Happy New Year all!
Same thread as before but a whole year of moth hunting ahead of us. You don't need lots of expensive equipement to set up light traps, a budget of around £20 should be enough, have a look on the old thread HERE or ask again, there is always (almost) someone who knows. Wendy is our surrogate mum & has a house & shed full of caterpillars & pupas & breeding adults!
The moths are still coming to feed on the rope in the garden. All you need is to dissolve 0,5Kg of sugar in 0,5 litres of wine, by gently heating up & stirring. Then pour the mixture into an old pan & put in a natural fibre rope or cord. (Don't put the ends in as it gets messy). Leave to soak a day & hang in the garden from a tree or bush or between posts. Then go back just after dark & see who's feeding. I tend to pop out about every half hour until bedtime. Then the fun starts as you try to get the camera settings right for the photos. The rope tends to work for about 3 days & then needs redipping during the day before the 4th night. Here are some "library pictures"
My rope is now a lot shorter as I only have 1 tree & just loop it from one low branch, it needs to be about 4ft from the ground. Here is one from 30 December, a Chestnut
Everone is welcome!
Best wishes
Hazel in Southwest France
The Silkworms are looking good Wendy, they are obviously getting a good roughage diet lol
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Regards, Hazel
Following on from yesterday, this is the carnage which greeted me this morning ...
All clean again
King of the castle
Quick vid
They are fun monsters!
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr
Goodness me Wendy, they are a hungry and messy mob but beautiful caterpillars !
I hope they don't eat at that rate too long Wendy, you'll be buying up the whole stock of Privets! No nice little hedges around there I suppose, you could sneak out with the secators at night!LOL!
I nearly bought two plants yesterday, wish I had now! Not found any locally H, tend to go for useless conifers round here! Bound to track some down but maybe the common rather than ovatifolium which is reputed to be better for the biggies!
I got taken around a Chinese silk factory a few years ago. Fascinating place, where they have them at every stage and they do get very large. Do you think you'll end up with enough silk for a pair of socks :)
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Nige Flickr
Methinks not Nige, wouldn't like to sacrifice so many live pupae & if the kinder alternative is used then the silk cannot be spun! I was given a pair of silk socks many years ago & didn't like them at all!
All eaten again, not a scrap left ....
Decanting them onto glass tray now as they grip the kitchen paper so much that it's difficult to dislodge them!
Some footage of my monsters
Wonder how long it'll take them to reach pupation size? Will get a couple to walk the ruler next time!
Just read that the leftover silkworm cocoons are good for getting rid of wrinkles so save some for the ladies on here lol
I think you'll have to start charging them B&B at that rate Wendy, they are amzingly methodical in their eating