These species are very different. At least in my experiences ... fulminea, sponsa, fraxini, nupta and electa are easy; nymphagoga and promissa very difficult.
I don't know your species in US
regards, Leo
Hi, I always add some branches of the foodplant. In my experience, they lay the eggs faster. Normally they also feed well on honey water and self made lures painted on the side of the net cages.
Maybe you just got males!
I have been breeding Catocals for more than 30 years. They can easily be kept alive for 2-3 months. By species. Feed adult butterflies once every 2 days. I still have a cage with laying C.fraxini at home. They have been alive for 10 weeks now. If you are interested, I can send a photo. In Catocal females, eggs are gradually formed. They are laying gradually, it cannot be accelerated.
Regards, Habal
I agree with Habal; it can be a feeding issue if they die too quickly.
Currently I have Catocala retecta - they are beginning to die of old age now. I've had adults coming out of their pupae since the 10th of July so they must be 2 months old now.
I soak a cotton face pad in honey water and place it on top of the cage. At night they come and drink.
The moths live longer in a big enclosure. In small cages they have more collisions with the walls, so the wings deteroriate faster; mine are in a 60x60x90cm cage.
Females will lay anywhere but I noticed they prefer surfacees with a 'rough' texture (not smooth texture) - in the wild they lay eggs in cracks of tree bark in many cases.
In captivity they often lay eggs in the corners of the cage, but you can add objects with a rough surface & texture for egg laying (cork?). Make sure it isn't the same color as the eggs or they will be hard to find.
Is there an efficient way to get Catocala females to lay eggs faster?
I think the trick to Erebinae is too keep the imago alive for as long as possible, many have long lifespans. [this even goes for anything from Thyas, to Ascalapha to Ophiusa].
They benefit from generous space to reduce the amount of collisions with the enclosure walls.
They are not very difficult but most breeders will struggle if their experience is based on Saturniidae.
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