The Luna Moth (Actias luna)
Information about Life-cycle and Rearing
by John Campbell
Accordingly, we distributed half a dozen cocoons to each of several family friends and fellow workers in the area for their own and their children's education. In order to do this right I prepared a 'handout' of printed instructions with each package of cocoons.
Needless to say this was all quite a success with the various participants. I thought you might find this interesting so I have included the text of my 'handout' in this e-mail for you to read and to use if you can think of anything to do with it. (And also because I've used your public site as a preferred reference.)
Feel free to use it in any way you wish -of course any modifications or corrections are perfectly welcome as well.- John Campbell
Cocoons should be housed in a cage or aquarium/terrarium (with screen-wire top for protection from birds and other predators) and placed outside in a shaded area, not in direct sun. Twigs or branches of tree leaves should be placed in the container to provide the emerging moths with something to climb onto when they hatch.
The newly emerged moth needs to climb to a position that allows it to hang suspended, with five or six inches of space for its wings to expand. The emergence (also called "eclosion") and wing expanding process is a critical time for the insect and it should not be disturbed for at least 90 minutes after emerging.
To see photos of this process please visit the website listed below. The adult Luna moth has no working mouth-parts and so does not eat during this stage of its life. As an adult, the female moth's only function is to attract a mate and lay eggs to produce the next generation. The life of an adult Luna moth will last for only a few days.
If you plan to release the moth, it should be released no later than the second night after emergence, preferably the first night, as it would beat its wings to tatters very quickly while trying to escape.
If you wish to raise caterpillars and observe the full life-cycle of this insect, you should allow a female moth to mate (preferably with a wild male). This can be easily accomplished because the female will attract wild males using pheromones which she broadcasts into the air (for at least a mile distance).
If your cocoons are in a protected cage, or aquarium, outdoors at least one side of the cage, or the top of an aquarium/terrarium, should have a screen-wire cover. The screen will protect the insects from predators and provide free air-flow for the inhabitants. You should watch for visiting wild males (probably won't appear til after 11:30 pm) on the first evening after a female emerges from the cocoon.
If wild male moths are attracted to the female one or more of these males can easily be captured and placed with the female for mating to occur. The eggs that the female lays (place her in an inflated brown-paper sandwich or grocery bag after the couple have separated) can be collected and kept in a small container until they hatch eight to twelve days later.
The newly hatched caterpillars will be only about 1/8th of an inch long and cannot be handled at this stage, so fresh leaf material must be kept near them so that they can easily find it and begin feeding immediately after hatching. The most readily available food-plant for this species, in this area (Georgia), is the Sweet gum tree. Other food-plants that the Luna caterpillars will accept are Walnut, Pecan, Birch, Wild cherry and Maple. See complete list on site.
Leaf material must be kept fresh and as the caterpillars grow larger will probably require changing daily. They have LARGE appetites! It is also a good idea to spray the fresh leaf material with water before offering it to the caterpillars. This will wash off any other insects or spiders that might be on the leaves and will provide a little moisture for the caterpillars. Shake off excess moisture first, however.
Caterpillars are best reared in a spacious container with good air circulation. An ideal container is a large, screened-in box or cage that is easy to get into for frequent food-supply changes and cleaning. I have found that a cage (roughly 2 feet wide by 1 or 2 feet deep and 3 feet high) large enough for several water-filled plastic milk-jugs, to hold 2-foot long branches of the food-plant material, is easiest to maintain, but smaller quarters can be used if the caterpillar population is kept smaller.
When using water-filled containers to keep the branches of leaves fresh, you should always seal the open tops of the water jug with a wadded paper towel to keep the caterpillars from wandering down into the water where they would drown.
The cage or container housing the caterpillars will need to be cleaned of their droppings (called "frass") every day. If this is not done, the caterpillars will sicken and die. [note: The frass material can be used as a nice house-plant fertilizer when mixed with potting-soil.]
When changing the food material, it is important to not disturb any caterpillars that are in the process of shedding their skin (they will do this four different times as they grow). When the caterpillars do this they will become inactive for about a day and their new, large 'head' can be seen swelling beneath the skin just behind the present 'head'.
When the caterpillars have grown to full size (about 2 1/4 to 3 inches in length), they will expel some brown colored body fluids and begin a brief 'walkabout' (at this time they will also take on a darker body color). Soon they will settle down to spin their cocoons. Most of them will wrap themselves in a leaf to form their cocoon, but some will spin up the cocoon in corners or on the sides of their enclosure.
The cocoon silk will initially be white in color but just before the caterpillar sheds its skin a final time, to become the dormant pupa form, it will again expel a liquid that will change the silk to a reddish-brown color.
Cocoons formed in mid-summer may hatch in about two and a half to four weeks or may remain dormant until the following spring.
Additional Information:
A good field-guide for beginning Lepidopterists is the
Golden Nature Guide: Butterflies and Moths, by Herbert
S. Zim.
Other excellent books on this subject are:
The Peterson Field Guide Series: A Field Guide to the
Moths of Eastern North America, Charles Covell;
and
Eastern Butterflies, Opler and Malikul.
For more information about this and other species of North American Saturniidae moths on the internet, go to this website: http://www3.islandtelecom.com/~oehlkew and click on the picture of the Luna Moth to see Bill Oehlke's (pronounced: O-key) page on the life-cycle of this moth.
Mr. Oehlke raises moths and butterflies commercially in Prince Edward Island, Canada. He also operates the best educational website available about the large (Saturniidae) moths of North America. I have supplied some of the photos of American species of Saturniidae that are used on Bill's site.
ŠJohn H. Campbell
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