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Post by bluemoth on Aug 5, 2016 16:41:58 GMT -8
Santa Cruz County fair Bug Barn will be back for 2016 in Santa Cruz County California. Come on down and meet me ( the Butterfly Lady ). See and hold bugs like walking sticks and hissing cock roaches. See insect specimens. Kids Games and crafts. A fun place to talk about bugs. It is September 14 to 18.
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Post by bluemoth on Aug 5, 2016 8:04:07 GMT -8
You found the rite place. I think as long as you have reered some leps all ready and can cook a little you can use the lep diets they sell. You take out the amount of powder you need, add water, boil, then pour in clear plastic cups. It has geliten in it and when cooled and firm put the larva in and cover top with coffee filter. Extra cups with diet in them can be stored in zip lock bag in refige for a week. When Larva are new hatched you just need a tiny bit of diet on the bottom. Add more diet in new fresh cups as they grow. Do not reuse cups. Remember to separate larva into their owne cups by forth instar. I tried rearing Painted Ladies once on a cooke crumble diet - did not work so good. Get the geliten based ones.
I do not use file boxes for my cages. I use just your basic box that stuff gets shipped in to stores. Find some card board resycalling dumpsters or ask a store to save some boxes for you. I work at a place that gets a shipment of product once a week and plenty of empty boxes of every size you can imagin. The plastic sheet on the bottom is just used to water proof the box. Put news papers or paper towl on bottom to catch waste and change when needed.
I have not used a diet with moths. May be some one els out there has used one with moths that would like to leave a comment?
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Post by bluemoth on Aug 4, 2016 8:10:56 GMT -8
I remember when I was rearing reering California Tortoiseshell Butterflies they would do the same thing when disturbed. I guess this is some kind of response to tell other larva there could be danger near by. Also ioes that live together as a group for the first two weeks or so that I have reered in the past would do this when wanting to move to new spot.
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Post by bluemoth on Aug 4, 2016 7:58:37 GMT -8
I found a nice selection of artificial lep diets at the Online Science & Nature Store. That is ware I got the Monarch Diet years ago. I beleave all their diets are good ones. Phone is 281 554 9783.
I do not have video or photos of my cages. Here is how I make them : cut a door on lower side of box (basicly 3 sides of a square or rectangle is cut with knife)and bend back - two to three sets of two small holes are punctured in both sides of open end of door, insert pipe cleaners in to holes on door, one pipe cleaner for each pair of holes, do same on other side but make a loop with each pipe cleaner. Now cut big openings in other three sides and on top of box - leave one to two inch edges around openings, get some flexible window screen at your locale home and garden supply store, get some brads at the office supply store, ( at this stage before adding screen if you want to make the bottom of box water proof use dubble sided tape to stick plastic sheeting to bottom and sides belowe windows) now poke small hales along edges of windows place screen cut to over lap edges and secure with brads. Optinal - pait box with acrylic paint - this paint is non toxic.
Just keep in mind other spices of butterflies that are collected for egg laying need to have host plant leaves or branches touching top of cage.
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Post by bluemoth on Aug 3, 2016 10:58:06 GMT -8
Wow did not know that silk moth book was so expensive now!! I got mine soon after it came out for $80. I do not use an artificial food for Buckeyes. I feed mine on a weed called Plantain. The larva feed on 50 plus plants in the US so you should be able to find a host plant near you. I am not rearing silk moths right now but have reared at lest 6 species of silk moths and many medeum and small moths. I have reared more than 10 species of butterflies that live in my area over the years. A few times I have reared Monarchs on artificial diet and it worked well. Keep in mind not all diets work well so if you want to try this get one that has been proven to bring larva to pupation and hatch. You can get diets for some kinds of horn worms and may be a cuple of silk moths? Folks are inventing new diets all the time so keep on the look out. Getting back to the Buckeyes they are so easy to rear. I rase my lava in sealed bags or contaners till around third instar. They seen to do better with a little extra humidity during that time. By forth instar move to a shooe box or other plastic box. Put paper towl in bottom with a few leaves on top. clean out box as needed. New hatched butterflies can be placed in a cage as small as about one foot be one foot and they will still breed and lay eggs. Males are ready to breed at 3 days old, females between 5 and 7 days old. My cages are made out of card board boxes with screen windows. Pipe cleaners are used to secure the door. Butterflies are put in full sun all day long. Provide shade on corner of cage if it gets hotter than 75. Surgar water is equle parts organic cane surgar and fructose mixed with about 3 parts water. Leaves are placed in bottom of cage, the Buckeyes will find them. Some times they will lay eggs on the screen. Let me know if you need any more help.
