Overwintering Speyeria larvae

[Deleted]

After years of trying to successfully overwinter Speyeria larvae using different techniques, I may have found one that works. Now....this is looking good so far this winter and surely I can't claim success until the spring when I hope to be rearing these guys when the violets are out and fresh. I'll repost later on w the results.

I've sort of blended different tried methods to make it work. I use a Rubbermaid tub. I put in some sterilized wood chips, moistened them, then put larvae in for a week at room temp. Then I put them into the frig. and check once a month. The last two times I took them out to room temp. for two days each, I saw moving larvae and checked the stationary ones w a brush and...... .......they seem quite healthy. My taking them out for two days each month is to let them move around and/or hydrate. The neat thing about this is that having the chips in the container, the larvae can move to the location (dry or damp) of their choice. Some of the other methods kinda get too wet or too dry. The container does have condensation on the sides, but the chips are in there to provide varying degrees of moisture. In the past, most of my larvae would dry up. So far as I can tell, I've had none dry up.

Stay tuned for the final results later in early spring.......

[leptraps]

The only Speyeria that I have reared were Speyeria diana in 1977/1978. I started planning in 1976. I dug up Violets that S. Diana used as larval host in the Jefferson NF.I planted them in trays of 12 or more plants. The following year I had 50% more plants in each tray. I placed the trays of Violets in our garden and covered them with leaves and other debris for the winter. In the spring I moved the trays to our deck. By the time the S.diana were on the wing the Violets had bloomed and gone to seed. Once I collected several females I placed two females per tray and then into the larger cages. I feed the females sugar water (With a little egg white for protein) several times a day. The females laid eggs at the base of the leaf stems of the Violets. The young larvae then buried themselves into the leaf litter. There were many larvae in September.

The cages with the plant trays and larvae we're moved into the sun in the early spring. The violet plants began to sprout and shortly there after, signs of feeding were evident. They only fed at night. By late May I had pupae. Males emerged first followed by females a week or two latter.

I reared them twice. However, the second winter produced some all time record lows and snow falls by the foot. I was pleasantly surprised with almost double the number of adults.

I attempted to read Speyeria idalia. However, rather than over winter them I tried exposing the larva to light 24/7.
It worked, or so I thought. All the adults where dwarfs. That was the last time I reared Speyeria.

I like your method, a little more effort.

[Deleted]

As promised........a new monthly update.

Just checked both idalia and diana larvae in the chips. Happy to say I noticed many alive. I did not disturb too much of the mulch so as to not over do it/bother them. Two days at room temp. looking good for month three Now.....gotta wait until Feb. 1st to again warm and check. Fingers crossed.

[Deleted]

Well.....this month’s check showed some life w the larvae. The diana larvae looked better than the idalia did. Not too long now before I can get what’s left going on violets.

[beetlehorn]

Spring is just around the corner-(so to speak). I am seeing Daffodils with blossoms on them already, and my privet bushes are showing signs of new growth. I start seeing fresh violets coming out in mid March here in Tennessee, so you are not that far behind in Illinois. I am so glad to hear of your success. This would be a major breakthrough in Speyeria/Argynnis rearing.

[coloradeo]

Wow, that’s great. How did you manage to get the ova to get to this point?

[Deleted]

Actually, they are diapausing larvae. Hatched from ova in late Sept. these larvae don’t start eating in the fall....just go into the litter and wait out winter only to start eating when it’s warm and violets are growing. The problem w overwintering them as larvae in captivity is having them dry up or drown in moisture......it’s a fine line and difficult to do. All I’ve done is take the best of two main methods written abt and shared w me from Speyeria experts like Bill B. I’m hopeful, but still have a ways to go.....for all I know, they won’t start eating come spring and I would have failed. Just trying my best. Stay tuned.

[coloradeo]

Sorry, I meant where did the ova come from? I've not been able to get Speyeria ova successfully to even think about applying your hopefully very successful larvae overwintering techniques, but now I'm inspired to try! You did start from ova, right?

[Deleted]

I have a buddy who collects a few females and puts them in bags and feeds them in Sept and harvests some ova for me from these females. I’ve also collected in July where he gets these and got a nice series of both sexes. He would rather not have me reveal the exact locations......hope you understand. Yes, I did start w ova from him. Speyeria are a bit on the tough side to both overwinter larvae and even rear.....lots can go wrong.

[mothman27]

I was curious too. It seems quite difficult to obtain ova of speyeria. I tried getting ova from females but it was harder than expected. 

Having raised Speyeria from eggs I can now appreciate how difficult they are to raise. 

Can anyone share good locations for collecting Speyeria idalia, diana or atlantis? I would love to collect these sometime but I would have to make a trip and I would like to have a good location.  

[Deleted]

Well......my March 2 check revealed a few S. dianas. There may have been some idalias, but I checked a few chips and saw none. I guess maybe this isn’t the ideal method I thought it would be. I’ll have to wait until the big thaw to see if any made it. Oh well......had to try.

[andins]

I had a very good old friend in San Diego Co. in early 2000s, who reared rare Speyerias and kept their larvae in winter in his fridge. His name is Steve van Campen. We are not in contact now, but may be you can find him and ask real hints for rearing Speyerias and others.
Andrew from Moscow.

[wollastoni]

I have Steven van Campen email if someone needs to contact him. (send me a PM)

[Deleted]

Well........I guess it wasn’t meant to be. Had five or six make it and they look rather sad. A buddy of mine says to repeat this trial using pine chips from a pet store. We’ll see. Luckily, I have a back up source of larvae and hope to be rearing some in the next week.