Female Polyphemus
Sarkhan42

Female Polyphemus

The little egg I found last year has grown up! Now I need to find a male...
@Otteresting well for silk moths like this the antennae are heavily plumose in males and much thinner in females. The females pre egg laying also tend to be very heavy bodied.
 
You shouldn't need to do anything to look for a male. Once she’s settled after eclosure, she'll start releasing pheromones that will attract any nearby males. It's strong stuff, so as long as there's some wild males out, they should be able to find her :)
 
@PidderPeets More or less what I meant :) tried last night and no dice, going to attempt to take her to a better area tonight to give it another go. I’ve been told Polyphemus generally fly 12-1am or so, is that in line with your experience?
 
@Sarkhan42 I've actually seen males out as early as 8:30 - 9:00pm, and then well into the night afterwards. If I had to give a time range, I'd lean towards 9 - 11pm, but it's possible that it's a regional thing. I think your best bet honestly would be to put her in an enclosure of sorts that her abdomen can partially fit out of but that she can't escape from (also that squirrels, birds and mice can't get into), and leave her in a safe spot overnight. Then she should be able to pair with a male through the enclosure even if you're not around. Either that or you could leave her inside near an open window where you can either see or hear a male on the screen trying to get to her. Then just go out, grab him, and put him in with her. I had a wild male luna moth flying around outside my house last year looking for one of my indoor females that I didn't know had eclosed yet, so they're still abe to smell them when they're indoors
 

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Insects
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Sarkhan42
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