I have moths!

[microracer24]

About a month ago I had a couple hornworms that were ready to enter their next stage of life. I didn't have a container to put them in so I just put them in my cham's cage. I have a large tree/bush in a large pot so I set them down in the dirt and figured I would see what happens. Well I come home today and my wife says there is a moth in Otis's cage. Sure enough there it was. A beautiful Hawk moth clinging to the screen. Upon further investigation I found a second one on one of the vines! Tomorrow I'm going to get a small screen cage, hummingbird feeder, and hopefully I can find a tomato plant somewhere...bad time of year for that.

I have 2 questions: How do I determine the sex of the moths and what is another good plant that I can easily find this time of year?

One of the moths is quite a bit smaller than the other but I don't know if that means anything.

 

[phantomchameleon]

Maybe there are some moth forums? Just kidding, but the smaller one is a male and the bigger one is a female! They're bigger so they can produce more offspring

 

[microracer24]

Maybe there are some moth forums? Just kidding, but the smaller one is a male and the bigger one is a female! They're bigger so they can produce more offspring

Awesome thanks!

 

[phantomchameleon]

Maybe there are some moth forums? Just kidding, but the smaller one is a male and the bigger one is a female! They're bigger so they can produce more offspring

Also i dont know of any other plant at this time of year that you can find easily

 

[nick barta]

They will still mate without a tomato plant in the enclosure, it is just a PAIN to pick eggs off the inside of the enclosure. A lot easier to pull the tomato plant out to pick them off.

You could try to "paint" tomato juice on cardboard or a plant to fool her, not sure if it would work, but worth a try.

CHEERS!

Nick

 

[Decadancin]

They will still mate without a tomato plant in the enclosure, it is just a PAIN to pick eggs off the inside of the enclosure. A lot easier to pull the tomato plant out to pick them off.

You could try to "paint" tomato juice on cardboard or a plant to fool her, not sure if it would work, but worth a try.

CHEERS!

Nick

This is a very cool idea. I'd love to know if it would work.

 

[microracer24]

How long will the moths live and lay eggs?

 

[nick barta]

If they have room to fly and a humming bird feeder with sugar water, several weeks, and LOTS of eggs.

CHEERS!

Nick

 

[ZacharyLeesWife]

I'm horrible at keeping plants alive, so naturally the tomato seedlings I raised for my hawk moths bit it. My solution was the tomatoes on the vine from the grocery store, I just pulled the tomato off the vine and they'll lay on it even after it's dried out.

 

[microracer24]

Awesome I'll keep that in mind the next time I have moths. My boy ended up eating them It was pretty cool I was able to take video of him eating one of them. He looked like he really enjoyed it.

 

[WAMBO]

This is a very cool idea. I'd love to know if it would work.

I wonder if Ragu would work too.

 

[WAMBO]

I once read that wing size will tell. I believe it said that males have long wings and females have short wings, but just search for horn worm breeding.