Deathshead Hawkmoth Acherontia atropos pupaes breeding

1. offizieller Beitrag
    • Beitrag: Deathshead Hawkmoth Acherontia atropos pupaes breeding, Thema: Schmetterlinge züchten: Erfahrungen, Fragen und Antworten

    Hi,

    I have my furst death head atropos pupaes for breeding. I live in Central Sweden so winter will be cold with long period of below -5°C. My question is if it is possible to breed them til springtime, April-May next year before they hatch?

    How shall I keep them?

    Can I keep them for longer time in below zero temperatures?

    I have been breeding Papilio machaon, Swallowtail successfully over the winter stored all winter in a cold outhouse. It hatched May 28th this year. Also been breeding Deilephila elpenor, Elephant hawk moth and Hyles galii, Bedstraw hawk moth successfully the same way as the Swallowtail.

    But is it possible also with the, atropos pupaes? :thinking_face:

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    • Beitrag: Deathshead Hawkmoth Acherontia atropos pupaes breeding, Thema: Schmetterlinge züchten: Erfahrungen, Fragen und Antworten

    You're going to need an evergreen food plant, or start growing a lot of potato indoors, A. atropos does not diapause.

    I just finished up a small brood, and they accepted Olive (Oleaceae) I'm not sure the exact subspecies I used, I think

    there are other evergreens they might accept. You might be able to slow them down a little by lowering the

    temperatures, but not much more than a few degrees,

    • Beitrag: Deathshead Hawkmoth Acherontia atropos pupaes breeding, Thema: Schmetterlinge züchten: Erfahrungen, Fragen und Antworten
    • Offizieller Beitrag

    I always kept my Atropos indoors during the winter. As it is said before they do not come from cold countries. So I would keep them inside. The cokdest temperature in my house was 16 Degrees. They were well. I do not have experience with them with colder Temperature. The warmer you keep them they will hatch faster. Maybe around 10 Degrees. Maybe someone here has experience with lower temperatures. I had mine pupaeted in November kept them 16 to 18 Degrees and they hatched in March. I got Ligustrum all the time and prunus lauraceus to feed them.

    • Beitrag: Deathshead Hawkmoth Acherontia atropos pupaes breeding, Thema: Schmetterlinge züchten: Erfahrungen, Fragen und Antworten
    Zitat von Motte77

    I always kept my Atropos indoors during the winter. As it is said before they do not come from cold countries. So I would keep them inside. The cokdest temperature in my house was 16 Degrees. They were well. I do not have experience with them with colder Temperature. The warmer you keep them they will hatch faster. Maybe around 10 Degrees. Maybe someone here has experience with lower temperatures. I had mine pupaeted in November kept them 16 to 18 Degrees and they hatched in March. I got Ligustrum all the time and prunus lauraceus to feed them.

    You mean you feed the hatched moths with Ligustrum and prunus? :smiling_face:

    • Beitrag: Deathshead Hawkmoth Acherontia atropos pupaes breeding, Thema: Schmetterlinge züchten: Erfahrungen, Fragen und Antworten

    Hello,

    it is definitively possible to overwinter the pupaes. Around a week after the caterpillar is buried you can slowly (over a few days) cool them down to around 8 degrees. At that temperature you can store them the whole winter and when it becomes spring you can slowly heat them up again. In my case A. atropos always overwinters at room temperature when I breed them in the autumn and the imagos hatch around may the following year. I am not sure why this works but I guess it has something to do with colder room temperature in winter than in summer. Maybe short daytime period could also be the reason.

    Best regards, David

    • Beitrag: Deathshead Hawkmoth Acherontia atropos pupaes breeding, Thema: Schmetterlinge züchten: Erfahrungen, Fragen und Antworten
    Zitat von David.S

    Hello,

    it is definitively possible to overwinter the pupaes. Around a week after the caterpillar is buried you can slowly (over a few days) cool them down to around 8 degrees. At that temperature you can store them the whole winter and when it becomes spring you can slowly heat them up again. In my case A. atropos always overwinters at room temperature when I breed them in the autumn and the imagos hatch around may the following year. I am not sure why this works but I guess it has something to do with colder room temperature in winter than in summer. Maybe short daytime period could also be the reason.

    Best regards, David

    Hi David, ok sounds promising. I will go for that and have them in my basement where it is around 12-15°C and dark.

    • Beitrag: Deathshead Hawkmoth Acherontia atropos pupaes breeding, Thema: Schmetterlinge züchten: Erfahrungen, Fragen und Antworten

    Hi,

    here you could find many informations about the breeding of atropos.

    Most of them in German, but translation with Google will work good.

    Thema

    Acherontia atropos

    Acherontia atropos
    (Linnaeus, 1758)

    Erstbeschreibung
    Sphinx atropos Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat. (Edn 10) 1: 490.
    Link zur Originalbeschreibung
    Typenlokalität: "Europa"

    Verbreitung
    Dauerhaft in allen warmen, frostfreien Gebieten der Afrotropis und westliche Palaearktis. Östliche natürliche Grenze bildet der Ural, von dort südwärts des Kaspischen Meeres bis Saudi Arabien.
    In Gebieten mit Temperaturen unter 0°C kann eine Diapause der Puppe kaum gelingen. Solche Gebiete werden in der Regel stetig, aber…
    Rudi
    18. Februar 2019 um 17:01


    For overwintering the pupae, you could read here:

    Thema

    Totenkopfschwärmer (Atropos) - Schlupf hinauszögern

    Hallo,
    Versuche heuer zum 2. Mal den Totenkopfschwärmer (atropos) zu züchten. Mit Liguster wie gehabt kein Problem. Die ersten verkriechen sich bereits in der Erde. Aber wie schaffe ich es am besten den Schlupf bis zum Frühjahr zu verzögern, ohne dass der Verlust allzu groß ist. Da der Falter auch in meiner Gegend regelmäßig vorkommt, würde ich ihn dann gerne freilassen. Da ich nur Fotograf bin genügt mit ein Exemplar zum Knipsen ...
    Voriges Jahr versuchten wir es in einem Obstkeller, also gute…
    Leo
    23. November 2017 um 15:34

    Rudi

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    • Beitrag: Deathshead Hawkmoth Acherontia atropos pupaes breeding, Thema: Schmetterlinge züchten: Erfahrungen, Fragen und Antworten
    • Offizieller Beitrag
    Zitat von LAMF64

    You mean you feed the hatched moths with Ligustrum and prunus? :smiling_face:

    No the caterpillars😊I feed the hatch moths with honey from honey combs.

    I keep my pupae in a hatch plastic box with good air conditions that works very well😊

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