# Rearing a Polyphemus Moth



## P.jasonius (Mar 26, 2007)

Hello all,
I found something outside the door today:  a giant silkmoth, 5.5" wingspan.  I put it in a shoebox before I left and found eggs inside when I came back.  
I'm going to try and rear these when they hatch, anyone have any experience with this?
Googlers need not advise me on this, I have a search engine.  I want experience, please.
Will post pics soon.
[edit]23eggs total.  I don't know if this is a good batch or not!


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## bugmankeith (Mar 27, 2007)

I raised one of them, it ate oak leaves, then spun a giant cocoon with the leaves, the cocoon was so tough you cant open it to see the pupa inside.

Only trouble was being inside it hatched in the middle of winter and died.


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## Galapoheros (Mar 27, 2007)

Yea, they are easy and fast growing.  I have the moths locally but I couldn't find any one year so I finally ordered some cocoons and put them in the fridge since it was still Winter.  In the Spring they hatched, got eggs.  They hatched.  I put the cats in a 10 gal with gravel in the bottom.  I filled the bottom with water but not above the gravel in case the cats got off the braches.  That brings me to "branches".  So I'd go cut branches off oak trees in my backyard and stick them in the gravel.  It was like the cats knew I was bringing them new branches when I pulled the old ones out.  It was almost like they learned they were getting new branches, haha, I'm sure it was just my imagination.  They grow fast and you will need to keep up with it every day or two if you keep more than 10 cats.


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## P.jasonius (Mar 27, 2007)

I can't believe you keep your cats in a 10gal!!! 
Ok here are the pics:
First one is a bit photoshopped, but just for color.


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## Galapoheros (Mar 27, 2007)

Awesome!  I like the dinosaur cats just as much or better.  I checked the terr I had them in.  It's only a little bigger, a 15 gal.  It's a preference of mine to only keep 10 at a time because of space and maintenance like getting fresh leaves, and they create a lot of waste, that's for sure.  They eat fast and eat allot.

I tried keeping the rest of the cats outside on a small tree where I could see them but parasitic flies got to every one of those.  I bought the protective cloth to put around branches to keep the flies out but I haven't had the cats since I bought that stuff.


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## P.jasonius (Mar 27, 2007)

I just let my cats roam around the apartment, sometimes they go out on the balcony, though.  They definitely create alot of waste!
27 eggs now.


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## Galapoheros (Mar 27, 2007)

Sounds like you need a caterpillar box


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## Scolopendra55 (Mar 28, 2007)

Keep them at room temp (about 75) and feed them oak, LOTS AND LOTS OF OAK!!!!!


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## bugmankeith (Mar 28, 2007)

At the time I didnt know they needed to be kept cold to prevent hatching in the winter, I was only 11 at the time. But I know know. 

They are gorgeous looking moths and if one flys by you at night suddenly you can get quite the scare!


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## P.jasonius (Mar 29, 2007)

Found another female today, hopefully that means more eggs!


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## Galapoheros (Mar 29, 2007)

Cool.  If it hasn't mated, you can do the "cage" thing and put it on your balcony.  It should attract a mate at night.  With that many eggs, you are going to have to stuff an Oak tree in your apt .  They eat so much.


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## P.jasonius (Mar 29, 2007)

One step ahead of you.  I put it in the cage on the balcony before I left for school this morning, and found eggs all over the wire when I got home, 28 more eggs.  
I'm a bit concerned about lead leaching into the eggs, and want to remove them from the cage material, as I think it is a lead-tin alloy.  I suppose I'll attempt to remove them with a razor blade, any other suggestions.  I don't know how tough these are.  
This specimen isn't as tore up as the last, so expect more photos shortly.
[edit]update: she was starting to tear herself up in the cage while laying more and more eggs, so I released her.
Between the two different females I now have ~110 eggs.  
I was able to gently pry them from the cage wire without doing any noticeable damage, so no need to respond to this post, unless you just want to tell me a better way I could have done it.


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## Galapoheros (Mar 29, 2007)

Man that's a lot of eggs!  I just popped them off the wire cage too.  That natural glue is pretty strong stuff isn't it...  I think you might end up thinning them out after they hatch when you get an idea of how much they eat once they get a little bigger, just a hunch because of all the caterpillar pigging out they do.  What did you decide to put them in, a big tub?


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## P.jasonius (Mar 29, 2007)

Yeah, I'm definitely going to have to get rid of some  .
I'm planning on making a frame this weekend for a screen cage.  I already have the screen from some discarded window screens I found at my storage.


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## Galapoheros (Mar 29, 2007)

Sounds like a good idea.  I think I'm a little lazier than you are .


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## P.jasonius (Mar 29, 2007)

I like projects.
pm me if you want eggs!


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## Spyder 1.0 (Apr 17, 2007)

damnit, i was shipped a few eggs, but on the way they hatched and dried up. there are two eggs left. i hope they are fertile. eveything is in an incubator now


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## P.jasonius (May 5, 2007)

Eggs hatching, and a days worth of poo for ~40 cats:


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## P.jasonius (May 17, 2007)

Molting to fifth instar:


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## funnylori (May 18, 2007)

Those are awesome!

