Beiträge von Mooks

Thanks Wern much appreciated..

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Found this today its not beech or sweet chestnut could it be hornbeam ?

Hi guys - Just wanted to ask how you overwinter your saturnidae ova l usually just place mine in a plastic box and thats usually all l do, any people try anything different..
Do you have problems with ova drying out ?

Best wishes for the coming season..

My sister here in the UK rang me a few years ago to tell me there were some large larvae eating her buddleia so l went round and they were elephant hawk larvae, there were no willowherb in the area .

Hi guys heres a butterfly house l built in 2004 was 40ft long by 15ft wide and was used for breeding and releasing UK butterflies had about 12 species breeding in it but its no longer there now the guy that was running it ripped everything out while l was onholiday and turned it into a vegetable growing area. I wasnt happy with him but thats in the past now...

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Just a shame as it was doing well even had a small colony of french emperor moths in there ..

Hiya - Yeah been helping out Martin for over a year now as l used to rear in the 90s and this year lve rekindled my interest and started up again on a small scale but to be honest it never left me. Only gave up cause my young kids were allergic to scales and hairs.
Just got that large overgrown cherry in the back think it might get some stick if things take it.
I have just bought a 6ftx5ft square plastic greenhouse that lm going to rear in, l built a 40ft x 15ft butterfly house in the 90s a breed and release programme of UK butterflies but it was ripped out by the guy who ran the attraction in Middlesbrough where l lived < yes lm a north easterner too > Wasnt impressed with him when l returned from holiday took 12 months to get it up and running..

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Heres my small set up lm going to make a few more holes with netting across to try and reduce humidity just hope it will be ok..

Hi Mike - Cheers for that think l might try it saves getting wierd looks gathering normal cherry outside lol Oh just noticed are you the guy that knows my good friend Martin Eggrets in Sunderland ? He mentioned a Michael in South sheilds ...

Hiya guys just wanted to know if you can rear saturnidae on ornamental cherry trees as l have a small leaved large tree in my back garden, never thought if l can rear anything on it..
Anyone ever used one for rearing..

Thanks..

Second down looks like Automeris metzli, 6th down Rothschildia aurota maybe..
3 and 4 Rothschildia hesperus l think...all very similar lots of subspecies and variations.

Hi Martin - Concerning your polytunnel idea l built a butterfly tunnel in 1994 to rear UK butterflies and it did very well l had 8 species breeding well in it. It was about 40ft x 25ft but it had a plastic cover with tough netting the first 4ft from the ground all the way round. This made sure there was plenty of ventilation for the insects inside..
As it got very hot in summer the plants would die very quickly unless watered regularly but l did have success l had...wall browns, small tortoisehells, ringlets, meadow browns, common blues, silver studded blues, red admirals, painted ladies, all breeding in there.
Also had some Saturnia pavonia larvae on bramble in there and they did produce a brood the next year.

Has to be Automeris for me the larvae are just simply awesome in every way , maybe l just like stinging larvae l also like Dirphia larvae too...

Thats simply amazing lot better than getting stung bitten etc while collecting foodplants and the blue larvae look awesome...

Hiya - Here in the UK my sister found 8 elephant hawk larvae on buddliea the butterfly bush they totally devoured the small tree...

Hi Arnd - I would guess you would treat the cocoons the same way as polyhemus but they do have a second brood in texas and new mexico . So l would give the cocoons a few weeks to see if the moths enclose before putting them in overwintering quarters, l think a outdoor shed would be ok for them but l should not expose them to frost to just to make sure ok...

Kind regards

IAN...UK member

Hi Holger l guess that book maybe more confusing than useful but thanks again...

Kind regards

IAN

Thanks everyone for your replies l reared those Dirphia at normal room temps about 21c with normal day and night l jusr found it unusual to have a ratio of 19.1....
Wont put me off if l ever decided to rear them again there amazing larvae l had one fall on the back of my hand while cleaning the fullgrown larvae out had a 4in blister for a few hours but it was gone next day..

Hiya everyone Mooks from the UK here this is my first post on here just wanted to know does anyone know why sometimes you get lots more males than females when rearing from a batch of ova ?

Back in early 2002 l reared a batch of Dirphia avia 20 pupae from 20 ova which l was very pleased with when l dug the pupae up l found l had 19 males and one female couldnt believe it. And the only female hatched along time before the first male...

So could it be like when crocodiles have more males than females in a clutch of eggs ? due to the different temps in the nest ?