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Pop' Hawk Cats.. (1 Viewer)

Just another short update on my Poplar Cats....

I've just been cleaning out their box and have noticed some shed skin on the underside of a leaf, this would make the biggest one's 2nd instar's....I think? :t:
 
How big are your caterpillars now Highlander? My biggest ones are now around 3,5 cm when they sit the their resting position. The last couple of days they've started eating A LOT! Look at the attached picture, the caterpillar in the picture and one more did that in one night. And there's more leaves eaten outside the picture.
 

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Oleander said:
How big are your caterpillars now Highlander? My biggest ones are now around 3,5 cm when they sit the their resting position. The last couple of days they've started eating A LOT! Look at the attached picture, the caterpillar in the picture and one more did that in one night. And there's more leaves eaten outside the picture.
Click to expand...

Hi Kalle, my Cats are at about the same stage as yours now, the biggest is close to 4cm, over 5cm when on the move!! Some have a lot of red lateral dots, others of the same size have none?

I'm thinking about uping the amount of food I give them, they go through what I'm giving them in just one day, and I might have to get more boxes and separate them now that they are getting bigger.......

Photo's #1 & #2 show the largest Cat. crawling around on my 4yr old daughters hand, you can judge the scale from these...:t:
 

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Just for sharing here's my my Privet Hawk-moth cat with my biggest Poplar Hawk. Picture taken yesterday.
This morning the Privet caterpillar had turned a red colour on it's back so I successfully reared it all the way to pupation! It feels great! It's about 7,5cm long when it sits like in the picture.
 

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They get around 6-7cm long I think. That's is just what I've read in a book, I have not seen the fully grown caterpillar. I reared Poplar Hawk caterpillars last year, but they all died. The biggest I had was around 4cm.
 
hopefully you'll have better luck this time round Kalle......

I've just come back from Tescos (there are other superstores available ;)) armed with newer, bigger, better tubs for the Cats - they're starting to out-grow the old ones so I think it's time to upsize their living quaters......the largest Cat is now 5.5cm long at rest, it's truely unbelievable just how much they grow in such a short time!

I'm thinking about doing something different with them tomorrow evening.........If this sounds weird, (hopefully it does'nt) don't worry, it's nothing dodgy!!! :eek!:.....I think everyone will enjoy. :t:
 
An interesting thread here. I have just recently found Privet hawkmoth caterpillars in Norfolk and the Chilterns. I have not looked for caterpillars of this species since the early 90's, so I am having a go at growing them on. A friend of mine Chris Hazel wants to photograph the adults if I can get them to that stage.
I have got the caterpillars on garden privet (green form) in a jar of water with the top sealed and placed in an airy flight cage. I did have the caterpillars previously in sealed containers but a virus hit four so moved caterpillars to open flight cage immediately.
Good luck with you all having a go at the hawkmoth caterpillars.

Brian Laney, Northamptonshire.
 
The Hairy Highlander said:
Hi folks...

I mentioned in my last post about doing something different with the Cats., well I've just finished a little film....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3857NG8UF5A

Hope you all enjoy it! :-O
Click to expand...

Nice video! My caterpillars don't have those big red dots, maybe they get that when they are feeding on sallow? It's amazing how much and fast they eat! Feels like I spend the day changing food for them and I have only about 15 left.
 
I don't think anyone of my caterpillars is going to survive this year either... :-C Many of them have totally lost their grip in their feet and can barely move on the ground. As in the picture some are fat, but far away from fully grown.

Most of the caterpillars that get weird I keep in ice cream boxes with about 3-5 in each box. Every day when I change food the frass is everywhere and not little neat 'balls', but tiny flakes. They probably crawl around in there and in the frass. They also look dirty, maybe covered in the frass. I have paper towels in the bottom and they are all wet after a night and I don't put in wet foot.

This caterpillar breeding is a big mystery for me, there is very few caterpillars that survive in my hands. |8(|
 

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Oleander said:
I don't think anyone of my caterpillars is going to survive this year either... :-C Many of them have totally lost their grip in their feet and can barely move on the ground. As in the picture some are fat, but far away from fully grown.

Most of the caterpillars that get weird I keep in ice cream boxes with about 3-5 in each box. Every day when I change food the frass is everywhere and not little neat 'balls', but tiny flakes. They probably crawl around in there and in the frass. They also look dirty, maybe covered in the frass. I have paper towels in the bottom and they are all wet after a night and I don't put in wet foot.

This caterpillar breeding is a big mystery for me, there is very few caterpillars that survive in my hands. |8(|
Click to expand...

Hello Kalle,

I'm not being critical, but it seems that you have an awful lot of sallow leaves in that plastic tub and these give off a considerable amount of moisture in warm conditions, I would reduce the amount by at least a half or thin out the larvae and only give them enough to last them 12 hours.

I feed mine twice a day, I know it's laborious but I don't loose many larvae since my debacle with the Convolvulous Hawkmoth.

Hawkmoth larvae also exude liquid when they are ready to pupate so you could try isolating them in cardboard drinks cartons (suitable cleaned) and fill each 2/3rds full with steralised soil or peat. You haven't anything to loose at the moment.

Regards,

Harry
 
harry eales said:
Hello Kalle,

I'm not being critical, but it seems that you have an awful lot of sallow leaves in that plastic tub and these give off a considerable amount of moisture in warm conditions, I would reduce the amount by at least a half or thin out the larvae and only give them enough to last them 12 hours.

