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Giant Leopard Moth #677961

Asked December 04, 2020, 9:44 AM EST

Hello, I have a Giant Leopard Moth that just "hatched" from his pupa and is walking around in his container. What do I do now? Is it too cold to release him to the wild? I am not sure that his wings are fully dry yet. He is walking around a lot but not flying.

Montgomery County Maryland

Expert Response

Unfortunately, there is not much you can do. After these hatch from the pupa they need to spread their wings before they dry. If this one didn't do that then its wing may have dried incorrectly and it may not be able to fly. As for what to do with it, you can keep it in the creature/pet keeper until it dies, if you want, since it's winter. The moths only live as adults for about 6-10 days.

This is one of the reasons we ask for people to leave nature outside. This moth overwinters outside as a pupa. The cold weather keeps it in a hibernation state. When they come inside a warm home, it triggers the insect to pupate into an adult and the natural timing is off. We do understand and appreciate your curiosity and desire to do the right thing. In the future, these are best left outdoors.

Christa

Dear Christa,  I feel terrible that we have given this moth a bad life for all its work being a caterpillar and then making a pupa..  We have had many pupae in the past and released the butterflies and moths into the wild without incident.  All those others did not come out of the pupae until spring.  I was shocked to see this one out so soon.  Since this moth was not flying, I checked under his wings and saw that the inner wings were stuck to the outer ones so I gently freed them.  Now he is trying to fly. I guess we will just keep him in his box until he dies.  Very sad.  No more caterpillars for us.

Thank you,
Lori


-----Original Message-----
From: Ask Extension
To: Lori Landsburg
Sent: Fri, Dec 4, 2020 4:35 pm
Subject: Re: Giant Leopard Moth (#0002775)

The Question Asker Replied December 05, 2020, 9:17 AM EST

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