Thanks KC, I just noticed you replied to my earlier post about imperials. I also had this question. Do you have to dry the leaves/needles before putting them in with the cats like you do with monarch cats. It's been raining for 2 days so everything is soaking wet! Gosh I hope they eat what I have . I see yours do well on white pine - I have lots of that and Japanese maple.

Cathy

Imperial cats fresh out of the egg last a while without eating. I want to say it was Saturday when I put newborn cats on chokecherry that they never ate. Moved them to walnut maybe 2 hours ago. Only one cat had died.

I've raised very few imperials on pine in a container. Most are in sleeves on the trees. Anyway, when I did raise them inside, they were in aquariums with good ventilation. If were raising them in containers with poor ventilation, I'd try to avoid wet needles or I'd put a dry paper towel in the bottom of the container. You really want to make sure mold does not start growing.

I think I've tried imperials on Japanese maple with no success but the file where I keep notes on hostplants/caterpillars does not have that info.

KC, thanks so much for the info. I went ahead and put pine needles and one Japanese maple leave in container last night. I just know noticed that one cat hatched this morning (I'm so excited and nervous). When you say you have raised very few cats inside on pine do you mean few survived or that you usually provide them with a different host plant. I don't have any sweet gum in my yard but I may start scouring the neighborhood today. I'm glad to hear they can survive awhile without food. The one cat hasn't ventured off of the tiny piece of mulch his egg was laid on. I didn't even see him at first because he blends right into it. Is it unusual for new cats to not go to a host plant and start feeding right away?

Thanks again, Cathy

I just don't raise many imperials inside these days. The imperials do fine in sleeves so that is where they are. I currently have sleeves of imperials on Norway maple, sugar maple, and white pine.

The only ones I currently have inside are ones on sweetgum since I use my neighbors tree and her sweetgum branches are very "branchy" from me cutting them constantly over the years. Very few places you can get a sleeve to fit.

Newborn imperials wander a lot before deciding to eat.

Thanks for your response. The one and only hatchling so far has been walking around on the white pine needles all day. It looks as if he is eating or trying to eat them - his head moves side to side, but I don't see any holes or marks on them so can't tell if he is actually eating them. Would I actually be able to see marks or needles bit in half when the cats are this small? With the monarch cats I could see tiny holes in the milkweed leaves. I just got back from searching the neighborhood for sweetgum, but no luck. Only what I believe to be silver maple, which he hasn't bothered with :(. I'll keep my fingers crossed that he takes to the pine. By the way how long do pine needles last cut? I figured I would eventually move them to a bigger enclosure once I see what they will eat and more hatch, then use whole branches.

Cathy

I don't really look for signs of something being eaten. I look for frass. Poop makes you happy.

A branch of pine is just a very small Christmas tree. Keep it watered and it will last a long time. That is the main reason I wish more cool caterpillars ate pine. Besides imperials, pine devils are the other cool caterpillar I've raised on pine. Unfortunately, their numbers have fallen significantly and they have disappeared from many places where they could once be found. IMO, the most exciting moth that showed up at a moth sheet at the 2013 Mothapalooza was a pine devil. My understanding is no one knew they existed in the area. At this year's Mothapalooza, I found out pine devils have been found in two more Ohio counties. I'm sure hoping they are making a comeback.

At least 5 more cats hatched last night! I can't see any frass yet, however it would be very tiny at this point so I might just not be seeing it. I do have a white paper towel under them so hopefully I will see some soon.

I can't imagine there aren't any host plants around here because why else would the female moth lay eggs here. At this point I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they will eat the pine. There's not much more I can do. When you say keep the pine watered, do you mean keep a branch in a vase then cut pieces off to give them or do you keep the branch in a large enclosure in the vase with the cats on it making sure they can't fall into the water? It is wonderful how long pine stays fresh. I looked up the pine devil and it would be great to have them around. Maybe this is just the start of many beautiful large moths coming to my yard. Up until now I didn't even know of any others besides the luna. When I found a nearly dead cecropia a few days before a 4th of July picnic I had this year, everyone there was in awe of it (including me)! My daughter put it in a shadow box to hang on the wall, it's just so beautiful.

One more question. Do all of the large moths have only one generation per year and need to winter over here in the north? It will be great to see them emerge next year (if we make it that far), but it would be nice to have one that emerges that same summer. Luna's are the ones that I would really like to raise, but I read conflicting info as to whether they can enclose that same season.

Thanks again, cathy

A vase type setup is what I use. I drill holes in the tops of Snapple bottles, fill the bottles with water, and put the cuttings in the bottles. The bottles reside in aquariums.

How many broods a moth has varies by species. Regals, imperials, and cecropias are once a year (I've read stories about multi-brooded imperials in the Great Plains but have not seen any credible details). The number of broods that lunas and polys have varies by latitude. I've read that polys have 6 broods in southern Florida. Where I'm at, they both normally have 2 broods but I've experienced 3 broods once with both species.

Lunas and polys decide whether they are overwintering based on the number of hours of daylight they experience as a caterpillar. If you raise them in a room where a light is left on 15+ hours a day, they won't overwinter. People who have gotten moth eggs from me have learned this when their moths eclose in November. If these cocoons are exposed to cold temps for an extended period, the developing moth will die.