new Cecropia

[auroborus]

hey, my first cecropia popped out of its cocoon last week, yay.

 

[clearlysaid]

Gorgeous!!

I do have to say, though, these moths traumatized me when I was a kid. They were, like, the size of my head!

 

[emmille]

Gorgeous!!

I do have to say, though, these moths traumatized me when I was a kid. They were, like, the size of my head!

hahahaha...you made me laugh!!! me too!!! whew, those were the days!

nice moth anyway! saw a lot before when i was a kid every night!

 

[thedude]

nice moth!.. how many cocoons do you have,did u find them yourself or catch a gravid female?

up here whre i am in PA where lucky to find 2-3 cocoons every year but my one friend went out last sumemr to big parking lots with merc lights and found a few big males.

i am having promethea moths hatch out and am also having them lay me some eggs

 

[auroborus]

I have 4 more cocoons, though i fear i might have roasted one by mistake trying to rush its metamorphosis,(i wanted to show him off to my photography class and friends) i raised them from eggs i ordered and have ordered 5 more cocoons online so i'll have plenty of breeding stock. But so far he is the only one to emerge, but he also had a darker cocoon than the rest so he might have had more heat.

 

[Gr8Reptile]

That thing is AWESOME!!!! What a beauty! How did you get it? It looks so cool. Is it's common name Lunar Moth?

 

[bugster]

not luna moth

in this case the common name actually is Cecropia Moth and its scientific name is Hyalophora cecropia. The Luna moth you're referring to is bright green with pink accents and has the scientific name Actias luna. Both are found commonly in many deciduous forested areas of eastern North America, although they have become somewhat limited in recent decades due in particular to overuse of pesticides and Bt spray to control the spread of Gypsy Moth (Bt is shorthand for Bacillus thuringensis, a type of bacteria that secretes a toxin that is deadly to insect larvae like caterpillars---it kills the gypsy moth larvae, but also kills the larvae of many other species indiscriminately). An unfortunate tragedy for those who like our big moths!!

 

[thedude]

I have 4 more cocoons, though i fear i might have roasted one by mistake trying to rush its metamorphosis,(i wanted to show him off to my photography class and friends) i raised them from eggs i ordered and have ordered 5 more cocoons online so i'll have plenty of breeding stock. But so far he is the only one to emerge, but he also had a darker cocoon than the rest so he might have had more heat.

haha rush them (the first ive heard of this )? how did u do that? put them in a tank with a heat pad on the other side?

my friend who has some cecropia have had his start to hatch in the past 2-3 weeks and same with my promethea, but even then we usually dont see cecropia (when we do get the chance lol) up here till like late june/july.

what did u feed them? oak,maple,willow,sass?

 

[auroborus]

i dont have any fancy heating lights or rocks, just a dumb little heat light that can conect to a plastic container i got at pet smart. cause i was useing the light for my mantis i put 2 pieces of plastic(like credit card) on the light to act as a buffer zone. then his cocoon on that, but it was still kinda hot and might have dried him out. im not sure what i fed them, its a deciduous tree thats in my back yard that the tent caterpillars also love.

 

[thedude]

u may have fried it, well hopefully your others hatch and you can get them to breed... im sitting on about 150+ promethea eggs so watch out lol