Dead Polyphemus moth come back to life?

[zombirr]

Ok so uhhhh I collect Dead Moths and my brother had found this dead Polyphemus moth and gave it to me, we both had realized that it was twitching slightly so I assumed it was just on it's death bed. And so I had put it somewhere and forgot about it for four days. And I come back and well... uhh.. it's definitely still twitching. I feel awful cause I thought it was dead lmao. What should I do??

[kevinkk]

Well, it's not like in the movies. Insects can take a long time to expire after living most of the energetic part of their life.
If you want to dispatch the creature, pop it in the freezer for a day or so, or you can use fingernail polish remover and a paper towel,
don't use cotton- it sticks to their legs.

I've learned to make sure when spreading a formerly living specimen, make sure it's dead, one time I had an atlas moth throw off all
the glass slides while pinned to the board. I was near the drying box and wondering- where the *** did all these
glass slides come from? The freezer is a sure thing.

It's just one of those things people don't normally see, usually it'd already been eaten by a raccoon or a bird.

As a breeder and collector, you get a little oblivious to these things, I'll keep moths until they die naturally sometimes,
like when males are worn or a female hasn't paired and has become unusable as a specimen, I suppose it'd be more humane to
dispatch them sooner with some moth dignity, but I never do it.

And you are correct-it's on the way out.