A. polyphemus just hatched cats not eating

Saturniid larvae often wander around for about 24 hours before settling down to eat. Try to ensure that the leaves touch the top of the box, so they can easily crawl onto them when they start to settle. Once they decide to eat a particular plant they must be fed on the same leaves at least until they reach final instar. Some species can be persuaded to eat something else then, but many species refuse to change plant during the larval stages.

Adam.

Hey Paul you beat me to the punch on that statement !

I was just going to say the same thing about the timing.

Thank you so much all, I was really worried about them. I will try to find a good source of willow if at all possible, I'm planning on starting to cultivate a large branch indoors of their preferred food. I have a massive divider of grapes and was hoping they choose this.

Another option I use often is to harvest a few hundred healthy leaves, put them into ziplock bags, add a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of cool RO water, squeeze out the air, and zip up the bag. When done it sort of resembles a vacuum sealed bag. Then I put these into the frig. Believe it or not, I’ve had bags like those last/keep the leaves fresh for several weeks. Some types of leaves will even last longer. This will mean you’ll have to tub rear the larvae, but that’s ok. I’ve done this with moths and butterflies as I’ve occasionally received ova at the very end of the growing season. When using leaves from the bag, one simply puts a towel over one knee, then several leaves, then a towel on the top and press the towels together with leaves in between thus drying them off prior to feeding the larvae.

Alright, another brief update, they did not seem to spring for the willow unfortunately (left fresh leaves in there for about a day). I have found two dead in the container ::( I hope it is not due to my incompetence. I have offered red oak (what their parents were reared on) and they seem to be liking it better? I really hope so, I would feel horrid if they refused to eat and died. However, I do realize that as with most insects and all r-selected species there are bound to be a few casualties, even in the best of environments. If they seem to like the oak I will try the preservation technique suggested by billgarthe. Does anyone know if actual vacuum sealing would be a viable option?

Here it is. There are abt 150 or si violet leaves. They’ve been in the frig for two weeks so far.