Hello and welcome to the Forum :)
What a great success story!! Hope you get lots of eggs.
lunamingle.com hehehe

John

Congrats, congrats - he's such a beauty!

I'll use this opportunity to tell y'all about what happened yesterday. I heard scratching coming from the cage where the cocoons are, and I saw a luna moth, halfway in and halfway out. I could see right away from his big comb that it was a male. His leg and part of one of his hindwings was stuck in the silk of the cocoon. It was thrashing around wildly, and there was cocoonaise (or whatever that enzyme is) everywhere, like it was excreting more than the usual amount to get out. I don't like interfering, but I couldn't stand it, so I VERY gently wriggled his leg and wing from the silk - it wasn't easy, because that stuff is STRONG! And, of course, I couldn't do any yanking, or I might tear his leg or wing. But I did it! After he 'unfurled' he became a perfect luna moth (and a BIG one at that!), I opened the cage as it got dark, he didn't leave at first, but then he suddenly bolted like he was 'hearing' somebody 'calling'! :) It was a great feeling to rescue him - I'm not sure he'd ever have gotten free without help.

Sherry

Such a handsome moth. I wish they lived in the west; only get to see Luna moths when we travel.

Glad you were able to help your stuck one, Sherry. You have quite an operation between your butterflies and moths. I love reading your stories and seeing the photos.

Thanks so much, Gyr_Falcon!

Sherry

Such a beautiful moth, I wish they were in my area as well.
misssherry, congrats on your sucessful recue, I am sure I would not have known what to do. I have not seen anything with wings except some wasps for over a week.

I'm glad he turned out perfect :) Usually under those circumstances, it's game over. You're the perfect Lep doctor :)

John

lots and lots of eggs !!!!!! Can't wait for the little guys to come along!

John,
alch21 is not new. She has been around for at least 2 years now. First swapped emails with her in June 2012 when she was looking for cecropias.

KC

Yes, John, I've had some butterflies get stuck in their chrysalis, and when I finally tried to get them out, I found that they were actually stuck to the sides of the chrysalis shell. This luna moth wasn't stuck to the cocoon itself, just to that tough silk that reminds me of steel wool. I loved playing doctor, though!

By the way, it's very nice of you to welcome alch21 to the forum - maybe she just hasn't posted in a while. Let me take this time to welcome all new comers! :)

Another luna story -

A female emerged yesterday, no drama with this one, I just went on the poch and saw her hanging, fully expanded, in the cage. I opened the door when it got dark, and when I checked on things with my flash light about ?11:00 p.m., she was coupled. When I went out this morning to close the door, the male was gone - I can't remember a male ever leaving, they always stay together the entire next day. Since I'm running low on luna cocoons, I think I'm going to put her in a paper bag late this afternoon to get some eggs. I don't like doing that, but the other four females haven't laid any eggs in the cage, which has been fairly common in the past. She's up close to the front, and I can see an egg in her looking like it's ready to drop! I've put the paper bag in front of the cage - maybe that will prompt her to lay some in the cage. :)

Sherry

i, soooo, love ulna's...wish we had them here. I have to thank everybody for the wonderful pics of them.

SCG

I don't really know how common Lunas are in Southern Wisconsin, but I just happen to have some hickory and birch. I'm hoping to look out and find one on my screen door. That would be a dream come trueJohn

The WBC is better than the mulberry, John!

I have a 'wild black cherry cage' with one tiger swallowtail caterpillar and four red-spotted purples, with more RSPs to come. Tigers would be easier to find if they didn't lay most of their eggs so high up in the trees. :/

And if cecropias ever show up, they'll probably be on a WBC tree, plus many more smaller moths use it. And birds LOVE the fruit!

Sherry

Thank you for the info Sherry :) The Mullberry was a mess anyway, planted right over the driveway. Yuck. But did the birds ever love it!!
I decided that the WBC would be most appropriate for birds and butterflies, so I planted it in the front yard where it won't mess up the parking lot. It's a bare root about 3 feet high c a trunk like a pencil, so I'm watering diligently once to twice daily so it survives. So far it hasn't broken dormancy, so it stands a good chance, I think.

John

WBC doesn't like overly wet conditions, so I wouldn't water it quite that often, if I were you, even though it is bare root, John. Moist, but not saturated, is about right.

Sherry

Thanks for the heads up, Sherry.
My WBC has begun to bud so I'll slowly decrease water to once a day then twice a day until established. It's on a hill, so it never stands in water.

John

'Sounds good, John.

Sherry