Cecropias

[Clay Taylor]

Robin - 

If there is no host plant handy they will lay on anything that IS handy - the wire of the cage, on your clothes, etc.     Put a female in a large paper grocery bag (if they even exist anymore) and close the top.   After a day or so the inside of the bag should be covered with eggs.   

You can then slide the bag over a branch of the host plant, or cut out pieces of the bag that contain eggs, slide a pillowcase over the branch of the host plant, and include a few of the eggs-on-paper inside the pillowcase.    The pillowcase works better than the paper bag, because the bag starts to disintegrate after a few rainstorms.    I used to cut up white bedsheets and sew them into make big sleeves that slid over the branch, then tied off each end to keep the cats inside.

We used to raise them with the kids at the Meig's Point Nature Center at Hammo, and the kids loved coming the next year to see the next generation.   BTW, while Cecropias love cherry as a host plant, we found out by accident that they are also great to raise on bayberry - it depends on what host plant is most numerous in your area (we had tons of bayberry at Hammo.)

Clay Taylor
Moodus, CT
ctaylor at att.net
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Robin Matterfis 
  To: Butterfly Assoc 
  Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 1:05 PM
  Subject: Cecropias


  Hi All,

  Our ceropias started emerging today - I'm so excited!  We have 5 out right now with the possibility of 2 more.  One pair is mating - will they lay their eggs on anything besides their host plant?  (in a paper bag, for example?)

  Robin
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