# indian moon moth



## nympho (Apr 23, 2008)

this beauty hatched today. a female indian moon moth. its an easy to rear species of saturnid moth (apart from pairing which can be a bit tricky). caterpillers feed on fruit trees and hawthorn.


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## Morpheus uk (Apr 24, 2008)

Hawthorn?!

These may not be as out of reachas i thought before then :lol:


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## macro junkie (Apr 24, 2008)

wow..


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## Andrew (Apr 24, 2008)

Beautiful moth. I raised some cecropias a while back, and I suggest any of you jump at the chance to raise some saturniids, they are well worth your time.


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## hibiscusmile (Apr 24, 2008)

They are beautiful, what a pity they are not around here:{


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## josh_r (Apr 25, 2008)

every june/july here in southern arizona, we have SEVERAL species of silk moths in flight. people come from all over the US to set up sheets and lights to catch them. mostly, they are going for the rothschildia moth. very amazing insects!


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## nympho (Apr 25, 2008)

i tried cecropia but the caterpillers all died one by one. tricky species that,you cant rear indoors as it needs constant fresh air. very beautiful, but with the atlas moth, one for the experienced breeder

the indian moon moth, luna moth, tree of heaven moth, and chinese oak silkmoth that i kept last year were all really straight forward though and fun to keep. everyone loves the moths, even non bug people as they are so big/spectacular. other easy species are the british emporer moth and bullseye moth and theres some others as well.

only real troble is keeping up with getting fresh leaves every day, cleaning out frass every day, and pairing the adults. some pair easily like the chinese oaks and luna, but i couldnt get the indian moon moths to pair unfortunately. also if you get them to mate you have to force yourself to cull most of the eggs/larvae and just rear a few as they eat so much and get diseases if too crowded

if anyone wants stock of these in the uk, a good place is midlands moths which is where i got mine.






above  some cages with chinese oak silk moth larvae. the homemade box has greenhouse glass for front which slides sideways


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## Andrew (Apr 25, 2008)

I heard everyone saying that, but I tried them anyways. I raised them in a bucket (with no top) in my backyard in spring. They were a piece of cake, but I made two mistakes:

1.) Didn't plug up the water bottles enough, lost many to this

2.) Got lazy with giving them fresh leaves

Because of this, I only ended up with 3 adults, which hatched one at a time, right after the one before died.

I remember on warm days I would switch the nozzle on the hose to mist, and give them a good shower. They would always gulp up the water, it was pretty entertaining to watch. :lol: 



nympho said:


> i tried cecropia but the caterpillers all died one by one. tricky species that,you cant rear indoors as it needs constant fresh air.


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