Luna Moths???

Question

Does anyone know anything about Luna Moths. We have a yard full of sweet gum trees to Luna moths find there way to our home quite often. My son found one who's wing was quite tatered and could not fly so he, like your typical boy, smuggled the moth into the house and into his room. Now I have found eggs on his laundy basket and I am quite sure there are many more (considering that the web sites I have found say they lay 100s a few at a time) hidden throughout the room. I know that lunas are rare and I am a bit of a naturalist but the idea of little worms all over my house is not exactly appealing. Does anyone know if eggs can be transplanted to a terarium. That is of course if I can find them all before they hatch. Also any clue how long it takes for their eggs to hatch?

Answer 1

Mated females lay a 150 or more large eggs, in small clusters, which soon hatch into tiny caterpillars. Be warned, this is a large moth and the caterpillars eat lots of food. If you want to breed them,  It maybe better to keep only around a dozen.

Range in the US & Canada

The Luna moth is quite common in Southern Canada most of the Eastern States in the US from Maine to Florida . It becomes less common the further west you go. In the North there is only one generation a year…but the further South you go there are two or more generations per year, and in the far South Luna moths have been seen at all times of the year.

Lifecycle





The full grown caterpillar is bright green with pale orange spots, and is as large as your thumb! It feeds on many plants in the wild such as American Beech, Hickory, Cherry, Willow etc…but the best foods to use in captivity are definitely Walnut and Sweetgum (Liquidambar)

The full grown caterpillar, passes its last meal undigested as a wet mess…then looks for somewhere to turn into a pupa. It may wander for some time before it draws some leaves together with strands of silk from a gland called a spinneret, just like a spider has. The final cocoon is tough and quite hard…completely built with silk! It soon turns into a fat dark brown pupa.

This is the stage that many cocoons in captivity die through desiccation, remember it is dry inside your house!

Hatching the moth from the cocoon

If you want your moths to hatch in the current year, spray the cocoons with water every week, and keep them warm. If you want to keep them until the following year the best method is to place them, completely dry, in a small airtight container and put them in the fridge. Bring them out the following April, spray with water and keep them warm.

The adults pair easily in a small cage…but do not try to feed them as they don’t even have a mouth! All their nutrition is gained as a caterpillar! They will lay their eggs even if there is no hostplant in the cage…however I always found that by putting some hostplant in water encourages the female to lay more eggs.

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