KC,

That's a cool caterpillar. Maybe you could do like they do here for the Carpenter Bees. They drill holes in a piece of wood so that the bees can lay their eggs. You could drill a hole in a block of wood for your caterpillar, put it in a container, and see if the cat likes it.

Sandy

Reminds me of the Eight-Spotted Forester cats. That is what they do, too. I'd make 2 or 3 holes so it has options.

Susan

Neat caterpillar. You might want to think about soaking the block of wood first. Considering in nature the wood would have a higher moisture content. I read one paper where they stored caterpillars in wood blocks and they soaked them first. Also, I cut down a huge branch this weekend and moved my woodpile. I was surprised at how much heavier the new wood was.

I wonder what the function of those wild setea are?

-Elisabeth

Wagner says these cats are rare so I don't want to screw this up.

There is a good size maple branch I have been meaning to cut down since last year. That should cover the moisture issue. I'll get a chunk of that, drill a few holes in it and see what happens. I'm guessing the caterpillar won't use the holes because it would not want to run into what made the holes but it will have enough virgin wood to make a new hole.

I cut down the maple branch I mentioned. Cut a 9" section from the widest part, maybe 5" in diameter. I drilled two holes of different sizes into it, one in each end. Put the branch section, caterpillar, and a little branch of box elder into a container. Caterpillar was nowhere to be found within 12 hours. The container is clear so I could see little pieces of bark in one area where the cat had been chewing but not enough to indicate it made a hole.

Took the wood out yesterday for close inspection. Could not find anything to indicate where the caterpillar went. My best guess is he went in the 1/2" hole I made and then made a hole at a 90 degree angle to my hole, but I see no remnants to indicate that any chewing was done.

Hopefully a moth emerges sooner than later since the container it is in is something I need for my traveling caterpillar show. I've read that the funerary dagger is sometimes double-brooded in the north but who knows what exactly "north" means in this case.

Cool! Next you will be purchasing a little flexible camera scope :). Daggery moths must be having a good year. I saw a post somewhere else about them. It is funny how different species have banner years. So, it is daggery moths and snowberry clearwings this year.
Cheers,
Elisabeth

Figured I'd post an update. I was successful. The moth eclosed. Unfortunately, I did not know it eclosed. Everyday I would open up the lid and blow in the container, thinking the moth would move if it was out. Once in a while, I'd pick up the wood and look it over. Back in August, I needed the container. I picked up the piece of wood to find the dead moth underneath it. :( So I know my raising method works but I have to come up some better system for noticing the moth has eclosed. To notice a 3/4" brown moth on a small log, I guess I'll have to closely examine the wood every day.

Hey KC,

Guess I wasn't around, or at least didn't see this thread until your update.

I have lots of experience with holding over hiberating cats in wood all through the winter months, and some with getting wood eater cats through in a preferred wood that had a ways to go before pupating. Somewhat different methods, so I'll just hit on what you are trying to do.

It's usually best to use the wood with their own chambers intact, but that is often not a reasonable choice with many plant species. While there are several ways to mimic them as well, some seemed to work better for me, probably because I had total control of their environments. For cats still feeding I'd cut their wood into small blocks, drill an oversized hole all the way through them either across the grain or with it depending on how the cat normally enters the wood. Some bore in through the bark and to an angle, some down from a terminal end or crown as far as into the root system. Soak the blocks to give them a head start on humidity control, and lets them drain for a while. Then I'd plug one end with a cotton ball, insert the cat and plug the other end. Some species spin "frasse cones" at the entrance to their burrows. With those plug what would be the bottom end tight to be your door, the other lightly so the larva can push it out to make a cone if it chooses to do so. The blocks were keep in a flat plastic tray so they didn't touch each other, and marked to be oriented as they would be in nature. Check them as often as you think is needed by pulling a "door" CB to see what the cat is up to, dump/brush out the frasse if needed, then put the CB back and lightly spray the block if you feel more humidity is needed. In time you learn the when's and how much. Another method is to simply put a little water in the tray and let the wood soak it us as needed, but I liked controlling myself it better to hold the mold down. Checking them more often than not is better than over spraying the blocks. If you do see mold starting, cut back on the spraying or water. It's usually a good idea to change to new blocks if mold gets heavy, and once or twice again anyway if the larva is small and has a lot of instars to go through before pupation. Once pupated I preferred to remove same from the blocks and store them in tubes I made that were a slightly snug fit pupal diameter from card stock and with the ends lightly plugged with CB's. The tubes again went into a dry tray spaced, and could be lightly sprayed when needed for humidity. If a species that overwinters as a pupae, the tray was stored on the bottom shelf of a refrigerator and managed there until the following season. When the imago emerges if you are successful it will simply push the CB out to escape the tube (or ecape through the frasse cone), so having the tray in an emergence cage is a good idea. Depending on the size of the species they may simply spread right on the tube, but if in doubt just include something in the cage for them to crawl and climb just before you expect them to start emerging. Either way a quick glance whenever you are near the tray will tell you if something has emerged or is trying to push out a CB. Easier to do than explain, but it works.

