To Actias members with Papilio species

Hmm ... have not idea whats wrong.

I never had Papilio troilus or Graphium agamemnon, but I had Papilio glaucus, multicaudatus , eurymedon for several years. Absolutly no problem to keep them 2-3 weeks alive. I do not care about humidity - probably on lower range because they were inside. I am avoiding direct sunlight, for female stimulation during ovipositing I am using artificial lights. As for temperature it is 20-26C during day and little lower during night ( open windows ).

Crucial part is feeding. Papilionidae have large body and they need rich food source. Self feeding is not good idea if it is not large greenhouse with abundant flowers. I prefer manual feeding. I am skipping first day after emerging. Then I am feeding daily, during hot days even twice. Be careful with feeding dilution and I prefer to keep it inside fridge to avoid bacterial disease and just before feeding to bring it to room to reach room temperature. After few days I make new dilution.

Anyway 2 days .... it should live longer even without food. Have you any substance in room which can be toxic for insects ? Electronic repelents for moskytos or something similar ?

Also sometimes when stock is inbreeded, specimens are crippled. It must not be visible on first sight ( wings deformations ), but it can be also thorax problems which leads to early death. To place out this possibility is to look if imago feeds properly.

Hi!

please make a picture of your rearing setup and show it here.

Felix

can you post a closeup picture of the abdomen? I have an suspicion

nothing wrong with his abdomen. what you are seeing is the open clusters since it´s a male.

how do you feed your butterflies? any particular mixture? what is the temperature durring the day (since you only mentioned the temperature at night)

is it possible that there is direct sunlight shining through the window right onto the netcage? the specimen shown in the picture looks a bit exhausted.

how old is the dying one ?

I can´t tell for sure what´s wrong but I would recommend you try something different.

don´t rear the adult butterfly in high humidity ( normal room humidity is enough) and avoid this lamp except you want to handpair them or stimulate a female for egg laying.

place the butterfly in direct sunlight for a few minutes to see if it starts flying arround. In my opinion this is very important to get the metabolism started and helps to get rid of the digestive remains from the pupae stage . after this, place it in a dark spot without a lamp or direct sunlight. feed it twice a day.

however, maackii is a strong flyer and not suitable for beeing kept in such a small cage for a longer time.

I suppose each species is different. I have a 3'x18"x18" cage I have used for Papilio polyxenes, and Papilio

macheon oregonius, perhaps a dozen at a time.

I use a full spectrum led light panel- that's 11.5" sq.

I used hummingbird nectar with electrolytes, and had to unfurl the proboscis with a toothpick, placing into

the nectar, they would either resist, or sit and drink for 90 seconds or more.

All room temperature- my room at 70f or better.

Fed a day after hatching, in the morning and again in the afternoon sometimes.

Ambient natural light, not direct sunlight.

All the butterflies would live what I assume were long lives, several weeks. In the wild, perhaps

they might last longer, avoiding predators of course.

Bigger is better, but not always possible, perhaps as the weather warms, you can use a larger

outdoor cage, if you can avoid escapes.

Humidity- indoors runs 50% give or take a little.

I'd try something different, if what you're doing isn't working.

You have a mystery Ethan, I don't think it's humidity, as far a being kept in a cage outdoors, the issue becomes

the perfect location, where the butterflies can find shade and get out of the sun, a small cage, even a large

reptarium, or net style cage probably would not be big enough.

I have a contact here in Oregon that raises butterflies on a large scale, very large scale. He uses a big

portable gazebo, like a screen tent, at least he sent me a picture of one, he probably has more than one.

You could try other species of Papilio, or take a break from them, and get more experience with other

butterflies, I don't raise butterflies often, moths are a bit easier, sometimes anyway.

I have a friend in the UK that raises Papilios, I send him USA livestock sometimes, I'll mention your issue and

maybe he might respond to your post. He also raises maackii sometimes, I think he uses a big room or

conservatory/greenhouse.

Hi Ethan,

have followed the contributions above. Unfortunately I've got no experiences with butterflies but have visited many Butterfly Parks in SE Asia. You're right, butterflies like / need sunshine and heat and they like to fly around. Your exhausted Papilio is hardly damaged so it was not flying too much and consequently the cage seems to be not too small. One problem might be the feeding with honey solution. Most of the honey offered is not poisonous for human although contaminated with pestizides etc. So, the contamination, if any, might have hurt your Papilio though the honey has been within the acceptable range for human use. Butterflies very like to drink clean water. I observed Papilio sitting on the ground sucking water from a shallow stone or from the sand at the river banks in the tropics. They like contamination with urine (salt)! In Butterfly Parks they accept sucking from rotten bananas and pineapple. They do not need honey solution since they will not find any honey solution in the wild. Honey solution might "glue" the proboscis. You should try with clean water rather.

Cheers

Ulrich

Hello at all,

as Ulrich already wrote, day-flying butterflies like to suck in damp places and absorb water and the minerals dissolved in it.

According to my observations with Apatura iris, however, they are also able to extract the minerals from absolutely dry places

like gravel paths. For this purpose they put a drop of water on the dry stone with the help of their proboscis and suck in the

water and the minerals now dissolved in it.

Feeding honey water is absolutely not recommended!!!

A better alternative is to buy in America hummingbird food solution and give something diluted to the butterflies.

But please make sure that it is not only a sugar/water mixture, but also contains necessary minerals and electrolytes.

Good luck! Frank and Ulrich have good suggestions, Bees and ants are insects that eat honey, I think there

is a moth that eats honey, but butterflies will never find it in nature.

Make sure any solution you use is not just sugar water.