Need butterfly/moth help please?

[TOLady]

Thanks so much for the help, Harry. I'll start investigating from here. It was in a dark, damp location so I'll attempt to replicate that. Will be fun if it turns into something!

 

[TOLady]

Thanks so much Jacki, I'll set up my macro gear and get you a good shot of the 'face'. I know exactly which part you're referring to.

Awww, you disappoint me, I had visions of you sitting in the rocker, crocheting doilies and sipping on a flask hidden in your skirts!! :Shocked:

 

[Leigh]

Nahhh.... the flask is hidden in my overalls, ... barn gloves on top to help hide it.

Yeah, but it's Dr.Pepper in that flask, though...right?:smile:

 

[TOLady]

Yeah, but it's Dr.Pepper in that flask, though...right?:smile:

Yeah, right! Sure, OK.... whatever!! *LOL*

 

[TOLady]

OK, here's her/his face! Pretty, isn't it!!??? :smile:

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Looking at this last shot, I'd say it's already starting to hatch. Those bottom segments weren't that stretched yesterday!!!! Better set up the camera! I might be up all night giving birth!!!

 

[fotographik]

Can't wait to see what comes out of that thing!!!

 

[Harry S.]

Actually, in my first reply I wanted to suggest exactly what Jacki suggested, namely to show the face because indeed it shows certain features that point to the final shape of the moth, particularly the antennae. Now that I see it I am pretty sure that it will be a hawk moth. But which species - we have to wait for the day it hatches.

Cheers

 

[Gale]

Who has the movie of sandi taking these pictures...
roflmao

 

[Rob]

Sandi, hopefully this link may help.

http://www.oxfly.co.uk/lps/pages/pupae_care.html

 

[Bob the Spiderman]

Re Bob the Spiderman

Many thanks for thinking of him.

2006 was a very bad year, the spell in hospital in September was very much touch and go for a few hours, but he made an amazing recovery(baffled all the doctors at the speed of coming off a BiPap machine).

He has just had his second cataract eye operation, that appears to have gone well, we shall know more next week when we visit the hospital. He can now read the computer/book etc without using a magnifing glass.

Since September 2006 he can now have ''respite care''every 8-12 weeks. So he goes in to a nursing home for 1 week, 2 in September so that I can have a break from acting as a 24/7 carer. This is for my benefit/sanity and he enjoys/copes with the rountine.

So far 2007 in respect of his breathing has been much better, this is due to the mild winter we have just had, the last few days he has been able to go onto the balcony and down a few steps into the garden( with the use of the oxygen machine), so this has given him great pleasure. He is away at the moment, but he says'' Definetly a pupa'' possibly a Hawk Moth.

I shall be able to give Tolady more information later today when I have spoken tho him.

if you wish to send him a PM, then I would be pleased to pass these onto him, please could you let everybody on the NC know.

Love and best wishes to you all.
Pam

 

[Bob the Spiderman]

re Pupa

Right I have just spoken to Bob.

1.If you are wanting to watch this hatch then you neeed to put it into some sort of cage.

2. You need to put it into some gritty soil,

3. You must put in some sticks or Bob says some cardboard may work.
I have seen these hatch, it is amazing. They need to cling to something when they have hatched, this is so that their wings can drop, if they donnot have the ability to do this, their wings will not form properly and they will stay like that until they die.
Putting the sticks in later is TOO LATE, damage will all ready have been done.

4. Yes a light spray will be helpful, but DONOT over due it, you need to keep them moist and do not drench them, I cannot remember how often we did the possibly once day or every other day.
5. Wait for them to hatch, when ours hatched we were able to put them onto a stick , which I then held for bob to take some photographs.

I know that several people have come back with advice to you, so Bob's/my help may not have been needed.

Hope all goes well, and look forward to the post.

Pam

 

[TOLady]

Jacki, Rob and Pam, this is just wonderful. I stopped the shooting, and turned off the lights, I'm letting 'her' rest in a container with no lid, on a slightly dampened paper towel (I'm replicating the moist location where I found her). As we have no vegetation out yet, I'll let her rest until her time. I don't want to force her hatching and have nothing to give her to eat, and then free her to this very cold world just yet. Rather have it happen naturally.

I have this large white mesh box (OK, it's really my collapsible laundry basket!) but having searched the net, they use these in butterfly hatching kits so they're already proven.
Twigs I can find thanks to all our winter storm, gritty soil I can find. Now the process begins!

I'll take more face shots.. in fact, I might roll it over and over and create a pano of the whole casing.....
Thanks all, and especially Pam/Bob, for your wonderful input. I love learning, and if I'm able to photograph a process, even better! I can share it. I'll keep everyone posted. Now I'm off to see WHICH moth she is!

 

[Rob]

Sandi, Poll time, we may need a name for this little creature. :wink:

"Rush"
"Flutterby"

 

[TOLady]

That's EXACTLY what I was thinking but we're not sure if it's a boy or girl.....
Geddy Lee of the group "Rush" only lives a few blocks away, so I don't want that name.... I'm hoping the moth won't look like this:

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"Flutterby" might need to be "Flutter-bye"...
OMG, I just thought: how am I going to feel when I have to take this beautiful creature which I will have nurtured from cocoon to wing and set it free???? Now I know how parents feel!

 

[Rob]

how am I going to feel when I have to take this beautiful creature which I will have nurtured from cocoon to wing and set it free????


Reeeeelllleeeeeef!!:biggrin:

 

[TOLady]

Oh Rob, you're no fun at all - at least it's not going to stick around for 18-20 years, eat everything in the frig, leave bath towels on the floor and ask for money every day!!! Once she's born, he's only around for five days - the perfect offspring!! :biggrin:

Here's some of his first professional portrait shots :wink: :

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[Phil K]

Thanks Sandi. It's a very interesting thread and I am eagerly waiting for the hatch.

And thanks Pam for update on Bob. I wish he will be getting better and better.

 

[TOLady]

If I'm successful with this hatching, I'm going to order some luna moth cocoons - now THOSE are moths I want to watch and photograph the hatching process for documentation. They're huge.

I did get interested in this last year but it was too late - all the breeders' cocoons had hatched by then. There's a gentleman in PEI who sells cocoons - exotic Cdn moths. I'm going to give him a call and see what stock he has left. I'd prefer hatching local moths so they have a chance of living in the wilds here.... Edit: all cocoon stock is gone for this year, I'll have to order them in September, overwinter them for hatching next spring. Here's his site for anyone interested...

Jacki, so glad you like these - I'll keep shooting. Thank you so much for the education - I do love learning!
I have more posted at my site.

 

[Gale]

Beautiful shots Sandi

Pam please tell Bob we always think of him and really hope he will do well.

Thank you all for this great info.

Maybe I will find one, one day

 

[Bob the Spiderman]

Hallo you lot. I am back from The Kenwyn Home for the Bewildered!.:biggrin:

Firstly can I say that I am retireing, as Rose Canyon has done a brilliant job for you on this Hawkmoth pupae. The information that she has given you is absolutely first class. I need to have a very very good look at it before I commit myself as to the Genus and then again I might not be able to do even this, let alone find the species. Although I will be able to whittle it down.

So bear with me on this.

Thanks for your good wishes. This winter and year has been very good so far. Long may it continue. One of the reasons that I do not post so much on here is the fact that I cannot post my pictures whereas on the NG. site I can. This makes a big big difference to me as not only can I show the members what I have done but I can tell them all about the subject as well. I find this very stimulating.

Having said that, if somebody on NC. can or has devised a way that I and others can browse and post direct from MY PICTURES then I will be back much more often.

I will be back with my findings.

Bob F.