I am wishing I had seen this sooner!


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## P.jasonius (May 18, 2007)

Spinning silk:


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## Galapoheros (May 19, 2007)

40!  That would be some work.  Going to be cool later when they come out.  In the mean time, you prob need a rest and probably need to replace that tree.


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## Louise E. Rothstein (May 21, 2007)

Dear P. Jasonius:

If you still have extra caterpillars I would like them at:

Louise E. Rothstein
2912 Zollinger Road
Columbus,OH 43221.

Thank you.

Yours very truly,

Louise E. Rothstein.


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## Tleilaxu (May 21, 2007)

When this is all said and done it needs to be stickied or moved into an article section!


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## dtknow (May 21, 2007)

Not a good idea to ship caterpillars, but cocoons ship well.

I have some in the 5th instar...but they are not as big as I thought they would get.


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## Galapoheros (May 22, 2007)

I think the size of these things has to do with how much food and water are in them at the time.  Right before they start spinning, they purge themselves of food/fecal matter and extra water.  They look a whole lot smaller after that.  I think leaf misting helps them stay hydrated if you're feeding from cut branches.


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## bugmankeith (May 22, 2007)

I think leaf misting helps them stay hydrated if you're feeding from cut branches.

I've noticed that too just as long as it's not too much.


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## dtknow (May 22, 2007)

Galapheros: But caterpillar size should affect moth size, no?

According to the field guide I have wingspan varies from 3.5 to 5.5 inches, so they do vary a lot in size.


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## Galapoheros (May 22, 2007)

That pretty much fits my logic.  Sounds like a few of us received eggs from Pjason.  But it looks like some are still waiting on them spinning.  I only have eight but they finished several days ago.  Might have to do with temp(?).  I didn't keep mine around AC.  Prob got in the mid to upper eighties during the day for the pillars here.


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## dtknow (May 23, 2007)

Mine aren't front Jasonius. I bought cocoons from someone and then got two pairings. Have around 40 caterpillars now, but started with 80 ish. Mortality was very high in 2nd-3rd instar. Lost some who wandered off and fell into a bucket of water, some that apparently got sick, and a whole bunch of other weird deaths...not the least trying to move them when they do not want to be moved!


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## Galapoheros (May 23, 2007)

Whoa, ha, they can be kind of a pain, right..  Interesting but, I was glad to see mine finally take a nap.  The first time I did this, I decided that I didn't want more than 10 pillars at a time after that, but that's just me.  If this parasitic fly species wasn't around here, I'd load up a tree in my yard with them.  I tried that once and they all got parasitized.  I saw the flies flying around the cats, I didn't know what was going on at first.  I have the sleeves but I'm not interested in using them, maybe next time.


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## pinkfoot (May 23, 2007)

P.jasonius said:


> Hello all,
> I found something outside the door today:  a giant silkmoth, 5.5" wingspan.  I put it in a shoebox before I left and found eggs inside when I came back.
> I'm going to try and rear these when they hatch, anyone have any experience with this?
> Googlers need not advise me on this, I have a search engine.  I want experience, please.
> ...


That's seriously beautiful!!

Any idea of the scientific name, perhaps?

I wonder if they exist in Africa..? :?


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## dtknow (May 24, 2007)

Doesn't exist in Africa...but you guys have some really cool moths too. Check out Argema sp.


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## P.jasonius (May 25, 2007)

pinkfoot said:


> That's seriously beautiful!!
> 
> Any idea of the scientific name, perhaps?
> 
> I wonder if they exist in Africa..? :?


_Antheraea polyphemus_


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## P.jasonius (May 25, 2007)

dtknow said:


> Mine aren't front Jasonius. I bought cocoons from someone and then got two pairings. Have around 40 caterpillars now, but started with 80 ish. Mortality was very high in 2nd-3rd instar. Lost some who wandered off and fell into a bucket of water, some that apparently got sick, and a whole bunch of other weird deaths...not the least trying to move them when they do not want to be moved!


I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one experiencing the high mortality rate, considering I started with a little over 80.  I have no idea how many wandered off into all my clutter at 1st and 2nd instar.  At 3rd and 4th there was a noticeable amount of loss due to bad molts, surprisingly.  I actually performed 'surgery' on several and managed to save a few; their skin had become dried and compressed around their anal area, causing severe impaction.  I was able to cut through and peel off the skin when I caught it in time.


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## bugmankeith (May 25, 2007)

I actually performed 'surgery' on several and managed to save a few; their skin had become dried and compressed around their anal area, causing severe impaction. I was able to cut through and peel off the skin when I caught it in time.

I actually did that with one individual 3 times, a hornworm, except the skin got stuck right behind the head, tricky stuff especially when I had to do it for the last 3 instars or it would have died!

It's now at it's last instar, so i'll have to see if it pupates ok.


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## P.jasonius (May 28, 2007)

update:  29 cocoons, five left to go.


