Rearing Orgyia larvae

[spamhater at nospam.nyet]

I have reared O. leucostigma; it is very easy to care for. In one
case a 5th instar larva was found on an apple tree in my yard last
year in July and was fed on apple. Generally if it is large enough to
positively identify, it is in or close to its final instar, so you
don't have much more care to worry about. It will pupate just fine in
any container you keep it in, mine did in a petri dish. No soil
required- the larvae are not subterranean pupators. If you do get a
female, she will be wingless, looking like a fat white furry thing
(imagine a miniature Actias luna adult with it's wings removed) and it
is easy to not even realize it has eclosed. Look carefully in whatever
container you have her in, she usually just sits right on the empty
pupal case/cocoon, waiting for a mate. Put her outside at dusk, (after
the birds are asleep) on a treetrunk, or, alternatively, inside a jar
with a screen lid (so her pheromones can escape), and watch the males
come in (they are very similar to, and easily mistaken for, male Gypsy
moths- look for the white markings in the FW discal area). When a male
does arrive, let him into the jar and copulation will occur
immediately. I have not timed the duration of mating, but I can tell
you that the female will begin to lay, on parting, a strange, white
frothy egg mass, the ova being embedded in a foamy substance as the
female extrudes them, which hardens into a firm mass, not unlike that
produced by tent caterpillar moths (Lasiocampidae). She'll lay the egg
mass wherever she happens to be sitting, so make sure it's in a
convenient spot. If you keep the ova, they'll hatch in about 10 to 14
days (depending on temperature) and you'll have many hundreds of tiny
larvae (and I do mean tiny!) to take care of (best bet is to release
most and keep a few for further rearing).