help! luna moth cocoon...
6 years ago
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Luna Moths
Comments (14)Liz, I raise all my butterflies and moths on my porch, which is covered, but not screened in - it's open on three sides. We live in the woods, so the porch is shady, and the cats don't get too hot. I raise the lunas in a big mesh cage on the porch - when they get big, I have to transfer some to another cage, and that's when I'm raising just a couple dozen, like I did this time. I put their sweetgum stems in left overs containers, and it takes up a lot of room. When they emerge from their cocoons, I open the cage doors around 9:00 p.m. and leave it up to them. The males all leave sometime during the night, unless they mate with a female on the porch, in or out of a cage. Some females stay in the cages, some fly off into the woods, and some fly to parts of the porch, like the one in the picture. The mint green female in the picture directly above, next to the yellow male, left the cage and perched at about the same place the one in the first picture landed. Last night, about 10:00 or so, the last time I checked on them, the males were still in the cage, and she was on the ceiling. This morning I found her mated with a male, yellowy, but he could have been any of the three or a wild one or one that emerged a few days ago and flew off into the woods, but came back when he 'heard her calling', I don't know. They'll leave after it gets really dark tonight. One of the females that stayed and mated in the second cage laid a lot of eggs (about 60?) on the bar of the cage, plus some in the mesh. I've retrieved the ones from the mesh, about 30, to raise myself. I think I'm going to find a good stand of sweetgum and tie the bar (I broke the cage down to clean it and replaced the 'eggy' bar with another one) to a branch. I want there to be a big canopy of leaves, where they can travel from one tree to another, with ample leaves available. I can't handle more than about 30 cats - they eat an incredible amount of leaves! Every time I raise lunas, at least one female leaves me some presents! So you can see what the big cage looks like, here's a picture I took of it one year when a whole lot of lunas emerged on the same afternoon - Sherry...See More6th Grade Teacher Needs Luna Moth Cocoon Help
Comments (4)Usually when people find luna moth caterpillars, it's because they're through eating leaves and are traveling to find a place to make their cocoon. They can and do make it in a variety of places. Sometimes they stay in the tree whose leaves they'd been eating and make it on one of the branches. Sometimes they wrap up in leaves, sometimes they don't. Sometimes they make it on the ground or in a nearby tree. Regardless, at this point, it's most likely to overwinter in Missouri. Just keep it protected. I don't keep mine in air tight containers, because my common sense tells me that would encourage excessive moisture and the resulting mold. A plastic container needs some sticks or other rougher objects inside it that the moth can climb onto when it emerges - plastic is slippery, and the newly emerged moth would not likely form properly, since they need to hang to bring the fluids to the wings to expand them. Mine are in cages that are PVC frames with mesh coverings that are outside on my front porch - it's best to keep them outside so the moth will be more likely to emerge when spring occurs. The inside of a heated house is too warm, the moth will probably emerge too early there. It should be protected from critters that might eat it. Do you remember if this caterpillar had a yellow line along its side? If it didn't, it would be a polyphemus moth, also a big beauty. Sherry...See MoreLuna Moth Cocoons.
Comments (1)Are you going to cut these open too? Did you find them in your garden? It would be nice to get more information. K...See MoreIn Case any of You Haven't Seen a Luna Moth Emerge & Transform......
Comments (7)Thanks for the great educational pics Sherry. Lunas are just so beautiful. I'm always amazed where you spot these. I've seen more of them on urban concrete buildings than in wooded areas. Maybe they like the heat from the concrete?...See More- 6 years ago
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