Moth and caterpillar - Arctia caja

Added new image

Empty pupal casing, with comments.

… Phil Huntley-Franck, 1 April, 2011 - 6:01pm

We removed the July date from this image

since, apparently, it was the caterpillar that you photographed on that date. If you see the adults alive in the wild in August, then you should probably put the August date on this image. We don't know whether the adults normally appear then or if the way you handled the cocoon caused it to eclose early. The August date does seem to be a normal adult date for this insect.

… john and jane balaban, 18 December, 2010 - 9:25am

Sorry about the date - I'll fix it.

When I added the adult image,I kept telling myself, now don't forget to change from immature to adult and adjust to the emerging date - at least I remembered to do half of it. As for how I reared it, it was all guesswork . . . and a few pointers I picked up from various posts. I started in my garage; summer temps in the garage rarely exceed 70. When it built the cocoon, as usual, I transferred the rearing container to a screened, north-facing, open window in my den, to make sure I checked it every day. The window is always open in the summer, getting a tepid to warm draft (without direct sunlight) during the day and a cool draft at night - we run fans at night that blow air out of two upstairs windows, sucking cool air in through all the other open windows; without a/c, it keeps the den temperature to a max of 67 during the day and about 63 / 64 at night. Other than that, I turn the container daily, so the same side doesn't always get the draft.

… Phil Huntley-Franck, 18 December, 2010 - 1:53pm