We had a Luna moth visit a few weeks ago. While she was here she laid some eggs which I gathered before the beetles ate them.
So now, what to do with the eggs? I researched the internet and came up with a very exhaustive set of instructions by Bill Oehlke. I kept the eggs in a jar with the lid screwed on tight, as he directed. Within 8 days all five of the eggs hatched!
Here are the new larvae, moments after hatching from their eggs! One is already crawling around. The other four are still struggling out of their shells.
We moved the larvae into a slightly larger plastic container with a lid. No air holes, per Bill! Then we collected some sweet gum leaves and after drying them off and letting them reach room temperature, we placed them into the container.
Two of the larvae don't seem interested in eating today, but the other three have begun chowing down. Hopefully the other two will come to their senses.
Besides the sweet gum, they also will eat leaves from nut trees and sumac. I hunted around for some alternate leaves for them in case they're being picky eaters, but didn't find anything but poison oak, and I'm not about to collect that!!
Stay tuned to see if I manage to keep these guys alive! Here's keeping my fingers crossed.
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