put pupae in the fridge to finish diapause in Saturnia pavoniella

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    • put pupae in the fridge to finish diapause in Saturnia pavoniella

      hello friends, I have some pupae of Saturnia pavoniella in diapause, I understand that they need to go through a very cold period to end the state of diapause and
      emerge. But I live in Valencia (Spain) and here in winter it's not too cold, + 8ºC at night ... I have thought to put the pupae in the fridge to be able to provide them with an adequate amount of cold, but I do not know how long to leave them inside, nor when to do so. Do you know of someone who does something similar? Is it crazy?
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    • That's the answer, I live in a semi-mild climate here on the Oregon coast, and always use the fridge, it's also safer than
      outdoors.
      There are conflicting opinions about sprinkling cocoons with water when using the refrigerator, some do, some don't, I've done
      it both ways, and there didn't seem to be a difference, at least with cocoons, pupa that bury themselves, might be different,
      some use damp peat. Just try to replicate the conditions for the respective species, not many require temps below what most people
      use for keeping the food cold. Also the container, I use one that can breathe, and check for mold now and then.

    • I am using winecooler ( livestock only ) as it maintain some humidity better and also have some type of fan inside to keep air moving. But also simple fridge work well. As for pupae I never had problem with fridge. Ova and especially larvae are more demanding.

      As for needed time to break diapause, it is sometimes rather small amount of time - it depends.
      Just now I am finishing Boloria euphrosyne larvae which needs cold for diapause. They were for 7 weeks in winecooler at 4-5C and then about 80% of them brake diapause after taken off to warm temperature and humid conditions.
      Some species needs frost ( temperature below 0C ) while for many other cold ( 4-8C ) is enough. Kevin is right - you need to follow natural conditions certain species occurs. Saturnia pavionella naturally occurs on Iberian peninsula so probably frost is not needed to break diapause.