Dear Internets, I don't actually want to talk to you right now.

[thanate]

There was some confusion over whether the Clarion West Write-a-thon began on Sunday or Monday, but between the two of them I've done about a day's worth of writing goal. Then today was spent cleaning house, running errands, and having my parents over for dinner, and now I am going to sleep having only had my computer so much as open for the last half hour. Tomorrow, we are having an air conditioner installed, so perhaps I will putter about writing things then. It'll be just like old times, with people clumping in and out of the house and drilling holes in the foundation!

Mrs Wren has stepped up the feeding schedule, though not to the full every-two-minutes or so that indicates the chicks are about to fledge. (tam_nonlinear passed on this lovely bit about nesting house wrens, if anyone's interested in how these things are supposed to go.)

...and the latest odd thing about this master naturalist thing is you occasionally get an invite to come help collect moths for a study, and end up coming home (somewhat unrelatedly) with little batches of captive bred showy silk moth eggs. They're expected to start hatching sometime this weekend, and then I get to work out how to feed Luna, Imperial, and Royal Walnut moth caterpillars. (I have plant lists of what all they're supposed to eat, and have scouted out trees, but the last time I tried to raise moths it was eastern tent caterpillars for a science project, and all but one died. Admittedly, that was also over twenty years ago...)

Comments

[funnylori.livejournal.com]

Caterpillars are extremely difficult to raise. The only time I ever had any luck was with silkworms on prepared media in a laboratory setting. I would fix up a batch of the media and fill fifty petri dishes at a time, and that's the only way I was able to keep up on it. I feel like they eat at an exponential rate as they grow. Good luck! I'm excited to see photos.

[thanate.livejournal.com]

These guys are local and not supposed to be quite so bad as silkworms, though the C regalis are supposedly voracious-- but also happy to eat just about anything walnut family, including some of the local invasives, so I don't mind stripping trees for them. If worst comes to worst, I can always release them onto appropriate host plants if I need to. We'll see how it goes.

[heuchera.livejournal.com]

I'm also looking forward to seeing pictures of your growing critters. Of these I've only ever seen the occasional Luna moth, and have been interested in them since reading A Girl of the Limberlost for the first time back in ancient days. How many do you have of each?

[thanate.livejournal.com]

in the 6-10 range, though I don't know if I should expect a 100% hatch rate.

Apparently the modern conservation-minded thing to do is only to collect males, unless you're breeding them & can pin your moths post-egg-laying. I'm also told that the parents of my C. regalis were raised on invasive ilanthus, which should reduce the amount I have to steal leaves from the neighbors.

[acwise.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Would you possibly be interested in doing a guest post for the Journal of Unlikely Entomology's LJ about the moth-raising experience? No need to answer right away, but think about it, and let me know...

[thanate.livejournal.com]

Uh, sure. Although having compared expectations to the calendar, I may have to release some of them into the wild when they're in their third or fourth instar and I want to go spend 4 days going off to Readercon...

[acwise.livejournal.com]

If it happens to work out timing-wise, it would be great, but if not, no worries. It was just a spur of the moment thought after reading your post. :)