Raising Polyphemus Caterpillars In Eastern Oregon

An adult Polyhemus moth lives about 4 days. Their entire life cycle is approximately a year in length.  About 10 days as eggs, 5 to 6 weeks in several larvae stages, and the rest of that time is spent enclosed in their cocoon. They enclose (emerge) and live their few days looking for a mate. They don't eat in that time period. These moths are actually fairly common in the PNW. I was rather surprised to find out how common!!  This page is a fairly comprehensive in a nutshell story of their life cycle. Here in Eastern Oregon, there is a company out of Pendleton who raises their larvae on willow and even chokecherry, I used a tiny maple that almost didn't survive being harvested! The company is called Sagebrush Butterflies and this link should go to their FB page. They also have a website. 

On July 20, 2021, Jonathan brought home a very large moth that was dropping eggs. Which is what these night birds do. They exist to lay eggs and if the female doesn't mate before her death, she will lay infertile eggs. This lady was in pretty rough shape after being found on cement near a light where Jon works, but she still gave us several eggs. I was thankful we had a mesh enclosure for her, but the eggs were quickly moved into another spot less easy for the young to escape from.  Many many people have chronicled their own journey with these particular silk moths. You can find their stories on blogs and on YouTube. This is my saga with different images and a longer write up than some of the others.  I used my little point and shoot for most of the images. I'll add some of Jon's photos, too. This online journey is in 6 parts. Each section has a bit about how to raise them. Part 5, I think, has the most information on that! Hope you enjoy this fun saga! 

 The moth was identified as a female Polyphemus moth. The moth is named after a Cyclops in Greek mythology. Oregon has only two giant silk moths, I believe. They are Cecropia, and Polyphemus. The former has little moon like shapes on the wings and the Polyphemus has the eye spots. The eggs cannot be identified as fertile or infertile until they hatch or not. People have theories, but the eggs are best left to come to fruition on their own! 

 

On August 4 we had little ones. Minute starving voracious eating machines. Many of them didn't survive for numerous reasons. Eons ago, when the boys were little, Tony brought home a giant silk moth and almost all of the larvae died. The majority because I had no idea they'd drown in the jar the leafy branch was in and the last one because I'd taken the caterpillar outside to live on a tree and after the cocoon was formed, something ate it. A nature burrito? This time I was able to do a lot more research into the life cycle of this particular moth. I tried the first instars out on a few different kinds of leaves, they preferred the large maple ones. Thankfully, this was a volunteer sapling and it donated a lot of greens! The photo with circles was on August 11. 

August 22 and August 26, you can see how much larger they were getting. The 27th, they entered their second instar stage. You can see the little bunched up bit of the old skin or shed. 

August 29, it turned out I had 3 instars left. There had been 4, but I somehow lost one when changing out the worn out leaves. I was sad and thankful at the same time. These guys really could eat!!!! Charlie and Alpha are the larger ones and Pee Wee was the smallest. Pee Wee was actually quite a bit smaller and I'm not sure why. It was also behind by a day. Measuring them to check growth was a bit of a chore. I absolutely DETEST crawly things on me. I may have refused to touch these fascinating creatures, but I did feed and care for them. I used coins, toothpicks, rulers, and fingers to measure the three. The 29th was the coin in this series, and the last two are August 30 and 31. Am betting that last one is Pee Wee. 

What we don't see

Jon purchased a package of trail cams and most of these are images from those cameras. The first ones are during the snowy week of Easter. I left the date stamp on one, just to show which cam he purchased. The last photos shared were incredibly difficult to capture. Note: The cam does do pictures and video, he took the images out of the videos for the blog-although, the first ones were still shots. To see what they would look like! The images are smaller than a regular photo. Hopefully, they show up well online! 

These two below are favorites. The snow and the deer plodding through. Just wow. 

                             This night image below was a surprise. We know bear are up in the Blue not Mountains, but it isn't often they are seen. Jon moved a cam to an area where he might capture more of their movement. 

                                                            Spring deer are a bit scraggly!! 

