My Luna Moths

[mantidsaresweet]

How long should it be before they start to mate. I have a 2 males (one emerged on wed. and the other on fri.) and a female that emerged on thur.

At least I think I'm right on the sex of them :lol:

 

[ABbuggin]

How long should it be before they start to mate. I have a 2 males (one emerged on wed. and the other on fri.) and a female that emerged on thur.At least I think I'm right on the sex of them :lol:

They can mate the night of the day that they emerged.

 

[mantidsaresweet]

For some reason my moths have not mated yet.

Maybe I guessed there sex wrong but I'm pretty sure I was right.

What's going on and how can I tell if they mated or not?

 

[d17oug18]

about 12-24 hours after they mate they lay eggs, and the eggs will be like pin dots. i had 5 but the male died before he could do the other 2, they were late bloomers

 

[agent A]

Well I forgot to harvest some eggs, but today I was reminded that I never did.......

I now have a 4th generation. :lol: :lol:

Ha ha ha, funny! My cocoons haven't hatched yet. I heard the cocoons of a first brood take 2 weeks to hatch, it has been almost 2 weeks since the first caterpillar spun.

 

[agent A]

My pupae are showing the wings of the moths now!!

 

[mantidsaresweet]

Can you put Luna moth eggs in the fridge to delay hatching like you can do with mantid ooths?

 

[ABbuggin]

Can you put Luna moth eggs in the fridge to delay hatching like you can do with mantid ooths?

I'm not sure. It may work, but I wouldn't do it for more than 1-2 weeks.

 

[agent A]

A lot of my eggs didn't hatch, is that because of inbreeding?

 

[d17oug18]

none of mine hatched at all, i dont know why, i witnessed mating and still nothing, guess the eggs dried out.

 

[ABbuggin]

Are you both sure the females mated? All of my eggs hatched that were laid by mated females.

 

[d17oug18]

i saw them connect for hours, unless he didnt "finish" they WERE mated.

 

[Katnapper]

None of mine hatched; but I never witnessed any mating.

 

[agent A]

None of mine hatched; but I never witnessed any mating.

well mine mated for at least 5 hours each pair. but they were inbred.

 

[ABbuggin]

well mine mated for at least 5 hours each pair. but they were inbred.

Inbreeding doesn't effect them. Did yal mist the eggs? How were you keeping them?

 

[agent A]

Inbreeding doesn't effect them. Did yal mist the eggs? How were you keeping them?

okay I'm getting tired of this! everything ABbuggin tells me about luna rearing is the exact opposite of what Bill O. tells me! Who do I believe?

 

[PhilinYuma]

okay I'm getting tired of this! everything ABbuggin tells me about luna rearing is the exact opposite of what Bill O. tells me! Who do I believe?

Whomever you please! If you are getting advice from "Bill O.", why are you asking the same questions here? It is not uncommon to get different opinions from two breeders. Christian, for example, says that inbreeding is not an issue in insects, D. Yager (The Prete book, p.314) says the opposite, but they might be talking about different circumstances The effect of inbreeding normally isn't infertility. You have one big advantage, though, your husbandry is a disaster, so either "Bill O's." or ABbuggin's method should be an improvement.

 

[agent A]

your husbandry is a disaster

hey that isn't true, I am having an NPV outbreak and I can prove it with links and discriptions!!!

 

[idolomantis]

hey that isn't true, I am having an NPV outbreak and I can prove it with links and discriptions!!!

It's not NPV.. it has something to do with wrong condittions.

I doupt NPV still exists.

 

[agent A]

It's not NPV.. it has something to do with wrong condittions.I doupt NPV still exists.

uhgg, okay here's the thing:

caterpillars die in 3 days, turn black, brownish fluid comes out of corpses, all caterpillars becoming infected and last brood I kept the pillars the same way as this brood and only had one death. what do you say to that? want links on info about NPV to read about it?