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Post by rtowns on Nov 9, 2012 15:28:37 GMT -8
I found a IO Moth Cat and kept it in a small fish tank and fed it oak and hibiscus leaves. It did very well and made its cocoon in a piece of leaf litter. I moved the cocoon into a smaller jar after that with some mesh on the top. I check it every so often and it should come out in may sometime from what I have read. I just checked it today and noticed some rather large frass, five total. It was somewhat far from the cocoon. I am curious on how the cat in the cocoon is doing this because it is pretty well encased in the leaf? Maybe it is something else being ejected from the cocoon? Like I said I am new at this and wondering if anyone has some info on what is happening. Thanks in advance!
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Post by papilio28570 on Nov 9, 2012 16:53:30 GMT -8
the frass was obviously stuck to the outside of the cocoon. no other explanation.
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Post by rtowns on Nov 9, 2012 18:12:13 GMT -8
I assure you that is not the case. The leaf litter was clean of anything suspect when I moved it. The container has just the cocoon and a stick for when it comes out. No substrate other than one small pebble stuck to the leaf with silk that came out of the original enclosure. This is very strange to me as nothing could enter the jar as I have zip tied three layers of mesh on the top. The frass or whatever it is, is 2 to 3 times larger than what it normally was before it went into the cocoon. I have made a count of five pieces so if anything new comes it will add to my curiosity. I can provide a photo if that would help...
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Post by collector on Nov 9, 2012 20:02:15 GMT -8
There is a possibility that the caterpillar was parasitized, and these are the pupae of what came out of the caterpillar.
Take one of these and see if you can crush it with your fingers, if it is frass it should be dry and hard, but if it is pupae of a fly or wasp you will be able to crush it, and it will be full of liquid.
Bedros
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Post by rtowns on Nov 9, 2012 22:05:40 GMT -8
You know I think your right. I didn't do the crush test yet but I am pretty sure it is fly pupae. They look exactly like some of the images I found. They are dark brown with even spaced ridges and have little white specks on them. That's unfortunate because I was really looking forward to seeing the moth in the spring. Its weird how the fly got to it as I had it pretty well covered in the original enclosure. Bummer. At least I learned something new. I did post a picture of the cat in the photo section when I found it a while back. Maybe I will get another try next year. Thanks for the info.
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