Wildlife October 2009

[Lesley Cox]

I made do with a chelsea bun for lunch Angie.

I'm sure there will be more if I remove some more trays so I'll try for a close-up.

[maggiepie]

Anthony, your Etta is totally gorgeous!!
I would so love to have one but am too scared of power failures in winter at -30C. I can't see any way I could keep one alive if that happened.

[Anthony Darby]

Are the eggs fertile?

The first batch weren't, but subsequent batches seem OK. I will candle them after the October break.

Etta is back to her bright red colour after egg laying. I won't put Sundance in with her for some while. He is moulting at the moment, but unlike what I was told, maintains his blue colour year round. Thank goodness the tiny pygmy leaf chameleons can be kept as a group, with the eggs hatching in two months in the adults' cage, and at room temperature!

[Ragged Robin]

Anthony, it's wonderful and astonishing what happens in your greenhouse - there is always something hatching 

[Anthony Darby]

These are all in my classroom as the greenhouse is now too cold for anything but bulbs. I have just had a 20 Brazilian (no that is not a number greater than a million) Bull's Eye moths hatch (from the spiny caterpillars I had in the summer). I now have dozens of eggs!

[Kees Green]

Anthony, as everyone else has said already those pygmies are beautiful. Do you ever rare any sphinx moths? I find these moths fascinating and have a few species from around the world in boxes-pinned that is.

Lesley they are definately fly larvae and as Anthony said they do resemble crane fly larvae, lots of our species live in rotten trees so if you have lots of bush etc around it could warrant that this is what they are.
I once hatched out a brilliant green species but let it go before I took any pics.

I am off to the Farm again in a couple of weekends, my nephew wants me to take him for a bush walk to look for Stag beetles, I will take some pics for you all.

[Paul T]

Anthony,

Any pics of your Bull's Eye moths?

Good luck with the Chameleon eggs.. I hope you get lots of babies, from all your various types.  Would be fascinating to raise them.

[Lesley Cox]

Thanks Kees, I'd forgotten there was a local source of creepy information. We don't have a lot of bush per se, though there is a huge stand of mixed gorse and manuka at the end of the road, with some Clematis paniculata flowering among it now. We have a lot of gum trees ourselves and pines and various chamaecyparis.

[Anthony Darby]

Here's some pics of the Bull's Eye moths (Automeris naranja). They are looking a bit ragged, as they have been flying and mating for a night or two.

[mark smyth]

Sex must be extremely rough

[Anthony Darby]

It is Mark, but we still come back for more.

[Ragged Robin]

Thanks for the photos Anthony - ragged they may be but still velvety Moths with those great bulls eye spots  

[mark smyth]

someone brought me one of these today. You either love them or hate them

[Maggi Young]

Live and let live, I say.... well, for birds, anyway! Those spotty guys are great for getting the leatherjackets out of the lawn.

[Hristo]

I am with the majority, Etta is a total doll! Anthony, does her 'partner' look the same or are there male/female differences?

Rescued from the main road between Greece and Bulgaria yesetrday afternoon, caterpiller of the convolvulus hawk moth. Not sure why it wanted to cross the road........