Way cool!!! I always enjoy your photos. Thanks for sharing. Sure would like to raise some of those critters you mentioned but alas, most are not found here locally.

~ Cat

Thanks, Cat! Another one of the HHDs molted, and they're both busily chomping away on the pecan leaves. The other one is curled around with its horns laying down - I think it's molting. I'm really enjoying these!
MissSherry

MissSherry,

Your HHD is one of the most unusual cats I've seen. Thanks for contributing to the continuing education of this retired college professor.

BTW, your encouragement/advice convinced me to stay patient with my buttonbushes that hadn't bloomed in the 3 years I've had them. Three of them had at least one flower this year and one of the three had FIVE lovely white "buttons."

mike

Thanks for helping reintroduce these beautiful moths to your area.Hadn't thought of it as part of the Katrina rebuilding,but that's really what it is.I should soon have regal and cecropia pupae to share if you're interested.

Dan

I'm glad your buttonbushes are finally blooming, Mike, but I still can't understand why they're not blooming more - mine are covered in 'buttons' every year, including their first year. Maybe they like the warmer weather down here. Hopefully, as they get older, they'll bloom more for you.
MissSherry

You're so lucky... I've been looking for some HHDs...

Cecropia/Dan is the one that sent me the eggs for the regals and prometheas - thanks Dan!
I'll sure take the regal pupaes, but I don't know if I should take the cecropias or not - I don't want to introduce anything that wasn't here before. Hmmmm.......
MissSherry

I still remember the first time I came across a HHD up here in so IL. I was completely shocked at the sheer size and appearance of it, all lime green and those HORNS behind the head. It was lying at the side of the road and was weeping bodily fluids from a rupture so I assumed it had had the misfortune of falling from its tree onto the unforgiving road surface. I took it back to the house and showed my family, who are all kind of "eeeew" people and lacked my enthusiasm. Except my grandmother, who got the shock of her life ...she took one look at it and unexpectedly reached out and snatched it out of my hand. The cat made a mighty heave and thrashed its head (it had not moved prior to this) Grandma shrieked, and dropped the poor cat on the carpet. I scolded her and asked what she was thinking to go doing something like that......she said she thought that it was one of those big plastic toy things the kids buy out of the gumball machines because there was no way something that big and freaky looking could be real. There's one woman who does not like critters so I know she must have nearly flatlined when it slung its head about.

Misssherry, if you ever have any spares I'd LOVE to try my hand at rearing them. If they like any /all of kingnut, pignut, mockernut, shagbark or pignut hickories, we are set up!!
Sadly, I'm seeing less and less of the big moths...still lots of lunas, but that's it.

Dan, I'd love to have a couple of cecropia cocoons. They are present in Oklahoma, and I have elderberry to feed the cats. Since moths are pretty much "generalists", I don't think it would be a problem to allow them to emerge in OKC.

Susan

MissSherry, you continue to amaze me.

Edna

That is a wonderful, wonderful picture Miss Sherry! I have never seen one in person.

You're welcome Sherry,and thank you for the moth book and the eggs.Cecropias are native to your area so releasing them should not be a problem.If you put a female in a cage outside she will attract any males that are nearby.
The HHD's I am raising on sumac are bigger than the ones on walnut.They're in the 4th instar already.
Susanlynne,I tried emailing you a few times but apparently you didn't get them.I should be able to send you some cecropia cocoons when they are ready,so send me an email.
Dan

In case you didn't get it, I e-mailed you telling you that I can accept the cecropia cocoons, Dan - I looked it up, and they do occur in this immediate area. They're SO gorgeous, I can't wait til next year when I can see the adults!
I wish I had known that the HHDs grow so quickly on sumac - there's plenty of rhus copallina/winged sumac on my property. I cut off a stem of sumac and a fresh stem of pecan for my cats - so far, they're still eating the pecan leaves they were on. They may or may not accept new food this late.
MissSherry

Dan, my HHDs are eating a lot and growing faster now, so I guess I need to start thinking about where they're going to pupate. What are you going to offer yours? A container with clean dirt? An empty bucket?
I took a picture of one of them today -
{{gwi:502775}}
MissSherry

Sherry,they will usually switch to another foodplant if you don't give them a choice.
When they're ready to pupate I put them in a bucket with paper towels on the bottom and cover with more towels,then put it in a dark closet for a few days.This usually works but sometimes they just shrivel up and die.Give them at least a week before discarding,as they will look totally dead before they become a pupa.

Hmmm.....none of my underground pupaters have shriveled up and died, and I've always given them clean (no ants or other bugs) dry dirt in a container, with leaves on top, like in nature. I think I'll do that again - I don't know if it has anything to do with my success with them in that regard, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it! :)
MissSherry

One of the HHDs has gone to another instar - since it's not blue green, I assume this is the next to last instar. This cat is big and heavy!

clickable thumbnails-
{{gwi:334916}}

{{gwi:493933}}
MissSherry

Yep,that's the next to last instar,Sherry.Do you still have 3 of them?
I don't think you got my email,but check your mailbox for RA and monarch ova on wednesday.

