Raising Cecropias

[Carlovel1]

The caterpillars are just
But the Butterflies are just

 

[Flute]

This thread is fantastic They're fantastic looking critters- both as caterpillars and as their adult forms

 

[Ludwig Venter]

Excellent Mikaila..... and the photography is also great...... Just make sure copyright is secured..... A lot of material on this thread is open to being pirated by students doing projects and even nature periodicals...

 

[nitro7]

been a little slow on the updating, was a busy weekend. They just keep eating and eating. I'm moving the first group outside tomorrow and we will see how they do in a screen top bin. I've been putting small branches in then the next day all thats left is the center veins of all the leaves. They have started to reach the 4th instar.

Pics of them still in the 3rd instar.

One of the larger ones that is in its fourth instar

Then my newest additions. Was watching some monarchs landing on the milkweed outside one of our windows. Decided to check the plant for eggs. So naturally I have some monarch cats now too . They are of various sizes. This pic shows big one vs little one. These guys don't really change in appearance at all during their larva lives.

just a bit of info
The best known member of this family is the Monarch butterfly. The larvae and the butterflies retain poisonous glycosides from their larval host plant, the milkweed, so they become distasteful to potential predators. These milkweed butterflies (Monarch, Queen, Soldier) eat only milkweeds (Asclepias) as larvae. This highly effective defense strategy shields them against almost all predators that soon learn to avoid these species after attempting to eat them.

 

[Mikaila31]

Well we are back! Over 7 months have past and winter is finally leaving the north land(although really slowly). I'm sure most have forgot about this thread, but we are not done yet! After spending almost 8 months in their cocoons we are getting close to hatching time. Given how long winter hung around I would say we have a few more weeks before anything happens, but I did bring half of them inside when it decided to snow into the last week of April and early May...

In total there are 13 cecropia moth cocoons and 2 giant swallowtail butterfly chrysalis. I had 3 until late fall, but we had a really warm day and apparently nature isn't always perfect... basically one committed suicide in a sense. It should not of emerged at that time... there were no other butterflies or enough time for eggs to even hatch before we got hit with the first freeze. But it decided it wanted to emerge anyway and forgo its life goal of reproducing. The buterfly was nice enough to fly around the house for awhile which was all I ever saw of it. I am looking forward to both species emerging as I have never 'nicely' held the swallowtails before. I see them often, but they are like the ferraris of native butterflies. Last time I saw a live adult cecropia was a long long time ago.

This is the giant bug cage. Except the rain laughs at my tape attempt so I need to get more creative on attaching them, cuz half have fallen already .

 

[bae1994]

Watching with interest

Couldn't you tie them to the mesh with cotton were the tape is?

 

[chesterscot]

Yey Mik
Didnt realise it was that time and that you had ordered already, cant wait to see what happens this time.
Hope your well, regards
Martyn

 

[Ludwig Venter]

This is one of the best illustrated topics on "Household pets" and if we had more people keeping these..... I would certainly have pinned the topic...... We are looking forward to another interresting journal..... well done Mikaila31.

 

[Mikaila31]

First Cecropia moth has emerged . A day before my 21th birthday! Its a female and fuzzy :3

I love nature!

 

[amy1994]

Awww she's lovely, got a great pattern
This thread definitely is an interesting read, have just been reading through it all, and i've never seen a caterpillar so big

 

[Mikaila31]

I have 3 adults now. 2 females and 1 male. Too of them have mated as well, very first night the male had emerged too lol. The one female was laying eggs all over this morning. Most of the moths will be released before this happens since they lay a lot of eggs. If anyone from the US is interested in eggs just shoot me a PM.

 

[lilfishie]

Can't believe i have only just seen this thread!

Amazing Pics Mikaila, and they have to be the most pretty Moths i have ever seen