Guide to Purple Hairsteak rearing

[ChrisStamp]

I've attached a guide to Purple Hairstreak rearing. There are plenty of variations, but this is my method!

Comments and questions welcome.

[David M]

Excellent work, Chris. I have saved this in case I find any eggs (this species is present in the woodland adjacent to where I live).

[Benjamin]

What a great guide Chris!

Loads of very useful tips and excellent presentation.

Thanks very much for putting it together and sharing.

[Matsukaze]

Great - thanks for this - I have one egg in safe keeping already and was worrying over rearing it as I have failed to do so previously, without having a good idea as to why.

[Old Wolf]

Hello all, I didn't want to start a new thread and hope it is OK to put this here because I am in need of some advice.

I managed to find four eggs over the winter period and they have just started hatching. I was looking at one of the cats through a loupe when I noticed a small grey insect on one of the twigs with one of the cats. It made a beeline for the cat which freaked me a bit as I have no idea what it was going to do so I tapped the twig gently over some kitchen roll to dislodge it which it did.

Three hatched fully yesterday and the fourth was beginning to eat it's way out of the shell last night. As I was looking at the last egg through the loupe, another grey insect (same as the first) went to the egg and stood on it with its front two legs looking into the hole the cat had created. Once again I managed to remove the grey insect but since then the cat has not continued to make the hole any bigger nor from what I can see when I look, appear to be moving anymore.

What are these grey insects and is it safe to assume that whatever it was doing whilst peering into the hole was not good. It was slightly larger than the egg but still pretty microscopic so trying to use the internet to track the critter down hasn't been successful. I really dont know how else to describe it as, other than it was what appeared to be light grey, with legs (possibly six).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Old Wolf]

I have lost the cat in the egg! It did not move after my last post and remained in the egg so I have written it off. Poor little guy

I have been furiously searching the net to try and find the insect that I believe could have been responsible and have had a bit of success. I managed to find some more of them on another branch I had. They are not grey at all! They are a transparent pale yellow and I suspect are a type of beetle nymph, possibly Campyloneura Virgula:
http://britishbugs.org.uk/heteroptera/M ... rgula.html

This was about the closest match although I am not 100%. The only difference I can see is that there appears to be a dark patch inside the abdomen which I am going to assume could be its last meal as the pictures I have found do not show it.

This leads me onto another question in that do any of you take predators into consideration when getting buds or indeed any type of food for your cats? What steps do you take to ensure your food source is safe?

I have taken my stock of buds into the garden and agitated them in a tub of rainwater from the water butt to dislodge any unwanted stowaways but have since noticed one of these nymphs on one of the branches that has a cat in the bud. I did remove it but this doesn't rule out that there aren't any more