I'm sure your moths are no longer coupled but for future reference, cecropias will disengage when it gets dark. If for some reason, I need them apart sooner than when the sun goes down, I'll put them in a dark room, set a timer for 15 minutes and then go back in to figure out where the male has flown (since he was on the outside of the cage) so I can let him go. Males can mate multiple times. I put the females in paper bags as soon as I realize they have disengaged. Most tend to start laying eggs soon after disengaging and will continue to lay eggs for a few days. OTOH, I have run into a few that do not like bags. I had one this year that sat for two days before laying eggs. Normally when this happens, I let the girl go and move on to another but this year wild males have been few and far between so I waited her out. Anyway, periodically check on her progress until you have enough eggs and then let her go. If for some reason, you want to lengthen the time you're raising cecropia cats (I do it for teaching purposes), there are two things you can do (that I know about): 1) Experiments show you can keep the eggs in the frig for up to 10 days without affecting the developing cats. Put a few in the frig and you can stagger when the cats are coming out. 2) Raise some on box elder maple (Acer negundo). Some people call it the "poison ivy tree" because young trees resemble poison ivy. Cecropias cats still reach full size but they can take up to 3.5 months to get there. WARNINGS: 1) Heat and high humidity are the enemy when raising cecropias. If they get too much of both, the cats can start dropping like flies, especially if conditions are crowded. If you raise them outside, make sure you have good air circulation. 2) Cecropia cats love to drown themselves so if you are raising them on branches placed in water, do what you can to make it difficult for the cats to reach the water. You mentioned raising them on multiple plants. While the eggs are developing, I suggest taking cuttings from each plant you are considering and making sure each holds up in water for at least 3 or 4 days. Some leaves (including most maples I've tried) wither in nothing flat so they are pretty useless unless you are using rearing bags on the trees. My latest cecropia story: Went to an outside wedding reception yesterday. It was on the west side of town, the area where I release my male moths. So, I took 3 cecropia and 4 polyphemus with me, the plan being my kids would release them somewhere in the area. The kids ended up making a bee line for the pool (this was a very laid back reception) so I took the two containers over to the side of the yard for later. The moths, especially the cecropias, ended up being the hit of the party. I gave many moth talks, lots of people took moth pics and the bride absolutely loved that I brought the moths. Some drunk women apparently did not believe that I planned on releasing the moths and took it upon herself to set them free, greatly disappointing the bride's sister who had not seen them yet. KC

Lunas vary. Some will wrap themselves up in leaves on the tree. Others will go down to the ground to find a leaf. Either way, they usually end up in the leaf litter in the autumn. When I show lunas, I cut open the cocoon so the kids can see the wiggling pupa. It is a huge hit. I did 4 first grade classes today. Because of time constraints, only 2 classes got to the see luna pupa. The kids thought it was awesome. It can be tough convincing them a large green moth will be coming out of that pupa next May. When I first started doing demonstrations at this school, I did either 11 or 13 first grade classes (mind is going) plus kindergarteners while they waited for their buses. I was there the entire day. They gave me a schedule. They gave me a lunch period. Real official. Not anymore. The number of classes I get to teach each year has gone down and where I go is done on the fly. Last year, I noticed they no longer have monarch caterpillars in their rooms. I found out today that the administration had decided some time ago that learning about butterfly/moth life cycle is a waste of time since life cycle is to be officially covered in 3rd grade. So the teachers who do have me come in are asking for trouble. I had heard from other bug people about this problem but it is the first time that I know it has affected me. I do this all for free to help make sure schools do not have a reason to keep me out but apparently that won't placate some administrations. Lastly, I did take the Io cats with me today. Unfortunately, they were not in a parade mood. They just all sat on the same leaf the entire time, not even eating.

My opinion is the cats just did not like the leaves/needles offered to them. Maybe the needles were fir or spruce and not pine. As for the leaves, it could be a regional difference as to why the caterpillars refused the food. I have a lot of imperials this year so I'm trying things I've not tried before. I went out earlier tonight and looked at the imperials I put on hickory and chokecherry. No frass and dead caterpillars. Both are supposedly imperial hostplants but did not work for me. Their siblings are doing fine on sweetgum, eastern white pine, and Norway maple, all hostplants I've used in the past. I had more hatch today so I put some on walnut to see if it works for me. Very sorry to read about your troubles with imperials. The first one I found broke my heart when it refused to eat anything but the pine I found it on. On the first night I had it, it ate every needle I had collected for it. Begged my mom to take us back to get more from the tree but she said I could get other food for it when we got home (were staying about 2.5 hours from home). When we got home, I gave it every type of needle I could find (plus various leaves) but it chose to starve instead of switch. :(

We raised some on pine this year also. They do fine on it, just don't attain the sizes we get from other foodplants. That is pretty well documented in literature also, e.g.,: "Larvae in the 1989 follow-up growth experiments, conducted under modified conditions where foliar water was more rigorously ensured, consistently gained biomass and molted earlier when fed post oak than when fed pitch pine, unambiguously demonstrating enhanced performance of E. imperialis on wild Q. stellata relative to wild P. rigida based on larval growth and pupal weight (Fig. 6; Tables 4, 5), again with significant differences attributable both to food plant and to maternity in each of the host plant treatments (Table 6; Figs. 7, 8)." Life history of the Imperial Moth Eacles imperialis (Drury) (Saturniidae: Ceratocampinae) in New England, U.S.A.: distribution, decline, and nutritional ecology of a relictual islandic population ------------ Congrats on the good brood results, they are an awesome species. Good luck finishing them out.