Hi
I found an Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillar in my garden last September. None of the neighbouring gardens nor mine have any of the flowers they eat so assumed a bird had dropped it while flying over.
I bought it a fuchsia and it fed until it became a pupa.
I kept it in a cool area in my house and hoped it would survive.
It did survive, but it hatched on Monday night! Which, from what I read online is about 2mths too early!
My fuchsia plant has only just begun to grow new shoots so I had to go to a local garden centre to find one that had some signs of life on it.
The moth had been hanging off the netting I have covering the box it was in since it hatched, I read this was to dry their wings.
It has flown around the box once so luckily its wings aren't damaged like I read they sometimes can be when reared indoors (it's quite a big box as I wasn't sure how much space it would need!), I put the fuchsia plant inside the box in case it wanted to eat and it is now sitting on a branch.
I don't know what to do next, if I release it outside will it die because it's too early?
Can I keep it until May or will it likely die this way too? The fuchsia plant it is sitting on at the moment has a lot of small leafy shoots and I have put some sugar water in a plastic bottle lid as I read they can eat this too.
It doesn't seem to be eating though? Is there anything I need to do? Or do I just leave it? Is it still just drying its wings?
When it comes to releasing it do I release where I found it? There isn't any food in any of the nearby gardens so should I take it to the allotment or woodlands that are very close by?
Thanks!
I found an Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillar in my garden last September. None of the neighbouring gardens nor mine have any of the flowers they eat so assumed a bird had dropped it while flying over.
I bought it a fuchsia and it fed until it became a pupa.
I kept it in a cool area in my house and hoped it would survive.
It did survive, but it hatched on Monday night! Which, from what I read online is about 2mths too early!
My fuchsia plant has only just begun to grow new shoots so I had to go to a local garden centre to find one that had some signs of life on it.
The moth had been hanging off the netting I have covering the box it was in since it hatched, I read this was to dry their wings.
It has flown around the box once so luckily its wings aren't damaged like I read they sometimes can be when reared indoors (it's quite a big box as I wasn't sure how much space it would need!), I put the fuchsia plant inside the box in case it wanted to eat and it is now sitting on a branch.
I don't know what to do next, if I release it outside will it die because it's too early?
Can I keep it until May or will it likely die this way too? The fuchsia plant it is sitting on at the moment has a lot of small leafy shoots and I have put some sugar water in a plastic bottle lid as I read they can eat this too.
It doesn't seem to be eating though? Is there anything I need to do? Or do I just leave it? Is it still just drying its wings?
When it comes to releasing it do I release where I found it? There isn't any food in any of the nearby gardens so should I take it to the allotment or woodlands that are very close by?
Thanks!