Lunas

I've been raising lunas this summer. I know you have seen them on TV in that ad for the sleep aid, Lunesta. I know why they chose lunas. They are night-flying. But more than that they are beautiful in a calm peaceful way.
I have raised them before, and when a friend told me she wanted caterpillars, I went on the internet to find a livestock provider. I paid for about a dozen eggs, and they arrived in due time. I gave some eggs to friends, so I didn't have too many to raise. Big green caterpillars that like to eat liquidamber. They like other trees, too, but I can't remember which ones.
So of course when the adults emerged, I had to let them mate and lay eggs. Except then I had hundreds of mouths to feed. I want to say thank you to all the neighbors whose leaves I appropriated. As a result, I had another successful generation.
I thought the cocoons would overwinter, and the adults would emerge in the spring. I was stunned to see adults had emerged on the evening of September 13. I gasped! On no, thousands of mouths to feed! I decided that I just couldn't do it, since the trees would be getting fall colors and losing their leaves soon. I can't release them, since they are not native here. And I can't let them flap themselves to death in the house. So I am putting them in the freezer. It is hard, but I think it is the best solution, and I will have beautiful specimens for years to come. But I think next time I will find a native moth to rear.