Your cecropia moth is absolutely beautiful.

Beautiful picture of a Robin Moth Sherry. One of my favorite moths.

Wow! That's impressive.

randy

That's a beautiful picture, Sherry! Your post inspired me to look up information on the Cecropia. I found this website if you or anyone else is interested. It shows many pictures of the entire life cycle of this moth with explanations of what is in the pictures.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cecropia Life Cycle Pictures

Excellent pic,Sherry.Will you be raising more of them this year? I plan to concentrate on butterflies...especially Giant,Pipevine and (hopefully) Zebra swallowtails.
Dan

Hi, Dan - long time no hear from! I think the cecropia in the above picture came from eggs you sent me?
If I get a female luna, polyphemus or cecropia, and she mates, I'll probably raise some of her eggs. I've been seeing prometheas around here, so I think they've recovered enough. Actually, lunas have, too, but I really love to raise them.
I think this may be a bad year for me raising leps of any kind. My earliest pipevine swallowtails were females, who left, and I haven't seen them since. There are plenty of males flying around, but they won't be laying any eggs on my pipevines, which are making enough new growth to support some.
I'm not even seeing any giant swallowtails or female tigers and spicebush swallowtails - again, plenty of males, but no egg-layers.
I may be begging for eggs by May!
Sherry

Lucky! Mine are still in the fridge...

Yep,I finally emerged from hibernation.LOL! We had a really bad winter in Ohio.

That's great news about the prometheas and lunas!I guess they've recovered from the hurricane by now.

Strange that you're seeing only male swallowtails.I wonder if it's due to some environmental factor,like temperature or overpopulation?

Miss Sherry,

The colours!! Stunning! My DH has a fear of moths so it curtails my interest in that area, but I do have two Lunas in the basement of which the caterpillars were brought to me by a little girl up the road who "found it travelling on the road and thought I'd bring it to you 'cause you'd know how to keep it safe."

After talking to you and others last year, both cocooned themselves inside some beech leaves and they have been dormant in the basement. We are starting to get some weather above the freezing mark - finally - but I know it's not their time yet. At what temperature would you think they begin to emrge? I plan to bring out the covered terrarium and place it under the veranda but will wait until May to do that. At that time we should be in the 60s consistently.

Any pointers?

I always figured the best time for any moth or butterfly to emerge in spring was when their host plant has started to make new growth, Tiffy. Big moths are only supposed to live about a week, so if they emerge too early, even if they manage to find a partner and mate, what would the female lay her eggs on? She could lay them on bare branches and maybe the eggs could last long enough in cold weather, but wouldn't it make more sense for her to be able to lay her eggs on new growth, which is what they like?
So, I put my cages on the front porch when new growth has begun - if I were you, whenever that happens where you are, that'd be the right time.
Dan, I saw my first female spicebush swallowtail yesterday, and I think I saw a black female tiger today - I know it was a big black swallowtail, so maybe things are starting to look up. The cecropia and the luna males both left - maybe I'll get a female moth soon.
Sherry

Thanks Sherry. Much appreciated! I'll keep them in the cool basement until the trees leaf out and then they can go outside.

Sherry, you said: "It's the strangest thing, I can't find the cocoon he came out of - I can't find an opening in a cecropia cocoon, and I can't find a cocoon with liquid around it."

Due to the way they spin their cocoons it is very difficult to know which one they came out of if you have several cocoons and they do not show the "wet spot" from the cocoonase like poly, luna and others do. The cecropia and promethea switch their spinning motion from the "figure 8" to a straight up and down motion and create a valve opening. If I am an entire room away from my luna I can hear a single one making a racket in prep for eclosion but a cecropia can be a foot away and I can just look over and there it is!! Wonderful creatures they are :)

Yes they are!
Day before yesterday I was on the front porch and heard something scratching, so I looked in the cage with just luna cocoons and found the source. I watched another male luna emerge - it's amazing how huge their bodies are and how tiny their wings are when they first come out and how quickly their wings expand and their body shrinks! Of course there was an easy-to-see opening in the cocoon, plus tan liquid underneath it, so I didn't hesitate to throw it away. I have to leave all the cecropia cocoons in the cage, because I don't know which ones are empty and which ones still have a moth in there! :)
Sherry

lol! Yeah, the luna do make a racket, funny :) Depending on how many cecropia you have, you can pick them up and tell from the weightÂor lack of!

Just an idea... I save the spent cocoons to give away (actually use in presentations) to kids. You can cut them open to show them the discarded pupal skin, how smooth and hard the interior of the cocoon is and how strong the silk is. It's a neat educational tool.