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Post by mothman27 on May 7, 2016 16:58:33 GMT -8
In Collins Wild silk moths of the United States: Saturniinae, experimental studies and observations of natural living habits and relationships he describes a method of mating saturniids he calls "Tying out." One ties a string around the thorax of the female and lets her have some slack. Then the female is able to move around.
Has anyone tried this method, and if so, was it successful? or does everyone use cages?
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Post by eurytides on May 7, 2016 17:29:01 GMT -8
I have his book and remember reading this as well. I have never tried this method....too afraid of losing the insect (moth escaping or being eaten by a bird/bat). I'm sure in experienced hands, it could work, you just have to make sure the string isn't too tight or too loose. I think the "cage" method is just safer personally. But hey, if you have like a bunch of females and you don't mind taking the risk, you can tie some out and see what happens. Having said that, what's the advantage of tying vs a cage? I mean, it's not like tying a female leads to a higher probability of mating or more eggs being laid.
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leptraps
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Post by leptraps on May 8, 2016 3:19:12 GMT -8
I never tried the "Tying Out" method although I read about it many years ago. As a teenager my father made me a rather large cage with 1/4 inch screen. I would place newly emerged female satrurnid moths in the cage which I set on the flat roof of our shed. The moths mated through the screen. I never saw an Actias luna moth in northern Ohio until I set out a female. I collected about a dozen males before I let her mate.
As a side note, my neighbor down the street had a big yellow Tom cat. His last night on earth ended while sitting on top of my cage swatting at in-coming Luna umales. I was a good shot with a pellet rifle. This is the first time in 50 years that I remembered that. And he was not the first cat in my gun site either.
And for all you cat lovers out, no comments required or needed.
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