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How lucky did I get???

Gregg M

Gregg M

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I had a moth laying eggs on my house today..... I know, what is so special about that, right??? Well it was a Antherea polyphemus AKA the giant silkworm moth.... The silkworms from this species get to be 3 inches plus....

If all goes well, I will have a few hundred feeders and a few to hold back so they can pupate..... I will be breeding these moths next year so there might be some huge, green, juicy, silkworms on the market next season......
 
I'd be a bit cautious feeding those out. The small instars, at least look pretty spikey and some of the saturnid (giant silk moth) caterpillars are known for having stinging spines. I've been stung by some and it wasn't pleasant. Maybe the large instars would be more palatable?

-Alice
 
I have raised polyphemus from egg to cocoon to adult. The caterpillars seem to be very soft and harmless (I handled them alot), although testing them out as food will be necessary.

Cecropia are the largest and most beautiful moths and caterpillars, and they are also easy to raise. The large green caterpillars (sometimes like a hot dog in size) have these big red and blue knobs on them, but they don't sting. However, I never squeezed them hard. But I did play with the caterpillars all the time.

Io moth caterpillars have bushels of stinging spines all over them. The pain is excruciating (I know for sure), but they and their moths are very beautiful.

I will find a link to a relative of the Io moth whose caterpillars KILL people all the time in Central America. Just give me some time to find it again!
 
Gregg that is sweet. Let us know how it all works out. I have been interested to see how leos like the silkworms.
 
I've raised ceanothus silk moth caterpillars and never got stung by them. It was the sheep moth caterpillars that got me. The early instars of the ceanothus silk moths are spikey too, but since my experience with the sheep moth I gave then a little respect. Usually caterpillars have these spikes for a reason. I just wanted to put in a word of warning, as it would be tragic to feed out the caterpillars to all your leos only to find out they were toxic. I'd wait a few days after feeding the first one out to make sure there are no unwanted side effects.

-Alice
 
Thats cool, if you ask me though i'd rather just buy 500 silkies for 30 dollars. It'd be less of a hassel than breeding.
 
You can also buy 500 minis for 15 dollars, 500 smalls for 25, or 500 medium for 30, or get a smaller amount.
 
brucestephenson said:
I have raised polyphemus from egg to cocoon to adult. The caterpillars seem to be very soft and harmless (I handled them alot), although testing them out as food will be necessary.

Cecropia are the largest and most beautiful moths and caterpillars, and they are also easy to raise. The large green caterpillars (sometimes like a hot dog in size) have these big red and blue knobs on them, but they don't sting. However, I never squeezed them hard. But I did play with the caterpillars all the time.

Io moth caterpillars have bushels of stinging spines all over them. The pain is excruciating (I know for sure), but they and their moths are very beautiful.

I will find a link to a relative of the Io moth whose caterpillars KILL people all the time in Central America. Just give me some time to find it again!
Click to expand...
Please do find that. I would like to see it.

Here are some
 
GeckoPalace said:
Thats cool, if you ask me though i'd rather just buy 500 silkies for 30 dollars. It'd be less of a hassel than breeding.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but those are just regular silkworms.... The ones I have are giant silkworms..... There is a BIG difference.....
 
brucestephenson said:
Here is the link to the best free silk moth site on the net:

http://www.insectcompany.com/silkmoth/kirbywolfe.htm

Here is the link to the killer caterpillars:
http://www.insectcompany.com/silkmoth/kwlachelous.htm

I am still looking for the site with the in-depth article about the killer caterpillars, but all you have to do is to touch or brush up against the spine bushels to go to the ER. If you're lucky, you will live.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. I couldn't find much else on the. I did, however, find many other cool poison caterpillars. While the may be deadly to humans via casual contact they seemed fairly nasty nonetheless.
 
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