Dear friends and Actias users,
My apologies for being unable to speak German, I hope English will suffice 
I have come to the forums to ask for advice about one species I have been raising recently: Areas galactina.
Since about 2014 this was one of my "dream" species of Arctiidae to breed and I was very happy to see livestock of them for sale in 2017. I tried raising many and now I am at the point of collecting many pupae and cocoons of them after a succesful rearing.
But I do have one worry about this species.
See, many of my friends have raised this species too, but many of them report to me that they have ended up with dead and dried out pupae!
My larvae are pupating now and the pupae still seem fresh and healthy, but I worry about them having the same fate, since my friends kept them in normal room conditions, but something seems to have gone wrong. It seems that perhaps they need a different treatment than simply room temperature?
I am however not very experienced with creating a humid setup for cocoons, and I wonder about pathogens like mold (fungus) or mites growing in a humid storage for cocoons. My question is as follows: does anyone know a good setup for the pupae of Areas galactina, and how can I prevent mine from dieing as they have done with many of my friends? I must also add that my experience with the subfamily Arctiidae is limited, I have only done European ones but never tropical species.
Are there any breeders here that have raised this moth from egg to adult and had normal, healthy adults eclose? If yes, how did you treat the cocoons?
Or maybe I am worrying too much?
Thank you all for reading and regards,
Bart Coppens
