www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

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

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

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?