Newly Hatched Elephant Hawkmoth!!!

my_mothafly · #1 (**permalink**) 21-06-2010, 05:34 PM

I feel such an occasion deserves a new thread

and I want to thank all of you for the information that helped me take care of my moth (and actually figuring out what it was!)

I found him (or her! but I think he is a he) almost exactly a year ago, when walking my ferrets (as you do) in the garden. One of my ferrets managed to pick something up in her mouth, that I swear I actually thought was some sort of cartoon! The markings on his back looked exactly like cartoon eyes. Of course, I soon figured that it was actually some kind of caterpillar, and as he was fairly worse for wear after a certain ferret bite, put him in a handy container with some leaves (which luckily happened to be fushia!)

After searching for ages on this site I finally figured out that he was an elephant hawkmoth and what to do to help him hatch out, etc. I really rather fell in love with the little guy, who was without a doubt the best caterpillar I have ever seen. It wasn't long before he spun himself into a coccoon, thankfully seeming to have recovered from his ferret-related trauma, and stayed like that for twelve months.

I checked on him often, particularly over the last month and began to worry he would never hatch. But finally, today, I found him clinging to the garden stick in his box! (actually, I was too busy looking at his chrysilis, which showed signs of cracking, that I didn't notice the huge moth right under my nose!) Cue much celebration and photo taking. He's still clinging to the stick as I type this, but I hope that he will be ready to fly soon, even though I'll be sad to see him go.

Good Luck to all other moth "owners" out there!!

Za · #2 (**permalink**) 21-06-2010, 05:43 PM

Congratulations on your new arrival

:congratulations :

well done!

Za

k4t3 · #3 (**permalink**) 21-06-2010, 09:35 PM

Congrats! It is such a rewarding thing to see a caterpillar turn into a butterfly or moth- more so with such a gorgeous specimen as an Elephant Hawk

Hope that you posting some pics?

Phil Whiley · #4 (**permalink**) 22-06-2010, 04:16 AM

Fantastic! The patience paid off (and I bet the ferrets are now wearing muzzles?)

my_mothafly · #5 (**permalink**) 22-06-2010, 02:07 PM

Will be posting pics asap. I was not able to release him last night as he had only just hatched but as soon as he begins to move tonight, I will. Hope to get some pics of him flying before he disappears.

my_mothafly · #6 (**permalink**) 23-06-2010, 10:51 AM

Released my moth last night!

Opened the container and put him near the outside light, and waited. And waited. Nothing happened. Tried gently nudging him. Nothing happened. Checked if he was still alive. He twitched his leg. Nothing else happened.

Tried tempting him with various pieces of fuschia. Was pretty sure that if moths could look at you with disdain, he would have looked at me like that. In the end, I scooped him into my hands (darn, his legs tickled!) Got some good photos like that, but still he didn't want to fly. Had my mom hold him while I took pictures and vice versa, still no flying. Began to wonder whether he was the only elephant hawkmoth without he ability to fly, and briefly considered fashioning a birdhouse type home for him, and teaching him to use ladders.

Whilst pondering this, he suddenly decided that the life of a moth who needed ladders was not for him, and took off flying. As he flew away, I said goodbye to the moth took a year to hatch, and an instant to disappear.

Of course, on turning back to the house I discovered that he had doubled back on himself and was now flying around one of the windows. At this point, my dad came outside, the moth instantly flew at him, and mom and I were shrieking not to swat him. Thankfully, both father and moth survived, and the latter rested on the wall. More photos. Then my dad scooped him up and did the ceremonial releasing of the moth (i.e. throwing him gently into the air to fly), and with a flap of his wings, my moth flew out of sight.

When he returned several minutes later, I began to wonder whether he was a homing moth. However this time, we settled him in a particularly large fushcia bush, with a warning to stay away from ferrets and bug zappers, and there he stayed. This morning, there was no sign of him. Farewell, my moth!