Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey all,

Ive visited here a few times before(as kungfu281). I have moved on from mantid breeding, and am starting up with lepidoptera. Ive got 8 painted lady chrysalids, and another cat that hasnt been growing as fast as the others. I ordered some cecropia ova(yeah yeah, I know, not a beginner species) and because of their problems being raised, I will raise them outdoors.

I would like to raise the cats on one of the following trees I have in my yard: Apple, peach, plum, lemon, and grapefruit. I would prefer to raise the cats on grapefruit, but im not sure if this has been a confirmed food plant. Any help here is appreciated.
I may just end up raising them on apple, if grapefruit doesnt work out.

Some pics of the painted ladys:

Larva

Chrysalis

The Enclosure

And ill also be setting up a greenhouse this weekend that I intend to raise some butterfly/moth species in.

Thanks,
Andrew

Hey Andrew - how's it going? It's that time of year again, huh?? I have been popping in here more lately figuring someone will have some lep stuff going on

I looked thru Stone's book and find no mention of any of the citrus family. Citrus spp. have a lot of volatile oils which may be the reason. They feed on just about anything in the rose family: cherry, pear, plum, peach etc. so I would go with one of those. I feed mine on cherry but think I will try some on ash, oak, maple and others to see if I have differences in success, pathogens, etc.

Have you gotten sleeves for the branches? A tip on outdoor rearing is to make sure they get a good amount of sun during the day. Cecropia are prone to many viral and bacterial pathogens and it has been speculated (and proven to some degree) that the more sun they get the fewer problems.

You can either hatch them and get them going indoors in containers and fresh leaves (be sure to use young leaves for their young mandibles ) Or just place the eggs in the sealed up sleeve and let them go. Last year I did that with my ios - I put them in a huge sleeve n a huge branch and never had to upgradef ro size - it worked great and will do that with my cecropia. Ios grow MUCH slower than cecropia so changing will be inevitable unless you sleeve a whole tree, which can be done if you have a good size sapling.

What sort fo greenhouse? Would love to see pics once you get it set up! I have thoguth of getting one of those big screen "tents" that are sold for outdoor living. Keep us posted!

lele

Hey lele,
Its been a while. One painted lady eclosed yesterday, and 3 more this morning(still waiting on the last 4 to hatch). I have some (potted)hollyhock in there with them, so hopefully ill see some ova sometime in the next couple days.

I recieved some polyphemus cocoons last week, so ill keep you updated on those as well.

Will post pics later.

Thanks,
Andrew