Day Sixty Seven

Only a handful of moths emerged this morning.
Can't be too many left.
It was time to clean up the tank this morning.
I've had overnight visitors so I'd already tidied up a bit by putting all the moths into one tank (instead of two).  The eggs have been removed periodically and kept in another empty and clean tank.
This way I can stack all the tanks atop one another so that the moths/cocoons/eggs take up less floor space.
I threw a lace tablecloth over the tank containing the moths, so that the mass of bodies was not open to full view.
This proved problematic because the female moths climbed to the top and laid eggs on the cloth!
This morning I lined another empty tank with clean paper and transferred all the moths to this tank.
The incessant wing flapping causes the moths' wings to slowly deteriorate so that their wings look ragged and shaggy.
The bottom of the tank gradually becomes covered in a downy dust that used to be the moths' wings.
Over the past few days I have found this to be a bit of a health hazard, causing hay fever like symptoms.
This I think, could be a serious health hazard for anyone suffering from respiratory illnesses.
Tonight, a male moth shocked us by taking flight.
He scurried across the dining room floor and into the lounge room and then flew across the front of the television.  I managed to capture him and return him to his tank.
Silkworm moths are not supposed to fly!

Day Sixty Three

I think I can safely say that today saw more female moths emerge than male.

Some of the excess males which had been delegated to the verandah, were added to the indoor tanks to make up  for the lack.

Still more cocoons waiting to broken open.

Day Sixty One

Today's full moon saw over one hundred moths emerge.
The proportion of males to females was much more even.  Almost 1:1 but not quite.
Tanks were given a good clean out and a bit of re-organisation took place.
Cleanliness is utmost...ants are attracted to a fluid sprayed by the moths and escapees tend to leave a bit of a mess on the floor around the tanks.  This has to be cleaned up otherwise ants can become a problem.

Day Fifty Eight

We have eggs.
In less than twenty four hours since the first moth emerged, the first batch of eggs were fertilized and laid.
A few more moths emerged this morning, there are far more males than females.