Actias maenas alternative food plants

Hello everyone,

A few weeks ago I procured some A. maenas eggs, and started feeding the young on Liquidambar, which they ate well. Now, almost all the Liquidambar leaves are yellow and have fallen from the trees, and I am left with no food plant for the cats, who are now L3.

They nibbled on Salix a little bit, but don't seem to like it and wonder off the leaves, around the cage.

They refused Rosa, Prunus laurocerasus, Rubus, Ligustrum or Abies.

I don't have access to Rhododentron, douglas fir (Pseudotsuga), Schinus molle, or Eucalyptus gunni.

Does anyone know something else that I could try?

I could try to give them other coniferous trees and evergreen shrubs they are not known for eating (Euonymus, Photinia, Syringa, Buddleia).

Maybe they can survive eating just flower petals?

Worst case scenario I can go around flower shops asking if they have Eucalyptus branches, as they are rarely used in bouquets...

Update

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!

The caterpillars are still nibbling on Salix, one even ate some Rosa. They didn't accept flower petals.

I don't have access to most of the stuff suggested here, but I do have some firethorn bushes near me. I took a few clippings, we'll see if they take to it

I also managed to find a few greenish leaves on a Liquidambar in a sheltered location, so this should buy some time if they don't eat the new food...

Update 2

They do eat firethorn! Even when offered Liquidambar, some of them stayed on Pyracantha.

We'll have to see if it is nutritious enough to carry them to L4, but I have high hopes.

I finally found some douglas fir (Pseudotsuga) after a lot of searching, so I should have a backup for Pyracantha.

Ohh, good to know about the Pyracantha toxicity 😨

Thanks for telling me.

I'll try to switch them over to Pseudotsuga now that I found a tree, there are some accounts of them being raised on that.

I can also try Mahonia, selene takes it, but the leaves seem hard to chew.

Update

The maenas babies are successfully eating Pseudotsuga!

Zitat von HYLES

Hi Alex,

sounds good. Did you feed them with cutted twigs or did you put them on a potted plant?

Kind Regards Thomas

Hello,

I'm using cuttings. I only found a single tree, and the seeds of its cones were all sterile. In the future I'll probably have to limit my use of it so I don't run out of low hanging branches...