She was wonderful and landed on my and flew away then came back and did the same thing again. I fell in love with her. I thought you would all enjoy the pics
A gorgeous Columbia Silkmoth, that befriended me last night
picture 2
WOW! She is so gorgeous, with all those soft velvety colors... she doesn't look real. What a great experience, and you got some wonderful photos, too! Thanks for sharing!
She is amazing! And what a great experience for you! Beautiful pictures!
Wow! I thought I had seen beautiful moths, but yours beats them all.
Thank you for sharing, and be sure you put it in the bug files.
Josephine.
I think she might be a he....but who cares lol it's beautiful!!!
GORGEOUS!! I need to go out more at night with flashlights! =)
Thanks everyone for your nice comments. it was the most wonderful experience I have had all year. I will put the pics in the bug files tonight. Im going to see if I can get more pictures and will spend most of tonight outside. I hope this isnt a single occurance and I see more of these gorgeous moths.
I am pretty sure its a she though, a very confused she. She left a few presents in a few locations. The weirdest was on my finger. However this picture I took today from what she left me on the entry way.
What a beautiful moth; they're such wonders.
Maybe you can raise those, do you know what the cats eat?
Her antennae looked feathery and usually a male has them, but maybe the males are WAY more feathery.
That's interesting she laid an egg on your finger! How neat! Are you going to raise them?
Awesome...it's so big! Gotta love those rich colors. I keep hoping a cecropia will find it's way down here but I may be wishing upon a star :o)
Would love to see a photo doc from egg to caterpillar to cocoon and to moth. So do hope you'll raise those eggs and keep us updated.
~ Cat
My goodness! She's breathtaking! What a cool experience!!
Adrienne
oh lucky you. She is beautiful!!!!
What a beautiful moth!
Oh my, how pretty. : )
What a lovely moth! I, too, agree ..... I hope you are able to raise some of the eggs/babies that she left behind. That would be awesome!
Here are some links with information about this moth:
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species?l=3282
http://www.royalalbertamuseum.ca/natural/insects/bugsfaq/columbia.htm
http://www.naturenorth.com/spring/bug/silkmoth/guide.html (Scroll down to 3 moth.)
Thank you everyone, yes I am going to try to raise as many as the cats as I can. I have researched all of the above sites as well as a few others including http://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/subsite/mothdiversity/columbiasilkmoth
I am getting mixed info on what the cats eat. Some sites say they will eat several plants and a few say they feed soley on larch. I plan on ordering larch in a gallon pot (2 of them), but I wish I knew which variety of larch or if they were picky. The weeping larch is rather pretty however the tamarack is much more affordable as well as hardy to zone 2, so it would do well out here where as the weeping is only hardy to zone 4 . Then if I get one of each, and keep them potted for the time being, maybe I have a better chance of the cats survival. What does everyone think? I also am hoping that the nursery is honest regarding not using pesticides etc. It would break my heart to try to raise these guys and have them all die on me, because the nursery lied to me
Heather - Here is my thoughts on your dilemma....
You must already have something in your yard or the vicinity of your house that this Moth was using as a host plant. Otherwise she would not have been there to begin with laying eggs like crazy. Look around your yard and the neighborhood. All you need are some host leaves. You don't need the entire plant. I just pull leaves off plants that I don't have in pots, so either way a few leaves daily or a small potted plant works for the cats I am raising. Check your yard. It's quite possible that you have Columbia silkmoth caterpillars already on one or more of your plants. That has been my situation many times.
Often when I get a mail-order plant .... it is small. Very small. Not large enough to support cats for very long. So again, I think you may be better to find the host plant in your very neighborhood (or your yard). See if you have ANY of the host plants listed on all the websites listed above. And then start looking at those very plants to see what might be on the leaves. You might just be pleasantly surprised. Check out the look of the cat from the websites for IDing purposes when looking at your plants. :-)
That's just my suggestion. And it might save you the worry and expense of buying a large enough plant to support raising the baby cats.
Added to say:
You know .... the more I think about it .... for her to actually lay an egg on your hand and to fly to your hand twice ..... were you touching plants or were you gardening before she appeared? If so, what exactly were you doing? It almost sounds like the scent of her host plant was on your hands. Hmmmmm .....
This message was edited Jun 19, 2007 11:23 AM
I agree with Becky, look around your yard and neighborhood.
She is beautiful! Would love to see them around here.
Maybe the host....is... YOU! Human eating caterpillars, YIKES! LOL
chris
That is amazing! I absolutely loved your pictures!
I looked everywhere for anything in the salix family and the closest i found was 2 miles away. So finally I got some of the plant parts and will contiune to do so daily just to make sure when they hatch they are ok. I do have another issue now. The eggs she laid on the garden statue looks like they are drying out and i fear the same thing for the ones on the house. Should I leave them alone? or try to shade them slightly? Ive never raised cats that were from eggs laid on a house or statue always on plants :0 Thanks everyone I am so glad you like the pics.
If they are turning brown or a darker color, they may be getting ready to hatch into their cute little caterpillar selves. :-)
Hi again, well so far non have hatched. Im hoping they hatch soon :) I keep crossing my fingers that they made it through.
Fantastic! You are so lucky to see these - thanks for posting.