These next three photos are from my camera. This is one determined squirrel. Mittens has been frustrated with the critter, mostly because it tends to ignore her!! We moved the feeder up the window several times to help inhibit its feeding. This weekend, however, Steve may have foiled the squirrel completely. This window has supports for the air conditioner and the squirrel used those to leap up onto the feeder. Now those supports are covered with metal cylinder sections. I witnessed a leap and a slide, so hopefully, this seed is now safe! 

Steve was given a squirrel toy for Easter. It is called a Squngee. Basically, a bungee with places to attach corn to on the ends. The cam kept capturing after the leap, Jon managed to tweak the settings and was able to capture some mild acrobatics. After a bit, Steve will move the cobs up and give the squirrel a better workout! YouTube has some videos posted with different creatures using this fun contraption. One has racoon visiting at night! 

 

Back in Time Hansell Side

 It has been almost a year since updating anything in blogger. I'm a bit annoyed because it still has annoying glictches that remain unchanged. At any rate, I wanted to go back in time. Easter 2022 week was spent doing many different things. One of them was going through and moving family slides to digital media. The Kodak Slide n Scan I purchased worked much better after Jon figured out a more efficient way to use it. Unfortunately, for some strange reason, the scanner only allows one to put the dates from 1980 to 2050 on images. There are dates on the slides, but I've not written them down in a notebook yet. Some of the photos have people who are also not written down yet! I will edit them in as I get them.  No matter, enjoy these first years of the Rod Hansell family as we go back in time. 

                          Pre Steve vacation with family from Dorothy's side on the Oregon Coast. 

Grandma Flossie and Steve 

                                                   

                                                                Dorothy and Steve

                                       

                                                          Cousin Kelly and Steve

                                                         Kenny, in front, Rick and Rod Hansell

                                                         Caledonian Day Parade '67?

                                                     Steve and his cousins, Kelly and Kyle? 

                                             Pendleton Round Up, 

                                                 Larry Coppock and fellow hunters.  

Mother's Day 2021

Here, he could exist; "but mere existence is not enough," he sighed; "to live, one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower!" ~ Hans Christian Andersen.

Above is one of a trio of tulips that has been blooming since Mid April! They are the only ones of this color in the yard. 

These tulips are under choke cherry trees and looked spindly this spring. Lovely blooms on not very sturdy tall stems. 

We had meals with Dorothy two Sunday's in a row. The first Sunday we went to the newly reopened Long Branch. Grandpa always wanted to play card games before the meal arrived and the tradition has carried on. Jon chose to play a game called 'Golf'. Except Dorothy didn't remember it the way the guys did. Dorothy won the first game, because she accidentally played twice in a row. Even though they were playing with 8 cards and the sister's don't do that. She said they played it all the time and when Steve asked her who taught her, she said, 'Grandpa.' Who also taught the guys!! Later, Dorothy was a bit annoyed at the way Jon was playing. She said, "We don't play like ordinary people, we like to let everyone see if they can make a match." Steve responded with, 'You would't want to win or anything...." She also said, "I'm glad you two don't play with us!" 

After lunch, an elderly lady with a cane walked up to Dorothy. The lady had on a mask and said happily, 'I thought I recognized you! But, I don't remember your name.' After a bit of chit chat, the woman walked off and we asked Dorothy who she was. Dorothy replied, 'I recognize her, but I don't remember her name!' 

The next Sunday, we invited Dorothy down for dinner on Mother's Day. While we were still getting things sorted, Jon showed off some of his photos from up on the Ranch (see previous post). He and Steve also brought in a pair of kits for her to meet. These are Maude's, they are about 11 or 12 days old here. 

After dinner, we took pictures. Always a good idea. :o) Besides, we needed to move after our meal of shrimp skewers, grilled chicken, and various salads! 

We saved dessert to eat with a game of Triominos. Chocolate cake with perfectly chocolate chocolate frosting and ice cream. The game was a bit annoying, thankfully the mom's were ahead by the time we opted to end the rounds. Dorothy was sent home with a few leftovers and when Jon got back he realised he forgot to give us surprises! Grandma's bird feeder is still on a side table. 

