time, I will try more containers with fewer leaves spread out more.
It took about 3- 4 weeks to hatch. There was definitely variability but also I was not intent on keeping scientific records so they were mostly all in the bottom of the flight cage I'd put them in to hatch. I did separate out some cocoons by putting them in a strawberry basket because they came from a different source. I was able to tell when those hatched. You could have a basket for each day.
I'm now having trouble with mating/egg laying. I've played an album of Luna Love songs by Larry Moon to no avail. I've attempted to hand pair but the males just tremble and flop around- about normal for their first experience I suppose. I finally left them all in the same cage with the idea trhat if they didn't mate with each other, I'd just let them go near a food source and they could figure it out from there and maybe improve the local population. The mating cage did not seem to be effective but I think perhaps if I move it to the front of the property, along the road with all the sweet gum, I might have better results.
I've gotten a few eggs, nothing like what I expected. The paperbag didn't work so well. Not more than20 eggs in 3 days. I finally put her back in the pop-up flight cage and she is once again laying eggs on the screen.
Hope this helps you.
Maggie
Donna - The minute I read that some of yours were dying, I thought cat virus. I must admit that the Luna Moth seems harder to raise than the majority of butterflies that I and others here have raised.
Maggie - I was laughing at the Luna Love songs! Congrats on the new eggs! Way to go!!!
Maggie and Donna - Glad to hear that you both are getting some through the life cycle. Good luck re-populating them in your area! Very noble plan! :-) :-)
Maggie you are probably right. Since they started cocooning I am back to putting leaves once a day but without the container of water to keep them fresh since I now use so many and they have to have leaves to cocoon in. Wow that twice a day was a lot of work since they were devouring 10 big branches every 12 hours this last week. Having to check for spiders and other bugs and eggs, then washing all the branches, shaking them dry, then transferring all the cats whew!!!. I should have good success with them mating as they are in the screened sun porch so they will have the whole room to fly around in and I have a big ceiling light to help attrat wild males up which I may let in so they have different genitic breeding material. Don't think I will do it again or at least not with that many lol. It was only hard at the end because I had so many of them.
If anyone wants some eggs let me know and I will collect some for you and ship for the price of postage. The rest will be released to lay in the wild
Can you post some photos of the cocoons? Would love to see one...
will do so later today. I have take photos of how big the cats are but didn't down load them yet, so will take cocoon pic as well
Nice going, Donna! I hope that you get your screened porch full of nice flying Lunas. Please share pics of that experience, too.
Good Luck,
Maria
I will Maria
todays pics
precocoon
cocoon 1
another one. have 9 total as of today
Congrats Donna...and great information Maria. Sure wish Luna moths were out here naturally...but alas, I must feel the triumphs, tribulations and sorrows through your posts :o)
Keep up the great work!!!
~ Cat
Great photos Donna! Thanks for sharing!
Amazing photos! What a neat looking cat and cocoon! Thanks for educating us with your experience and photos! Very cool indeed!
Great pictures, Donna. Keep them coming.
Thanks Cat ;)
here are all 19 cocoons. 1 cat dissappeared. I was down to the last 2 ready to cocoon and I put new leaves in. The next day only 1 was there. I looked everywhere but couldn't find it
WOW!!! Fantastic photo!!! So cool looking!!! I can't wait until they all eclose!!! Ya know you're going to have your hands full if they all make an appearance at the same time!!!
Kind of reminds me of the time I raised a bunch of Bordered Patches and they all eclosed within minutes of each other!!!
~ Cat
I plan to keep them on the screen porch until they breed. If anyone wants eggs let me know, other wise I am releasing them to lay in the wild
Donna - Oh my gosh! That is sooooo cool!!! I would love to take some eggs should you breed them, but I don't know if there are any host plants around my yard/neighborhood. I can't wait until they eclose and see your photos! I am soooooo excited for you! They ARE the MOST BEAUTIFUL moths of all! Just surreal in appearance! They float when they fly. I always think of the Lunesta commercial for sleeping pills. LOL! I can't wait to see the moths! You have to take a photo of one on your hand for size reference. I want to know just how big they really are! That is sooooo awesome!!!
Great picture and awesome work Donna!
Wow, what neat cocoons! Good job Donna! I would love some eggs too!
First one hatched a minute ago and I am sooooooo upset. I am soaked from the rain and need a shower. Will post more later and pic
this was a hour later still not good. When it first eclosed all it had was tiny white stubs. Really scared me.
a little better but hasn't changed anymore in the last hour
I whipped up a new cage to put it in and keep it safe
forgot the 1/2 hour pic
Donna - It looks to me like they ALL need to be in the mesh cage so that they have something to climb up on to hang and dry their wings. The wings can't unfurl without the moths hanging from something. They can't do it on the ground. Put them all (chrysalises) in the great cage you made. Looks perfect for them to climb up the mesh and hang from. Most of the time they will pump the fluid to their wings in a very short amount of time and then it can take a while for the wings to completely dry. Your first one looks as though he wasn't able to get his wings to unfurl. Good luck with the rest of them and keep us posted!
Donna,
Am assuming if ya'll are having lots of rain the damp weather is slowing the drying out process of their wings. Best keep them inside that cage you rigged up so they can crawl onto the mesh and hang out to dry until they start flitting around on their own...but then again, I've read that the female moths don't usually fly off. Oh well, hopefully they'll all start crawling around on the mesh.
~ Cat
rain, rain, and more rain yea!!!!!!!!!!!! We have needed it so bad. 1 3/4" yesterday but only 1/4" today a slow all day drizzle
I tried putting it on the screen and then a plant but it couldn't hold on so I made the cage with plans of putting all the cocoons in there. Figured they might be able to hang on to the mesh even if it is very fine. Now wishing I had more of the other mess that is not as fine but will make do with what I have on hand.
Pray they all don't end up messed up. It will break my heart.
Polyphemus eggs should be coming anytime now. Guy e-mailed and said they are finally eclosing and would send eggs at soon as they are laid
Cecropia eggs are duds I think. Have had them a month and none hatched. E-mailed the guy and got no response. Rip off!!!!!
Cat - Your statement about the females not flying off made me curious. I found this good link about the Luna moths, but nothing mentioned about the females being more earth bound instead of flying:
http://www.ivyhall.district96.k12.il.us/4th/kkhp/1insects/luna.html
I'd like to know more if you can find the source that mentions about the females.
Becky they won't fly off until they mate and lay their eggs. They will just hang waiting on a male
Donna - I think they will probably be able to climb up that mesh just fine. Afterall, in the wild they climb up plants. :-)
Sorry to hear about the Cecropia eggs. Good luck with the Polyphemus eggs when you receive them. Do post photos! :-)