Trying to get the logistics of rearing down has been challenging for me, and it is unlikely that I’m going to have any success with this generation of lacewings. I have learned a lot, though, and this post will go into my issues as well as how to rectify them.
Space
Having a space for my cages at the very start of the quarter would have been highly beneficial. I had originally planned to do this in my apartment, however I moved this quarter so this proved impossible. By the time I had a space to work with, it was week 4, which is a significant amount of time I should have had to prepare. Additionally, I would certainly want to do it in my apartment if I were to do it again. This would make maintenance much less difficult – it is not very efficient if I have to drive to school just to check on insects.
So, while that may seem simple, I cannot overstate how critical it is to have a spot from the beginning, and ideally a convenient one!
Cages
As it turns out, you need woodworking skills to make wooden insect cages. While ‘skills’ does not imply technical mastery, these cages do have some usability, size, and be able to seal. While my cages aren’t terrible, they just turned out a little thrown together. For a prototype, these are great! However they certainly needed a little more finish to be where I wanted them. It is possible to buy plastic cages, however they are relatively expensive (~$60 each), while wooden cages cost little to put together.
After spending some time in the woodshop working on these, I do think I could produce a better, properly sealing cage. Angelos expressed interest in some cages, and I may consider spending more time honing my cage building skills
Larvae Size
I also didn’t greatly consider the size of the larvae. The eggs are nearly microscopic, as pictured in the featured photo. My camera could barely pick them up, and I certainly couldn’t see them with my eyes. Some left the petri dish and I thought they were specks of dust, until I inspected them through my camera.
This presents many challenges, namely, the prey! The best thing to feed them during this stage is Lepidopteran eggs, and while this was originally my plan, I had to order the moths in their larval stage, and by the time they pupate, mate, and oviposit, the quarter is likely to be over. I gave them thrips, however I believe it was a bit too late at that point, plus they were still significantly smaller than the thrips.
The netting I used also was probably too large to actual contain them as well, however they weren’t in any place to make an escape at that size.
Moving Forward
I am going to continue rearing the moths to make sure I know the logistics of getting Lepidopteran eggs, however I don’t have a ton of time to try again if none of these lacewings remain – which is my hypothesis, I need to check in on them, however last time there were almost none that appeared alive.
I will continue reading, and definitely want to read some articles on lacewing prey-host plant interactions in relation to agriculture crops, so I will have to seeks those out as well.
Additionally, I would like to survey the woods and see what species I find, and perhaps in what part of the forest, just to get an idea of how many native lacewings are hanging around – I’ve seen quite a lot of them lately.