On Monday, I got more surprises! 7 painted lady caterpillars. The kit is supposed to have 5, but I'll enjoy the 7. At least 2 are guaranteed to turn into butterflies. Unfortunately, I didn't realise they were supposed to be kept at a room temp of 68 or more, so the not so little guys (after a couple of days!!) are upstairs where it is a bit warmer. Jon watched them for quite a while, when they were still downstairs getting acclimated to being in a container not surrounded by packing material in a small box! Hoping we can witness changes. Jon doesn't remember this from Kindergarten. I do!!! 

Mtn Ranch in late April

 Jon went up to the Mtn Ranch the last two weekends in April. The first one was for fun, the second was for hunting with more than his camera. He took pictures of quite a few birds, a couple are ones not usually found in this area, so that was super exciting. We'll start off this mountain visit with a game. 

                                                                        Duck, Duck, GOOSE! 

These ladies reminded him a bit of the two geese from Disney's Aristocats. They were high stepping and walking with a stately bustle. 

This Tom was hanging around near them. Oddly, even though he has all the lovely feathers and struts around like he owns the place, it is the hens who appear to defend their Tom. 

Up above, Jon found this hawk. The video he took was really good, but haven't yet figured out how to upload videos from him into blogger. 

There were some younglings out snacking, too. So many four footed creatures look terrible in spring. Their fur is shedding and they look as if they could eat an entire field of wheat! 

Sandhill cranes migrate north each spring and return in the fall. They are often so high overhead you can't find them. Sometimes, however, you sight their dark 'V' against the bright blue of the sky and are amazed. Amazed at how far away they are, how loud they are, and how crazy it is they exist. They are definitely an oddly shaped avian.  

The next weekend Jon was up there, it was raining. From his camp he was able to look out on the pond over the fence and he found these absolutely bizarre birds. On All About Birds, a website I have used often, it shows these shore birds are not in this area. In a larger map, it shows they might be. I'm having some trouble understanding the map feature!! Anyway, these are black necked stilts. They have an interesting call and were very busy wading on their long pink legs and foraging for whatever might be edible in this small bit of water. Jon also noticed some other birds in with the stilts. The bird below is probably a snipe, it did have long legs when it was not swimming. 

A bowling pin..or is it a penguin? 

Look at those legs!!!!! This link will take you to All About Birds. :o)  They have the second-longest legs in proportion to their bodies of any bird, exceeded only by flamingos. 

Jon also found a very brown duck on the pond. It was cinnamon teal and his mate. Like the rest of the teals, you can't see the green bit on the wings unless they are in flight. They will nest in EO, so perhaps the pair will stick around! 

Jon had gone up on Friday night to hunt for turkey. He heard them calling and anticipated an easy day on Saturday. It didn't work out that way, though! After a day of rain and not rain and using his hen call, he was about to pack up and return to the house, when he decided to call once more. This time, he had an answer. The story is a lot more interesting in his own words, but I'll sum up. A hen came out of hiding to see about the 'calling hen' and Jon waited and waited. Eventually, the prominent tom strutted forth and Jon was able to take a shot. Looking at the variety of birds Jon found on the ranch these last weeks, the turkey is by fair the oddest. They have scaly long legs, incredible soft and stiff feathers full of stunning colors, a rather creepy lizard like head and neck in several mismatched colors, formidable beaks and talons, and something called a beard that is made up of actual hair jutting out of their chest! No one could come up with all those elements if they were given a skeleton and had no knowledge of this sort of fowl. 

I'd add a photo of the feathers and another of Jonathan, however, it appears the new Chromebook isn't compatible with my cell phone. Compatibility is a typical problem! 

      We had a half of the bird for dinner on Wednesday and it had a great flavor. It had been brined with a lot of water, about a TB of brown sugar, and a good deal of garlic salt with parsley. When it was cooked, I added most of a sliced apple and an eighth of a cucumber. I didn't know exactly how long to cook it, so parts were overcooked a bit, but overall, it was a good first time from the hunt to the oven.