Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my little brother found a cocoon laying outside next to our fence on august first.
we decide to put it on a habitat for safe keeeping (and so we could watch it hatch). we have no idea what kind of moth or butterfly it is. today it started moveing around and we think it's hatching. I've tried looking up infomation on the cocoon online (google, wikipedia and the like) but haven't found anytrhing.My family and I just want to know what to expect when it hatch and if we should feed it or just let it go.
here is the picture of the cocoon we just want to make sure it hatch ok.
(we left it on the same side of the cocoon we found it on please tell us if we should stand it up or anything.)

sorry for the double post but I just realized that I should tell you that I'm in new york city (staten island).

Hi,

Hard to gauge size from the pic, but it looks like a polyphemus or luna cocoon. Is it at least 1.5"-2"? Was it wrapped in leaves? Do you know what the tree is that it was feeding on (meaning the stem the cocoon is attached to).

I am in NH and sometimes will have poly and luna come out this late, but there is more of a chance that it will for you since you are more south and the island/city are even warmer. (I'm from LI and my dad lived in NYC as does my brother.)

Anyway, back to your moth...I linked you to some sites below, but here are some basics. The poly, luna, cecropia, promethea and others all belong to the wild (giant) silk moth family. None of them feed as adults so you won't have to worry about that. I would enjoy him or her for a day and then release. Actually, if it is a male it will begin looking for a way out once it is dark. Sometimes the females will just hangout for 24 hours. In the wild (even the wilds of NYC ) the female send out her pheromones from a little tip she sticks out of her abdomen, the male "smells" her with his antennae and comes to mate. The males have much wider antennas than the female and it is most noticeable in the poly.

So I would keep it initially in something covered (a glass tank with screen top? Does the setup you have it in now have a top? Also try to expose it to normal temps (a deck/garage/patio) and daylight hours since these can be triggers. The MOST IMPORTANT thing is to give it sticks propped up securely so that once eclosed (emerged) it can climb to expand and harden its wings. Poly and luna wingspans can exceed 5" They release a fluid as they break out of the cocoon and as a defense afterward - it is called cocoonase. If it gets on you, clothing, furnishings, etc dont worry, it is totally water soluble and will not stain.

Here are some links for you:

www3.islandtelecom.com/~oehlkew/
www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/entfacts/misc/ef008.htm
www.fcps.edu/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/polyphemus_moth.htm
www.fcps.edu/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/luna_moth.htm

if October rolls around and it has not emerged then you can put it in a small plastic container and top in the crisper part of the fridge for the winter and take it out in April/May

keep us posted!
lele

Thanks alot! the cocoon is about and inch and a half long but it seems to have stopped moveing. From what my brother told us it wasn't wrapped in any leaves and it was laying on the ground when he found it (no attached to anything) we do have stick propped up so when pops out it can dry it's wings.

Generally they are still. They move when they think they are in danger to "frighten" the would-be predator (you) away. I know, it seems that if they just stayed still they would be safer.

As for how he found it, that is sort of unusual (provided it is one that I mentioned) but it could have been raked up in garden cleanup, a bird could have tried to get to it and stripped it of leaves, then gave up.

I forgot to ask you - you do not see a hole in either end do you?