Well, not a total disaster, but I think I've either killed them with kindness, or they were just diseased. Eric says no-one could have been more attentive to their needs, so it's not neglect. Ignorance maybe.
At the moment, I have 12 cocoons (although I know for certain that 2 of the caterpillars have died inside), another 3 or 4 spinning (but very sluggishly), and I've just put the other 13 in toilet roll inners, with some leaves, and told them to get on with it! The best I'm hoping for now is that some of them will hatch into moths, mate, and lay eggs for next year. In the meantime, I'll do a lot more investigating on the internet and see if I can find anything glaring that I've done wrong.
Next year will be better!!!
Oh no! What a shame, especially since you'd been looking after them so carefully. I really hope your last few survivors carry on to hatch and breed. It seems very strange for them to die off at this stage, just when it was getting exciting! Hope you can find out what happened, although I suppose it might just be one of those random things. Better luck next year! :)
ReplyDeleteYep, don't know what I've done wrong. The nice thing is that my friend, Sarah, now has about 500 cocoons and her's are starting to lay eggs, lots of eggs. So there'll definitely be more for next year even if mine don't produce.
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