Elephank Hawkmoth Caterpillar

[Lance Morgan]

Hi Urchin and welcome back. How is your baby boy?
Large Elephant hawks can delay emergence to a second year but i think this is unlikely with yours. Usually LEH pupae are very motile and will wriggle if touched or handled. The definitive test to see if it is alive it to hold it to your cheek and it should feel quite cool. If it is warm at room temperature it has most likely died. Usually as a result of dessication. They require cool conditions and a little moisture pre emergence.
Pupae are best overwintered in an unheated garden shed or garage in this way they remain cool until the spring when the weather warms up.
All the best

[Harry Eales]

The easiest way to tell if a pupae is alive is to touch it with the tip of your tongue. If it feels cold, it is alive, (wahey). If it feels warm it is dead. (Oh s***t).

It's a method employed by the old Victorian entomologists, and it still works today.

Harry

[Dan Salter]

'what did your mum tell you about licking dead things?'

[naturegirl]

YUK!!!!!

Harry, I would NEVER lick a pupal case!!! Dead or alive!!

Just keep it cool and slightly damp in a garage or outbuilding for the winter until May/June next year and it WILL emerge!

You must remember to give it sticks to climb up and let it's wings develop or it will not be able to fly. The longer the better so it has a choice.

Naturegirl

[naturegirl]

Dan! Don't be so horrid!!!

Naturegirl

[Urchin]

ooooh well I checked check the temp (by using my cheek not my tongue LOL) and it IS still cool! Thats amazing you can really feel the coldness of it.

Great news!

Maybe its cos I kept it in the house in a cupboard over the winter, or maybe its cos the summer hasn't really ever arrived has it?

Hmmm I think I should put him outside, I'm sorry to see him go though, the kids have been eagerly awaiting seeing him all year.

[naturegirl]

If it's this late in the season then you should put it outside and just see what happens and let nature take it's course!

You must realise that it is rather late in the season to be releasing it as an adult?

You must do what is right for it though and give it the opprortunity to emerge if it chooses?

Naturegirl

[Harry Eales]

Originally Posted by naturegirl

YUK!!!!!

Harry, I would NEVER lick a pupal case!!! Dead or alive!!

Just keep it cool and slightly damp in a garage or outbuilding for the winter until May/June next year and it WILL emerge!

You must remember to give it sticks to climb up and let it's wings develop or it will not be able to fly. The longer the better so it has a choice.

Naturegirl

Hello Naturegirl,

I've been doing it for over 40 years and it hasn't harmed me yet. I note in another post in this thread that someone suggests putting the pupae against the cheek, that may work fine with robust pupae like the Hawkmoths, but try it with a Common Blue or a Hairstreak pupae and you'll probably break them.

A pupae that has been bred is pretty sterile anyway the larval skin when shed taking away any contaminants it may have picked up during it's final instar.

Must go now, my other head says there is a phone call for me.

Harry

[Lance Morgan]

Harry is right
The same process can be carried out by putting the pupae between the lips to feel the temparature. I remember in one publication I read from way back where it mentioned that care should be taken to avoid popping a bad pupa against the cheek which had died and gone off. yuk!