I can't wait 'til I find one of those babies. They get my vote for North America's most spectacular caterpillar.

I haven't found any e-mails from you, Dan - I don't understand this!
One of the HHDs died several instars back, so now I've only got two. Three of the prometheas died a while back, so I'm down to three of them. Which brings a question - is the survival rate of big moth cats considerably less than that of butterfly cats, or do I just not know how to raise big moth cats? The death of a caterpillar is unusual for me with butterflies - unless I happen to get a virused batch of monarchs - but it's been routine for my big moths, although I haven't raised very many. Well, now that I think about it, red-spotted purple hatchlings have a high death rate, but my success rate with butterflies is much greater than big moths. Any tips, Dan?
I agree, Shawn, HHDs are the most spectacular (and bizarre looking) cats in North America!
MissSherry

Not sure why they're dying,Sherry,but most big moth cats do seem to have a high mortality rate.That may be partly due to the fact that they take a lot longer to mature.They also need good air circulation and do not like to be crowded.

Excellent photos MissSherry. I do hope the rest make it to adulthood. Keep up the excellent caterpillaring :o)

~ Cat

Wow! I sure do hope the rest make it, too, MissSherry. I agree with Dan, that big cats do have a higher mortality rate than others. This includes the big sphinx cats, too.

Today I found a Walnut Sphinx (amorpha juglandis) on a pecan seedlings in my yard.....finally. Since Randy found one earlier, I've been checking my foliage for signs of consumation of leaves. I totally missed this one, though, and he is about a 4th instar. I sure do hope he does not show signs of parasitization when he reaches the last instar of growth! Anyway, he is in a container now, with food, and I'll put some potting soil and leaves in the bottom today.

They are very STRONG! When disturbed or threatened, they whip their upper torso back and forth almost violently! I guess it upset him when I was cutting foliage while holding him on a leaf at the same time, because he sure did make a fuss about it.

I also have a baby tobacco hornworm on my tomatoes. I need to go back out and get her into a container as well.

So far, I've had

Tobacco Hornworms (manduca sexta)
Tomato Hornworms (manduca quinquemaculata)
Eumorpha Achemon
Hemaris diffinis (Snowberry Clearwing sphinx)
Amphion floridensis (Nessus sphinx)
Trumpet Vine Sphinx

Six different species in my urban yard! I think that's pretty darned good actually.

Of course, those silk moths - one of these days I hope to see some in the yard. We are just on the westerly line for most of them. If I lived in Eastern Oklahoma rather than Central Oklahoma, I'd see more of them.

Susan

You've got a lot of moths, Susan, for any environment! Congratulations!
Dan, they're not crowded. The two HHDs are in my biggest cage alone, and they've got TONS of room and circulation on my front porch - the fans blow all the time. I'm wondering if I'm not feeding them the best food? Knowing what the best food is is something you learn from experience, and I haven't had much experience with the big moth cats. Next time - and I sure hope there'll be plenty of next times - I'll feed the HHDs sumac.
Thanks, Cat! I'm really enjoying these big moths - now if I could just perfect the art of raising them!
MissSherry

Susan,it's amazing that you have all those Sphinx moths in your yard.I've never even heard of a trumpet vine sphinx.

Sherry,you're doing all the right things,so don't worry about losing a few cats.I'm sure you'll be raising plenty of them next year.

Well, the big one finally quit eating and started wandering around, so I put him/her in the container I made for burrowers - it's got clean, dry dirt on bottom, and leaves on top, like in nature. As soon as I put him/her in it, he/she went under the leaves - I put a few pecan leaves in the container in case it changed it's mind. I got a picture before it went underground -
{{gwi:502778}}
MissSherry

Isn't he just a handsome devil??? Teehee! I wish we got them here, but we're just a bit too far west for them, MissSherry!

Dan, it's the plebeian sphinx, I think is close to the proper name for the Trumpet Vine sphinx. They had not been reported in our range before last year, so I sent pictures to our local lepidopterist and to Bill Oehlke because he had begun a database, state-by-state, of the sphinx moth species.

So far, the little Walnut Sphinx is doing just fine! They sure are a bit strange looking, though. They have a little black line over their head, which I am assuming might confuse predators, because with the black horn and the little black protuberance on the front, sometime I have to look twice to see which end is which. The cat is very long and thin, too.

I will really start looking again at the end of this month because it will be time for the second broods of many of the local sphinx.

I wish I would get some pandora sphinx and Virginia Creeper sphinx on my vine, but one day maybe....

Susan

Congratulations,Sherry! Let me know how long it takes for it to pupate.Mine are taking about 5 days.
Susan,is the botanical name for trumpet vine "Campsis radicans"? That's the one I have.Another name for it is trumpet creeper.

Dan, yes. However, I found my sphinx cat on one of the cultivars - the peach flowering vine (which hasn't flowered yet; I grew it from seed last year, and it takes about 3-4 years to flower from seed).

Susan

mrs sherry i cant figure out how to send you an email id love some luna eggs mine is leesamosborne@gmail