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Post by bluemoth on Aug 2, 2016 8:38:58 GMT -8
Welcome Diaval. The butterfly book I like is Butterflies Through Binoculars by Jeffrey Glassberg - there is an eastern US one. The next book is expensive but covers all silk moths of the USA in great detail - The Silk Moths Of North America by Paul M. Tuskes, James P. Tuttle and Michael M. Collins.
When I was young starting to rear leps I collected every larva I could find from trees and plants in my yard. I lived near a bog that had a stream running through it and the bug life was abundant in the area. I found Monarchs on our wild milk weed and every year Mourning Cloaks would lay eggs on the tree at the end of the drive way. I found many small moth larva, tomato horn warms and once a huge Luna Moth lava on a low tree branch. Now I live in a different place not so good for leps. Best areas here to collect are now protected. So now I only rase Buckeye Butterflies that have turned out to be very easy and fun. Easy to get eggs from wild adults, rear and keep youg hatched butterflies in cages that will breed and give you more eggs to rear. I play around with the genes by putting similar looking butterflies together. I get some interesting mutatins like ones with three eyes instead of the normal two on the rear wings. I guess what I am saying start with what you can find to rear in your yard or nayborhood. Little leps can be just as fun as the big fancy ones.
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Post by bluemoth on Jul 25, 2016 9:24:03 GMT -8
I have reared this moth before. I found out they will eat mazineta leaves. They prefured this instead of ceanothus. Also feeding sugar water to larva once or twice a week will give you bigger moths. This should work will with all sp. of silk moths. I used 1 part organic cane sugar to two or three parts water. I taped one side of petry dish { you can use a clean jar lid } to stiff cardboard. Then picked up the larva and place them around the dish so that their mouths are in the water, once they got a sip they would stay there drinking for a long time be for they turned away. Thy love that sugar water.
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Post by bluemoth on Jul 20, 2016 9:45:29 GMT -8
So while at work I lifted up a shirt to hang it back up and out flew a five dollar bill on to the floor. Was it a tip from a costumer or just some misplaced money? Ether way I was pretty excited. This brings up the question in the heading of this thread. Retail is one of the most annoying jobs on earth. You are ether stocking or picking up miss placed items by costumers. My job is to pick up at the end of the day in a store that sells mostly cloths. Clothes store workers I think get it the toughest. Cloths layed on top of racks, dropped on the floor, unfolded clothes, clothes miss placed from another department, and hidden items that costumers plan to come back later for- all that must be hung up and or put back in the right places. So next time you are out shopping and see a man or women doing the grunt work of keeping a store looking nice think about giving them a tip. Beleve me it will brighten their day and make you feel good to.
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Post by bluemoth on Jul 14, 2016 10:49:22 GMT -8
I found this info in a Lepidopterists Society Journal 1994 Volume 48 Number 3 if you want to read the full article. This method was tested on fith instar larva of Eucheira socialis, Battus philenor, Junonia coenia and Papilio zelicaon. Do not know if this works on moths or other butterfly species. The 9th segment on a male larva has one pit. There are two pits each on the 8th and 9th segment on a female larva. Look on the belly of the larva to find the pits. Use hand lense or scope with 20x magnification to see pits. It was hard to sex P. zelicaon because the pits were pale with no contrasting color. The J. coenia larva could be sexed as early as the third instar. In the female of E. socialis females were esyest to sex between second and forth instar while at the same stages it was almost imposible to sex males. The male E. socials were easyest to sex during fith and sixth instars when the pit was darkened.
