# The Luna Moth and the Hickory Horned Devil



## postal (Mar 30, 2006)

Just thought I'd post these two stories of mine, about how I got lucky and managed to raise these two amazing moths.
 The Luna Moth
Well, many years ago, my mom pointed out to me an article about Luna Moths, and how to get one to lay eggs. Basically, it went like this:
If it was a female, AND if the eggs were fertilized, which you most likely wouldn't know, you could take the luna moth, put it in a paper bag, put the bag somewhere quiet and dark, like a closet, and the Luna Moth would lay eggs all inside of it, which you could cut out and raise.

Well, a few days later, we just so happened to have a luna moth on our back porch window, so, we figured, "why not?" and gave it a shot. Sure enough, it worked perfectly, only, we got a LOT of eggs. So, we followed the instructions, and cut them out carefully. It was around this time that the Luna Moth got loose, and one of our cats killed it  At least it got to lay it's eggs! Soon, they started hatching. After awhile of experimenting, we found what they seemed to prefer: "Sweet Gum leaves" So, we feed em that, and well, long story short, they eventually got huge, turned into pupas, and then hatched into awesome looking Luna Moths.

Sorry for the poor quality in these pictures. I was pretty young at the time I toke these, not nearly as educated on the workings of the camera as I am now.



Notice all the pupa's in the background, wrapped up in some old dead leaves:


And the grand finale:





The Hickory Horned Devil

Well, one day, at Middle School, there was this big out-doors party going on. Things were going great until on of the teachers approached me and, knowing that I'm the 'animal guy', told me to come with her and help her with something. Well, it turns out a massive caterpillar had appeared, and was just walking along, scaring the sh#t out of everyone, just trying to find a place to pupate. No-one, not even I, had seen one of these before. Unsure if it was poisonous or not, one of the teachers toke a zip-loc bag, and, using a stick, rolled the caterpillar into it. I toke it home, and immediatly identified it as harmless. Man, the feeling of having one crawling on your arm truly is... strange. I gave it a cage filled with some dirt and dead leaves, and it made it's pupa. Sadly, it didn't pupate right, and died.   But still, it was one hell of an experience getting to find one.

As far as I know, I never took any pictures of it,  and the only picture taken was one taken by some kid from the school newpaper, who somehow managed to lose that one picture on the entire roll of film, so, I just had to google a picture of the Hickory Horned Devil instead:

NOT MY PICTURE:


And here is a picture, NOT MINE, of what it turns into:


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## Bungholio (Apr 1, 2006)

Wow they are awesome! Great pics!


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## John J Starr Jr (Apr 1, 2006)

*Nice Luna Moth*

It has been over 3 decades since I have actually caught and held a full grown female Luna Moth.

Very nice picture of yours.  

John J Starr Jr


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## Waspman (Apr 1, 2006)

Thanks for sharing!

The adult HHD is beautiful, I have never seen one before.


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## Skypainter (Apr 9, 2006)

Very cool.  I just moved to Austin and am curious if there are any saturniids to be found here.  I'm a big fan of giant silk moths and have always wanted to live somewhere where I can collect and rear some.  Anyone else have any pictures of these beautiful moths or tips on specific places in central Texas where they may be found?


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## GATORGAR56K (Apr 10, 2006)

reminds me of the time i found an adult cecropia moth, i doubt ill ever find another one like it :8o


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## Curry (Apr 14, 2006)

Wow, absolutely beautiful luna moth! I wish I had those flying around my backyard.


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## psionix (Apr 14, 2006)

for those who don't know, the second one is a _Citheronia regalis_ (regal moth)


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## Peter_Parker (Apr 15, 2006)

We're supposed to have them here in Michigan but I never see them, so I'm gonna just by a couple females of different species and see if the whole "pheromone" aspect will attract some males into my area    I hear the southern states have a lot of really interesting saturniid species that are different from the northern ones.


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