Actias luna

Philth · Dec 14, 2003

A 12 years old customer of mine gave me this cacoon. This thing was pretty cool. I never had anything like this before. Here is what it looked like on 12/3/03

Philth · Dec 14, 2003

I came home tonight and found this, looked like it opened.

Philth · Dec 14, 2003

Here it is, just emerged. Just hanging out on the top of its cage.

wayne the pain · Dec 14, 2003

they are such a beautiful moth. well done

Philth · Dec 14, 2003

Here is the question, what do I do with it now? Am I sopposed to feed this thing, if so what? I kinda just want to let it fly around my apartment.

wayne the pain · Dec 14, 2003

not sure myself is it male or female? think males have large feathery antennae could try it with a sweet drink like sugared water or honey in water,not even sure they feed once adult. there will be loads on web about these though one of the more common reared silk moths. and i would let it fly round your room

good luck with it an keep us posted

genious_gr · Dec 14, 2003

Feed it to a Tarantula...;P

Navaros · Dec 14, 2003

Very nice. They are beautiful moths. Just enjoy it while it's alive. The only purpose of the adult stage is mating. In their adult stage they have no mouthparts so they can't and don't eat anything. The males have feathery antenna they use to detect female pheromones.

Longbord1 · Dec 14, 2003

OMg where did u buy the catapillar ive always wanted one and i would get that spread.got ot a store in soho in the city called evolution they do it for cheap.

mike

Navaros · Dec 14, 2003

Why not do it yourself? It's easy.

Longbord1 · Dec 14, 2003

its very hard to do with a big moth
they are very good there
and they give u a case.

mike

Navaros · Dec 14, 2003

In my experience bigger butterflies and moths are easier. But if it's cheap enough go for it. It's more rewarding to mount them yourself though. You can get prespread luna moths on ebay for like 5-10 bucks too.

Longbord1 · Dec 14, 2003

very true o u know the best way to set up an insect for spredding.
i put it on some paper in some hot water and out a top on it.this i think reveses rhigamortis.

mike

Navaros · Dec 14, 2003

Right, it rehydrates their bodies. Some large bodied moths and beetles etc. may need to be rehydrated via injection. But the way you do it works for most bugs. You are lucky to have a store like that near you, nothing like it here as far as I know.

Longbord1 · Dec 14, 2003

do u think u could email me exactly what u do for ur bugs. and im guessing ur inject tarantulas right?
mike
my email is beetlen643d@aol.com

Navaros · Dec 14, 2003

Sure, I can e-mail you some links to a bunch of methods. With dried out T's I would think you would need to inject them maybe but I have never read anything on that. If a bug is freshly dead it does not need to be rehydrated since it is still "loose".

Wade · Dec 16, 2003

Lunas and other giant silk moths are fun to raise. WC females are almost always already mated and you only have to keep them in a cage long enough for them to lay eggs. They hatch into catepillars quickly, and from there it's only a matter of offering them the correct food plant (Lunas like sweetgum leaves, among others). The giant silkmoth catepillars are awsome, some are truly gigantic.

The cacoons need to be cooled to prevent them from emergeing at an inapporiate time, if continuing to culture them is desired. I've taken newly-emerged females and put them in wire cages and left them outside over night. They release phermones which is attracts males from all over. This is a great way to collect specimens for mounting, or at the very least to get your female fertilized. I usually find at least one male mating with the female through the wire. Unfortunately, a moth emerging in December isn't likley to find a mate.

Wade

Wh1teshark · Dec 16, 2003

This thread got me thinking;

I watched Silence of the Lambs yesterday and I thought that it would be neat to have a few Acherontia Styx, and if that's not possible Acherontia Atropos at home. Are they hard to come by, either in larva stage or pupas.

I believe the A Atropos exist in Sweden but they are probably extremely rare since I have never seen one.

Pictures would be cool.

Thanks,
/David

Dark · Dec 21, 2003

Cool picture. Its a female.

.

Dark · Dec 21, 2003

Hi. I the 12 year old customer. Finally it came out of its cacoon.

from
Eric

Actias luna

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