Wow! So the females just perch there and wait for a male to mate with. Hmmmm..... such a life! LOL! Very interesting.
Luna Moths
Donna,
If you only have a little bit of screen, you an also put in mini ladders by pinning it to the inside of your new cage. they don't absolutely need it as evidenced by the cocoon I forgot about because I thought it was a dud. that one hatched 1-2 days ago and has been released.
Didn't you get your Cecropia eggs from Bill Oehlke? I told him I'd had a very poor hatch rate from ones I had gotten from someone in the states he contracts with and he said he'd send a few extra in the ones I requested from PEI.
I can say that knowing my results from a mating, it's difficult to tell for sure if they'll hatch. I know Bill keeps a representative sample of each batch of eggs he sends out.
I started a second batch from eggs I collected from a witnessed pairing. The first eggs I found on the flight cage did not hatch. The eggs collected from a paper bag day 2 & 3 did not hatch. The majority of the eggs collected from the sides of the flight cage after I just put her back in the cage hatched. I counted 204 hatchlings the other day. I'm off today and should be able to upload pics.
Maggie
Oh goodness Maggie you are going to work yourself to death trying to keep up feeding that many cats. I got my eggs from a website that host selling living and dead insects from all over the world. http://www.insectnet.com/cgi/newclassifieds/newclassifieds.cgi?session_key=&search_and_display_db_button=on&results_format=headlines&query=browse
I had great egg hatching success for the Luna and Antheraea I would say 95% the Cecropia were all duds and only got 12
I just got off the phone and ordered some Regal moth cocoons coming out of Lakeland, Fl but there is also a person selling eggs. Haven't heard back from him yet. May not get the eggs now since it cost a bunch for the 6 cocoons. My have to wait and raise my own. I really want to see a Hickory Horn Devil cat lol
Donna,
I wasn't sure about the hatch rate so I didn't want to send them off to someone else to get no hatchlings. Also, I am a terrible record keeper so I could barely be sure that I had the right timing. Indeed, if I had sent any of the first eggs, I'd have been on someone's mud list and it would have been too late to send any more.
That said, I recall how it was with 50 eggs, 204??!!! When they are big enough to do better by themselves, I'm going to put lots of them on Sweetgum plants that grow around here to be raised in the wild.
Maggie
ROFL Maggie I was wondering if you had lost it
Mine ate for 22 days, then one by one started cocooning a few a day then eclosed in 14 days so should be getting a couple a day from now on
Donna,
Funny you should mention the Hickory Horned Devil...as I was writing my earlier post from a couple of days ago on your other freckle faces - I thought they were scary and wanted to mention the HHD...but didn't. You must've read my mind!!!
As for the females not flying off until they mate...a mothman from San Antonio told me that because I am raising two Automeris Io moths from caterpillars I found on my wisteria. He had explicit instruction on allowing the female to 'call to her mate' (if a female ecloses), how to use a brown paper bag so she can lay eggs inside, etc. :o) So complicated!!! UGH!!! I wouldn't mind doing that for a cute touchable caterpillar but Io cats have a vicious sting! I'm also supposed to raise cats from eggs laid...grrrrr!!! Not something I'm looking forward to....but I guess it will be easy enough to take out old leaves and put in fresh ones...just must be careful not to touch the cats.
~ Cat
ROFL Cat. Just hold one end of leaf and cut off piece with cat on it back into your container. They say their sting is pretty painful
Ouch ..... that's one cat I don't think I shall try raising. =:-O
Ha!!! No way did I even attempt to cut around a cat on a leaf. NOPE! Not me!!!
I just left the old leaves they were on and put in fresh ones...eventually they crawled over to the new ones then I went and picked out the trash.
I imaged holding a leaf and the weight of the cat causing it to flip over and land on me! EEEK!!! I had no desire to find out just how painful their sting could be. I've had my share of scorpion, wasp, bee, spider and snake bites and they all paled in comparison to getting zapped by an asp!!! So if an Io cat is anything like that....oooeeeee!!! I break out in a cold sweat just remembering that asp!!!
I think the day they went into the cocoon stage was one of the happiest days of my moth raising experiences. Talk about a huge relief!!! But now...am dreading a female emerging and having to go through all that again!
~ Cat
LOL, Cat! You are real trooper to raise those babies! I don't think that I would attempt it. I figure if they have such a nasty sting, then nothing is going to bother them in the wild, so they are probably safer than most cats. Though it would be cool to raise one just to observe it! Keep those photos coming! :-)
Becky,
If it were up to me, I wouldn't raise those kind...but alas, the Mothmen of Texas want scientific data regarding brood seasons, instar stages, cocoon times etc. and well, those cute but scary critters haven't been raised in South Texas that we know of.
Wish those guys lived down here instead of up north...I'd gladly hand 'em over for THEM TO RAISE! :o) I even tried to talk them into letting send them up there so they could babysit but they said, nooooooooooo...they didn't want any males and females eclosing and mating with the strain of species they have there and having some mongrel cats running amok :o)
Mongrel cats...what a thought! ROLF!!!
~ Cat
no more have hatched yet. 8 maybe dead. the other 10 all start jumping around when I pull on the leaves
Awe Donna, what a bummer... hope the 10 left are alright!