If this is found to work on many other species it will be very helpful for those folks who send only male pupa to butterfly exibits around the world.
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Post by bluemoth on Jun 13, 2016 9:49:30 GMT -8
I finaly got to lvl. 6 after lots of attemps. I never paied attention to the rows of bushes that apper around the game board till I got to 6. The bushes block you so you can not ply around the out side of the game board as you do on lvl. 1. There was also a short row of bushes that block your play on the game board. I think this could be a lot more fun for most folks if it gave you more playing time for each lvl. Hope fully it's makers will read this and give us more playing time. You will need lots of luck to get past lvl. 6.
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Post by bluemoth on May 18, 2016 10:17:59 GMT -8
Info came from news paper article from the 17. The new law {30 year permit} would allow 4,200 bald eagles to be killed a year by wind turbines. There are currently 74,434 bald eagles in the US. the Wildlife Society Bulletin gave the estimates of bat and bird kills. Wind turbine companies do not currently have to report kills so preventing more then 4,200 Bald eagles from being killed per year would be imposible. That is a nice handy loop hole in the law for the turbine companies. So maddening. So if this is allowed why dos FG fine you for picking up road kill when it is truly accidental? Laws are so messed up!!
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Post by bluemoth on May 18, 2016 7:04:54 GMT -8
This has been an ongoing problem sence wind turbine farms where created many years ago. Now wind turbine companies are trying to get 30 year permit instead of the current 5 year permit to kill wild life with the wind turbines. Fish and game calls kills by wind turbines accidental!! What a shocker that is. We all know by now killing wild life this way is no accident. Now if a creature runs out in front of you car just seconds be for you pass you will not have anuff time to react. That is a true accidental kill. But wind power companies know they kill wild life by now and is no accident. Shame on fish and game for not protecting our wild life. I am guessing some body in FG got payed off whith a lot of cash some ware to allow this to keep happening. Dos this mean if we hit an indagered insect with a car we can keep it because its an accident. May be a California Condor needs to be hit by wind turbine be fore FG dos any thing to stop this horrible thing that is happening. All Condors are tracked by GPS and can travel 150 to 200 miles a day to find food. There are 4 condor release sites in the US. Five to ten young captive reared Condors are released at each site each year. They want to have 400 condors at each releas site in the future. Just a matter of time be for a Condor is killed by wind turbine.
Estimated kills by wind turbine :
888,000 bats 2013 573,000 birds{83,000 were raptors}2012 4,200 Bald eagles - no year given
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Post by bluemoth on May 16, 2016 7:23:33 GMT -8
I finally got to level 5! But could not make it to 6 if there is another level. Butterfly wings on game are very well done and life like. Rules do change for each level. Can take a number of tries to advance to another level.
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Post by bluemoth on May 11, 2016 8:01:15 GMT -8
I made it to level 3 once and level 2 - 3 times on Butterfly Kyodai. I think there may be more levels after level 3. You will get a few new butterflies each level. If you get all butterflies be for time runs out with out having to use all your hints and board rotations you may be sent to next level. The number of butterflies you have at end of first game allows you to move on to next level or loose and have to start over. Some hints for first level are first get as many matches around game border first as you can. Tyr to oliminate butterflies on corners as soon as you can - this allows you to bring butterflies around game border to match them. Then do matches on inside of board. look for diagonal or side ways matches as area in middle of game is openeded. As you go remember to many butterflies next to each other in some areas depending on your moves will act as blocks so no match con be made. This is a tuff game but gets a little easyer as you keep plaing more times. By the way the more butterflies you get right more time is added to the clock.
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Post by bluemoth on May 10, 2016 9:44:32 GMT -8
Go to butterflykyodai.com it has a little gray sercale with check mark or chevron at the correct heading to click on on serch heading page. You can play as long as you want with no adds. Games leave you hanging with no clear rules as in the correct order as to click on butterfies. If you know how to play Mahjong you may be able to figure out how to play Butterfly Kyodai as this game is derived from Mahjong. Food luck hope you have fun.
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