Emperor Moth

[Denise]

A strange request I know, but does anyone have a female Emperor Moth pupa
(local, not imported) that I could buy, borrow or share to observe the males
of this species in numbers coming to mate?

I have heard that it can be quite a sight. I have a secure net cage, so that
no harm will come to her, and I am aware that she will need to stay in the
fridge for a couple of months before hatching out. (I have a Poplar Hawkmoth
in the fridge that I reared last year.)

Any help here would be much appreciated. I have looked at
http://www.wwb.co.uk/ and they do have Emperor Moth, but there is no
guarantee that you will get a female, and I have no idea where the stock
comes from, so wouldn't ever be able to let them fly free.

I have asked on another site, and my local wildlife group but alas, to no avail. Does anyone here have any ideas?

Thanks
Denise

[Pete Eeles]

Hi Denise,

If you do manage to find one, just be careful to make sure that the males themselves are protected from birds (possibly by using an outer cage).

When I was a kid, I used to assemble males using captive females, and the local Starling population got wise to this. One morning I got up and the cage netting had been virtually destroyed, and every Emperor moth eaten

Not sure about the origin of the following:

http://themothman.easywebstore.co.uk/Em ... AA6A4.aspx

Cheers,

- Pete

[Dave McCormick]

I'm going to do the same as I have 5 emperor moth pupae at present, hoping ones a female, if so I am taking it to a bog I knoe has emperor moths, in april. I am going to record a video to see if males appear on my netted cage with (hopefully) a female in it. I'll be sure to watch out for birds as I won't be away from the cage much.

How long does it take for males to appear if there is any?