Trichoplusia ni! A good feeder moth

[agent A]

hey folks

so recently I began rearing Trichoplusia ni, a generalist noctuid moth that is a great feeder. Approximately twice the size of a waxworm moth, these hardy moths are happily accepted by a number of mantis species

Here are adults in a breeding cup. There is a nectar dish at the bottom and a coffee filter at the top for oviposition. I put 10 in each cup

Freshly Eclosed Adults

Larval setup

hatchlings

mature larvae

the eggs hatch in 3-4 days, the larvae develop for approximately 3 weeks, and they spend about 10 days as pupae

I rear them on artificial diet. I will update folks on the best AD for them but so far it looks like this stuff:

https://www.educationalscience.com/the-manduca-sexta-hornworm-microwave-cookie-dough-artificial-diet-50g-adt204

I make it a little runnier than the recipe calls for

Also i am going to experiment with this stuff

https://www.insectrearing.com/product/general-purpose-lepidoptera/

I have plenty of pupae for sale too

 

[Introvertebrate]

I get the impression that Painted Lady medium is essentially cookie dough of some kind.  I don’t know how they would be as feeders.

 

[agent A]

I get the impression that Painted Lady medium is essentially cookie dough of some kind.  I don’t know how they would be as feeders.

correct

my mantises love these moths!

 

[agent A]

 

[Introvertebrate]

Awesome.

 

[TheWolven]

What kind of mantis is in the top right image? 

 

[Introvertebrate]

I would guess Pseudocreobotra wahlbergi.

 

[agent A]

What kind of mantis is in the top right image? 

I would guess Pseudocreobotra wahlbergi.

Pseudocreobotra wahbergii in the first 2 images

 

[Introvertebrate]

Thanks.  My copy and paste must have stripped that last "i" off.  That's my excuse anyway.

 

[agent A]

Please note that the low survival rate in the “hornworm instant agar” group means that the pupal weight and time to pupation categories are skewed. One-way ANOVAs run on the effect of diet on average pupal weight, percent survival, and time to pupation showed significant effects, with p-values of 2.77e-4, 2.11e-13, and 3.82e-13, respectively. There was no correlation between the cost of the diet and any of these metrics, with linear regression models for the three measures giving fixed r-squared values of 0.0469, 0.3299, and 0.2995, respectively. Larvae reared on the hornworm instant diet pupated on average 3 days sooner than those reared on the pinto bean diet, were on average 0.01g lighter at pupation, and had nearly twice the survival rate. Given the fact that this is a prolific species and that the hornworm instant cookie dough diet is nearly 8 times the cost of the pinto bean diet, more comparison is needed. I will now compare this diet to the frontier agricultural services general Lepidoptera diet.

 

[Introvertebrate]

Do you think plain ol' Walmart cookie dough would be missing some key ingredients?

 

[agent A]

Do you think plain ol' Walmart cookie dough would be missing some key ingredients?

yes