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Post by deflatedoctopus on Jun 30, 2021 22:40:16 GMT
I recently caught 2 wild caught speciemens of papilio machaon bairdii from peace river in Alberta Canada, one male and one female, i hand paired them and sortly after mating I placed the female in a dark closest for a few days so she can get adapted to captivity and fed her daily with a honey water mixture and kept her nearby with her host plants of wild tarragon to see if she would lay eggs but so far she hasn't seemed to lay any. Its been three days and her abdomen is large and seems to be full of eggs but she still isn't laying. Any tips or advice on how to get her to lay eggs?
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Post by Adam Cotton on Jul 1, 2021 8:39:21 GMT
If your specimens come from Peace River, Alberta they are subspecies pikei Sperling, 1987 (type locality: Dunvegan (s. Fairview), Alberta), not bairdii.
I am not sure how you are keeping the female now, but she won't lay eggs in the dark. When I bred machaon I kept them in my flight cages (~3x5m) with flowers growing in them and food plants in pots, so almost natural. They do take up to a week before they start laying eggs, so it could be normal.
If a female is unable to fly I would put her in a chiffon bag tied over the foodplant, feed her daily with honey solution and she would lay some eggs that way, but nowhere near as many as if she was fit and free in a cage. I have heard that some people could get eggs from a female kept in a closed brown paper bag with a branch of the food plant inside. She won't lay eggs except on the food plant.
I am not sure if the food plant of subspecies pikei (Artemisia dracunculus) is the same as your wild tarragon, perhaps you should try a local Apiaceae species (Angelica, Lomatium or Heracleum) as well as tarragon.
Good luck, and if you have more questions please ask. Hopefully someone with more experience of breeding N American machaon can help.
Adam.
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