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## dtknow (May 28, 2007)

I just noticed that nearly all the caterpillars have black specks on them. It looks as if someone had been spraypainting a distance away. They are eating, lookin happy, and pupating. Wonder what is up...


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## Spyder 1.0 (May 28, 2007)

How long do these caterpillars stay cacooned before they emerge. Would you care to sell me 3 cacoons. We can use USP overnight this time or something.


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## Galapoheros (May 28, 2007)

Hey dtknow, were you keeping them in a container outside?  The parasitic fly around here in Texas jabs an egg just underneath the caterpillars skin.  That's a good way to look at them, they look like a black speck "under" the skin.  Mine had a few black spots on the surface of the skin just from getting poked a little by Live oak leaves.  Anyway, the bad flies look almost identical to house flies.  Hope not but the flies might have gotten to your caterpillars.  You have any pics?


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## dtknow (May 29, 2007)

They are indoors. Unless the parasitic flies could fit through window screen I doubt thats it.

They could be eggs, but they aren't really uniform. Again, it looks like someone was spraypainting near the caterpillars.


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## P.jasonius (May 29, 2007)

A few of mine have gotten this too, and made for poor photos.  Not very visually pleasing.  I don't suppose you have any pics of what the flies look like?


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## Galapoheros (May 29, 2007)

I'd guess you'd be ok then if indoors.  So many degrees of over-spray with spay painting, fine mist and/or big blobs, I just wasn't sure what to think.  Nahhh you're right, the fly I'm talking about is way too big to go through a screen.  You have some big dots and smaller ones?  No, not fly eggs, not what I've seen anyway.


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## Galapoheros (May 29, 2007)

P.jasonius said:


> A few of mine have gotten this too, and made for poor photos.  Not very visually pleasing.  I don't suppose you have any pics of what the flies look like?


From what I've seen, if the black dots are all diff sizes and right on the surface, it's nothing to do with the parasitic fly I had problems with.  I used to know the name of the fly but I've forgotten and I hadn't looked it up again.  But you'd swear it was just an ordinary housefly when you first saw it.  I'll see if I can find it on the internet.  But no, your pillars are OK, it just sounded like what happened to my pillars a few years ago at first, but it doesn't sound like that to me anymore with the more details I've got now.


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## dtknow (May 29, 2007)

Mainly speckles...not really a fine spray though. A few of the dots are not circular and look a bit like someone dotted them(tried) with a black pen(they are oval).


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## P.jasonius (May 30, 2007)

*sick cat*

Don't know what happened here, but this is the second time I've seen this:
(it's still alive)


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## Galapoheros (May 30, 2007)

That's what mine looked like when they got infested with parasitic fly maggots.  If you kept them indoors, that sure makes it less likely.  But it sure does look like it.  Also, I read the maggots eat around vital organs so the caterpillar stays alive so the maggots can grow and stay alive too.  I put one in a plastic deli container with a top that was sick like that.  I finally watched the maggots come out of the rotting caterpillar and pupate.  Sounds pretty evil, right.  I'd try that and see what happens, at least you'd know what happened to it if you see the maggots come out.


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## P.jasonius (May 30, 2007)

Galapoheros said:


> That's what mine looked like when they got infested with parasitic fly maggots.  If you kept them indoors, that sure makes it less likely.  But it sure does look like it.  Also, I read the maggots eat around vital organs so the caterpillar stays alive so the maggots can grow and stay alive too.  I put one in a plastic deli container with a top that was sick like that.  I finally watched the maggots come out of the rotting caterpillar and pupate.  Sounds pretty evil, right.  I'd try that and see what happens, at least you'd know what happened to it if you see the maggots come out.


Well I wasn't going to kill it, so I might as well.  And on goes the saran wrap.  I imagine some of them wrapped themselves up in a cocoon and came to be in this state after, if this one is infected.


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## bugmankeith (May 30, 2007)

Could that be an infection mabye, like a disease and not a parasite? Mabye from pesticides?


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## dtknow (May 30, 2007)

P. Jasonius:

That looks like a viral infection to me. Silkworms get a similar disease which makes them turn dark and swell up with fluid. I've destroyed these as soon as they popped up(maybe 5 or so I caught)


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## Galapoheros (May 30, 2007)

If this is a viral infection, are there conditions people keep them in that might promote the infection?  How could you help keep an infection from breaking out?


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## Tleilaxu (Jun 19, 2007)

Ok this thread is way too cool to let it sink into oblivion, some one please make this a sticky.


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## dtknow (Jun 19, 2007)

Well, mine have been eclosing with no problems and producing beautiful moths. I did slit open a few cocoons and one stunted caterpillar had a bad molt going into pupal stage so became T food. I also accidentally dented one of the pupae(I slit a few out of curiosity to get an idea when to emerge and to sex them). He lost a lot of hemolymph and when he emerged his wings never opened fully...picture a Chinese fan half closed and you get the idea.

I'm also raising some of another species...Hyalophora euryalus. These caterpillars are real purty now...photos soon.


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## P.jasonius (Jun 24, 2007)

First Moth today, photos up soon.


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