I feed mine twice a day, I know it's laborious but I don't loose many larvae since my debacle with the Convolvulous Hawkmoth.

Hawkmoth larvae also exude liquid when they are ready to pupate so you could try isolating them in cardboard drinks cartons (suitable cleaned) and fill each 2/3rds full with steralised soil or peat. You haven't anything to loose at the moment.

Regards,

Harry
Click to expand...

Thanks for the help. I will try not to give them so much food, but sometimes in the morning everything I put in there is eaten. I want to give them enough so they won't need to sit their and wait for more. I did put a couple of them is a box half filled with dried soil, but the caterpillars are not more than 3 cm long.
 
harry eales said:
A larvae about to pupate takes on a glossy sheen on its skin and starts to contract slightly in size, then is the time to put it into the pupating box or tub which should be at least 8 inches deep. It's not uncommon for a larva to go down 6 inches or more.....
Click to expand...

EEK!! :eek!:

I think some of my Cats are starting to pupate......:t:
 
Here is a little update from me and my caterpillars.

Two of my Pop Hawk caterpillars have now actually pupated! They are only 3cm long, so smaller than they should be. I wonder what might have caused this? The female I got the eggs from was a big moth.
Also my Privet Hawk cat have pupated, it too is smaller than it should be, but only slightly. It measures 4,5cm, just under the normal size.
And finally another smaller-than-it-should-be Eyed Hawk. It's about the same size as the Poplar Hawk pupa.

In the group photo in order from the top: Eyed, Poplar and Privet.
 

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Oleander said:
Here is a little update from me and my caterpillars.

Two of my Pop Hawk caterpillars have now actually pupated! They are only 3cm long, so smaller than they should be. I wonder what might have caused this? The female I got the eggs from was a big moth.
Also my Privet Hawk cat have pupated, it too is smaller than it should be, but only slightly. It measures 4,5cm, just under the normal size.
And finally another smaller-than-it-should-be Eyed Hawk. It's about the same size as the Poplar Hawk pupa.

In the group photo in order from the top: Eyed, Poplar and Privet.
Click to expand...

Hello Kalle,

Sometimes this happens and the result if the moth emerges is a dwarf sized specimen. Dwarfism is usually the result of the larva feeding on not very nutricious leaves or on dead or dying foodplant.

I have bred a number of these specimens over the years including Large Heath, Small tortoiseshell, Peacock, Comma, Orange Tip and several moths species.

It will be intersting to see what size the resultant adults are. Be aware that those Hawk Moth species you have bred sometimes emerge the same year, often in Septmber or October, so don't be in too much of a rush to put them away in their winter quarters.

Harry
 
Ooops,

I should have been a little more careful with my pupa myself, after posting the warning about putting them away too early in case of a late second emergence, I was surprised this morning to find a freshly emerged female Poplar Hawk moth in my Breeding cage.

This resulted from a larvae bred from ova this year. Sadly it was crippled and the wings had not expanded correctly. She's in the garden on a Sallow Bush, just in case a passing male takes an interest, but it's more likely she'll end up as bird food.

Harry
 
harry eales said:
Ooops,

I should have been a little more careful with my pupa myself, after posting the warning about putting them away too early in case of a late second emergence, I was surprised this morning to find a freshly emerged female Poplar Hawk moth in my Breeding cage.

This resulted from a larvae bred from ova this year. Sadly it was crippled and the wings had not expanded correctly. She's in the garden on a Sallow Bush, just in case a passing male takes an interest, but it's more likely she'll end up as bird food.

Harry
Click to expand...

Oh, I forgot about this thread. Thanks for your help as always Harry! Some more of my tiny larvae have pupated now.

How does males find female Hawk-moths? The males don't have those huge and feathery antennae like other moths. What if your female mates and you get a bunch of eggs, what will you feed the larvae with? I mean, the leaves will soon fall off the trees.
 
Oleander said:
Oh, I forgot about this thread. Thanks for your help as always Harry! Some more of my tiny larvae have pupated now.

How does males find female Hawk-moths? The males don't have those huge and feathery antennae like other moths. What if your female mates and you get a bunch of eggs, what will you feed the larvae with? I mean, the leaves will soon fall off the trees.
Click to expand...

Hello Kalle,

The males of all Hawk Moths and almost all other moth species locate their females by scent. I have assembled the males of many species to virgin bred females. All I do is place the female in a net covered breeding cage and put it in a position near the foodplant(s) of that species. Invariable during the night a male or several males will be attracted, it they can't get access then you may find a male either on the netting or nearby in the morning. Just make sure your upwind of the area you want the females pheremone to cover.


By far the best visual results are obtained with the larger moorland day flying moths such as the Emperor, Fox Moth and Northern Eggars. A virgin female can 'call' large numbers of males in the late morning or early afternoon on a warm sunny day during the flight period. It's quite a sight to see several dozen Emperor males tracking upwind to locate the female.
Give it a try next year if you have some female pupae.

I doubt if any ova laid by second brood Poplar Hawks would survive due to the lateness of the emergence and the fact that getting nutricious foodplant to complete the larval growth is already difficult (at least in my area) the leaves are already hardening up and drying out ready for the autumn leaf fall.

Harry
 
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