Monday, June 12, 2006

The lone moth

This is Luna (pretty clever name, huh?). She's the only moth that has hatched so far. We thought we were "thawing" the polyphemus moths, but there seems to have been a bit of a mix-up.
She's been sitting patiently on the window sill for 5 days waiting for a mate to come along, but no one has arrived. A few days ago I saw two of the cocoons moving, and I've also recently heard them make some scratching sounds, so all hope isn't lost. Of course, even if the rest of that batch suddenly hatch, there's a chance that they'll be the wrong species and she'll still be without a mate. Since Luna moths only live for 7-10 days, I'm hoping the others hatch quickly.
I'm feeling rather guilty about it all, despite having gone into moth-rearing with the best of intentions. The whole experience is calling to mind the old margerine commercial that advised, "Don't mess with Mother Nature" (who knew it was actually a public service announcement?).


Isadora isn't too happy about the presence of Luna or her cocoon kin. I think this picture is pretty funny, but she was displaying some rather unpleasant territorial behaviour and had to be sent to solitary shortly after this photo was taken.

I think I'm going to console myself now by pretending I'm doing research on musical-themed aprons while watching some season 6 Buffy episodes.



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