Post by davemoore on Jul 25, 2013 0:52:22 GMT -8
I am rearing a batch of Saturnia pyri at the moment from eggs laid from a specimen taken in the Dordogne, France in May this year.
Briefly, she laid 102 eggs and 97 hatched shortly after our return to the UK.
Of those I had the occasional loss and 79 reached final instar, fed on Hawthorn (Crataegus)
We now have 67 cocoons and 7 final instar larvae, all still feeding.
Now while 6 of the caterpillars appear to be almost full grown and I am expecting them to spin up in the next couple of days, there appears to be a runt in the pack. One of them seems to be healthy, still eating well, it just is not getting any bigger. It must be a third the size of the remainder.
My question is, is this normal for an odd individual to take much longer to grow, or may there be some, as yet to manifest, pathogen at work. If so I will remove the offending bug as I don't want any risk to be taken with the remainder of the stock. Already consider myself lucky that so many have got this far as the books I have all state that pyri is a difficult bug to rear, especially in high numbers.
Any help would be appreciated.
Briefly, she laid 102 eggs and 97 hatched shortly after our return to the UK.
Of those I had the occasional loss and 79 reached final instar, fed on Hawthorn (Crataegus)
We now have 67 cocoons and 7 final instar larvae, all still feeding.
Now while 6 of the caterpillars appear to be almost full grown and I am expecting them to spin up in the next couple of days, there appears to be a runt in the pack. One of them seems to be healthy, still eating well, it just is not getting any bigger. It must be a third the size of the remainder.
My question is, is this normal for an odd individual to take much longer to grow, or may there be some, as yet to manifest, pathogen at work. If so I will remove the offending bug as I don't want any risk to be taken with the remainder of the stock. Already consider myself lucky that so many have got this far as the books I have all state that pyri is a difficult bug to rear, especially in high numbers.
Any help would be appreciated.