HTH

Along this line, a favorite outing for my son as he was growing up was to take him out for a Meg (Megathymus) or Ag (Agathymus) dig. With these genera a single egg is laid up on the blades, and as soon as it hatches the larva travels down and bores into the crown, then deep below ground level into the roots where they remain until pupation. In the roots of yucca for the Meg's, and agave for the Ag's, and they can be quite deep. Not a problem to get to as most of the yucca they used was in sand dunes, and the agave in loose shale or sandstone. My son would go ahead looking for active frasse cones and flag the plants that had them. Then we'd go back and tunnel down beside the plant to its root system, tap on the top of the tap root to chase the larva down, make a guess where and cut a root section out with any of 2 or 3 types of garden shears we'd take along. If too high, the tunnel is still going down and there is nothing from the cut to the frasse cone dig deeper. If the bottom of the section cut has no tunnel, start from the frasse cone end and start shortening it to find the larvae that freely moves the entire length of it tunnel, and quite fast. By cutting an inch at a time they usually move down and come out the bottom. We always timed our outings to when we knew the larvae had recently pupated or was very close to doing so. So we'd usually come back with a few last instar larva along with all the pupae. Any larva collected, no matter what size had to be brought home and treated as above as long as it took for them to pupate. As for the plants, the tap root is usually choosen by the larva as they get quite large before they pupate. So the plant will soon die anyway. Luckily most have "chicks" already esablished around their base that soon overgrow and replace those attacked by the moths. Since I ran with the county ag officer I always had permits in hand as well if a ranger, etc happened by thinking we were collecting "cactus" illegally. IOW it always pays dividends to be prepared and legal in your lep pursuits.

Larry

Houzz cut Larry off:

Depending on the size of the species they may simply spread right on the tube, but if in doubt just include something in the cage for them to crawl and climb just before you expect them to start emerging. Either way a quick glance whenever you are near the tray will tell you if something has emerged or is trying to push out a CB. Easier to do than explain, but it works.

HTH

Along this line, a favorite outing for my son as he was growing up was to take him out for a Meg (Megathymus) or Ag (Agathymus) dig. With these genera a single egg is laid up on the blades, and as soon as it hatches the larva travels down and bores into the crown, then deep below ground level into the roots where they remain until pupation. In the roots of yucca for the Meg's, and agave for the Ag's, and they can be quite deep. Not a problem to get to as most of the yucca they used was in sand dunes, and the agave in loose shale or sandstone. My son would go ahead looking for active frasse cones and flag the plants that had them. Then we'd go back and tunnel down beside the plant to its root system, tap on the top of the tap root to chase the larva down, make a guess where and cut a root section out with any of 2 or 3 types of garden shears we'd take along. If too high, the tunnel is still going down and there is nothing from the cut to the frasse cone dig deeper. If the bottom of the section cut has no tunnel, start from the frasse cone end and start shortening it to find the larvae that freely moves the entire length of it tunnel, and quite fast. By cutting an inch at a time they usually move down and come out the bottom. We always timed our outings to when we knew the larvae had recently pupated or was very close to doing so. So we'd usually come back with a few last instar larva along with all the pupae. Any larva collected, no matter what size had to be brought home and treated as above as long as it took for them to pupate. As for the plants, the tap root is usually choosen by the larva as they get quite large before they pupate. So the plant will soon die anyway. Luckily most have "chicks" already esablished around their base that soon overgrow and replace those attacked by the moths. Since I ran with the county ag officer I always had permits in hand as well if a ranger, etc happened by thinking we were collecting "cactus" illegally. IOW it always pays dividends to be prepared and legal in your lep pursuits.

Larry

Houzz un-cutoff Larry but I can no longer do anything with the above post by me.

Was looking for something and found Dan's paddle caterpillar post from last year. I don't remember seeing it. A search shows he found one 7 years before and basically used the same title for it. I found my second paddle caterpillar last September. It was eating box elder maple in my backyard. I left it where I found it.

Cool cat

Cool cat!