Cat~ Mongrel cats, ROFL!!! Think maybe it's their excuse for them to get someone else to do the hard heartbreaking and injurious work... Tell them you want to get paid double for raising them! (Now don't tell me nothing x 2 is still nothin'!!) G whiz!!! LOL! (thems jokes)
Seriously ~I do realize even they may not be making any $ either. Someone has to document these things with care.. I see way too much about how to kill them, or how to use some insects for controlling and inhililating many of the "undesirable" cats. Not enough is written toward conservation if you ask me. I would do it just for the sake of providing more detailed information to people who would use it responsibly, and most of all for my own demanding curiosity.
;-D
Dear Donna,
Got your seeds, many thanks. You were so generous! I'm still thinking they survive better with us than without us. In fact sometimes i worry that I'm weakening the species. GO forward with best intent.
Maggie
"Don't yuck on my yum!
Zen of a 5 year old, heard on NPR
Are YOU a member?!?!?!
I "accidentally" raised an Io Moth. Before I knew about the sting I found a cat and held it in my hand. I was not stung. I fed it and it was a beautiful moth.
The result.
I remember that well Karen, :-) Every time I see a Io moth I think about it/you. You really have "a way" with critters.
:-Deb
I am on a waiting list some some. Am I crazy or what lol.
Beautiful Male eclosed this morning yea!!!!!!!!!!!
antennae close up
Donna,
What an awesome Luna!!! Perfect creature indeed!!! Hope he finds a mate and she comes back to leave little presents for you :o)
Karen,
How long did the Io moth remain in the cocoon stage? I have two I am raising and it's been a month I think.
~ Cat
This message was edited Jul 12, 2007 9:44 PM
Oh Donna! What a lovely boy you have there! I am still watching and waiting with anticipation!
Karen
Donna, your pictures are great! They make up for my failed project in May. Keep them coming...
Excellentamente' Donna!!!
What a careful job this has been.. No your not crazy in this circle, you are quite the extrodinarily normal one in my book!
Yaaay more on the way!
:-Deb
Donna - My heart just melted when I saw your Luna in all his glory! They are so absolutely GORGEOUS!!!! Another beauty I'd love to see in my yard some day! I'm setting my sights high!!! LOL! Congrats on your Lunas!
Becky have you located any host plant for them?? I will send eggs when they lay them
Cat, I really don't remember but it couldn't have been more than a week or two. Let us know how yours do.
Oh Donna, I would love some eggs, but don't have any food for them.
By the way, Deb, speaking of my "way with critters" (lol), yesterday I totally redid my bromeliad garden. Pulled up every plant, got rid of the mature ones and replanted the pups. Only after almost finishing did I notice the wasp nest in the Nun's Orchid that I was maybe half a foot from. The wasps were buzzing all over the place but didn't bother me. This is starting to seem strange....I think my Karma is to live in Florida with all the critters.
Anyone know if there is such a thing as a dwarf Sweet Gum? I don't have room in my yard for a big tree.
Karen,
There is a dwarf but it is special order- see below. Have you taken a walk in your neighborhood? Here in Jax they are ubiquitous. There are so many volunteers in the area that I wouldn't dream of having one of these dropping spiky gumballs on my grass. They also send up shoots and kind of make a little grove and have roots that travel and tear walkways up. The other issue is that if you get one tree, they may defoliate it depending on tree size and number of larvae. Other than that they are perfect;-). The fall color is gorgeous. You might be able to request a male tree and avoid the gumballs.
http://www.rarefindnursery.com/index.cfm/action/productdetail/product_id/1840.htm
this one seems to be the best bet.
http://www.girardnurseries.com/cgi-bin/cart.pl?db=../stuff.dat&search=xos
http://smallplants.com/catalog_k-z.htm
Hope this is helpful,
Maggie
I actually had to look to find one that would make the spiky gumballs, as the nurseries were mostly carrying sterile cultivars around here... it's planted at the back edge of the yard, as planned, so it can drop them with no problems, and I rather like them (I like pinecones too). So far, no sign of sending up shoots (no gumballs yet either), but it's not very old yet. Unfortunately, I don't think it's big enough to support a family of luna moth cats... certainly not as many as Donna was keeping fed!
Thanks Maggie. I doubt very much we have any of these trees where I live. The whole place is carefully landscaped. It is beautiful but kind of sterile.
just drive around and look to see what's out there, they eats other things besides Sweet Gum. If you can find a host plant that is close by and not in someones yard where you can get branches easily enough give it a try
I'm looking again at the list of host plants for them. I would love to raise and release them here! Here are the host plants:
Walnut
Sweet Gum
Hickory
Persimmon (listed as a favorite)
Birch
Alder
These are all trees. I see none of them in my area. :-( :-( :-(
ohhhhhhhhh Becky.
Dear Critter,
I can send you a bunch of gumballs if you want to grow your own.
Maggie
Thanks, Maggie, but I'm sure my little tree will start producing them soon enough... I had to do a little pruning for shape this spring, but it's growing nicely! Send Becky the sweetgum-balls!
I think Becky needs branches! Becky, If you want gumballs, i've got a mess of them!
Maggie
Maggie - Thanks! How quick does the plant grow from seed? Since it sounds like it could be a bit invasive, I might try growing one and containing it to a large pot. Do you think the seeds could be sent in a bubble envie?
here he is last night. He flew to the screen door
this morning he is up by the ceiling wait on a female to eclose
Donna,
Those are lovely, thank you for documenting them so well.
Becky,
I don't know, I'll look inside one. Probably the seeds are small inside that spiky ball. One way or another, I'll get you some. Is your addy in the exchange?
Maggie