WAX MOTH Galleria mellonella. The Greater Wax Moth is, in my opinion, one of the most useful organisms to be brought into culture in recent years. It is almost the perfect food animal: prolific, thrifty on space and very easy to maintain in a healthy condition. Some years ago I began culturing the Lesser Wax Moth for the purpose of using them as live food. Our school beehives were infested with them and so it was a simple matter to obtain a starter culture. However, as I did not know of any artificial diet at that time, I had to rear them on natural honeycomb. As I have rarely encountered a more ravenous animal than a Wax Moth larva, our bees were kept very busy providing food supplies for my cultures! However, the development of a good, artificial diet has meant that vast numbers of these insects can be reared in little space. They have the added advantage that they are available in two different 'textures' - the tough, chitinous adult moth end the soft, nutritious grub. Although they are made of the same basic proteins (being the same species), it must be an added benefit with regard to roughage and bulk. The recipe I use was supplied to me by Edwin Blake from Edinburgh. The addition of beeswax is most important, I find, and it makes all the difference to the successful, rapid start of the culture. RECIPE Mixture 1 300mls clear honey 400mls glycerol (=glycerine) Mixture 2 200g milk powder (Cow and Gate) 200g wholemeal flour 100g yeast powder (dried brewers yeast) 100g wheatgerm 400g bran Mixture 1 should be prepared first and then mixture 2 (each separately), and then mixture 1 should be blended thoroughly into mixture 2. In addition, I mix in liberal helpings of Vionate, Stress and SA 37, as well as topping the whole thing off with grated beeswax. This all makes for a rather wet mixture somewhat like partially melted toffee, and there will be enough to set up several smaller cultures or one (very) large one. I keep my cultures in big plastic bread bins from Savacentre, the lids of which having had a large section removed and replaced by metal gauze. Nevertheless, the beasts still get out, and people who call for coffee often pass the time by playing 'Spot the Moth'. Apart from frightening little children and the elderly, they do little damage - my cats at least appreciate savouring the quick snacks as they flutter past! Whatever culture vessel you finally decide upon, bear in mind that these larvae have an amazing ability to chew through almost anything that is not made of either glass or metal. How they actually achieve this on super-smooth nylon beats me. But they do! When first set up, the culture appears to stand still. The original moths, however, will have laid perhaps thousands of eggs, end the larvae which hatch from these are extremely tiny, end remain well hidden for a few weeks. Then, suddenly, they seem to appear from nowhere and chomp through the food at an alarming pace. At the same time they generate a tremendous amount of heat, and the base of the culture will be distinctly warm. Also, water produced from respiration will condense on the lid and sides of the container, even if it is well ventilated, and can cause the medium to become rather too wet and soggy. Because of this, I have begun to line the containers I use with several thick layers of newspaper, and this does tend to keep the food supply a little drier. The food supply will run out, and this in fact tends to happen literally overnight. You must, therefore, keep a very close eye on this, and be ready to replenish when necessary. Wax need only be used for brand new cultures. Once the culture is in full swing wax is no longer needed, although it will undoubtedly be beneficial to add a little every now and again, if you can remember to do so. Full-grown larvae are quite sizeable, and will leave the medium in order to pupate. They spin a small oval cocoon of white silk, which is tough and papery to the touch. From these the moths hatch after a period of a week or two, depending on the temperature. The moths mate almost at once and the female begins laying hundreds of eggs in any nook or cranny available. The female is a fair bit larger than the male, and is a lot darker. As she lays, she runs rapidly over the surface of the medium, poking her ovipositor into suitable niches. The adults do not feed, but live for a couple of weeks before dying. Cultures can be a bit tricky to open at this time, but cooling them a little makes them slightly easier to handle. The moths are eagerly taken by most geckoes and frogs which, because the moths are so agile, put on fantastic displays as they hunt out the moths and capture them. The larvae, on the other hand, will serve as food for any animal, from tiny Poison Arrow frogs upwards, due to the vast range of sizes in which they occur. Although I started out with the Lesser Wax Moth, I now only maintain the Greater Wax Moth Galleria mellonella due to its much larger size (in fact, about twice the size of its smaller cousin). I did try to find a culture of the Lesser Wax Moth back at my old school, but bees have not been kept since I left, and not a single moth could be found. I do, however, keep the Mediterranean Flour Moth Ephestia kuhniella. This moth is very much smaller than Galleria, and darker in colour. It is not quite so easy to culture, due to its selfish habit of going into diapause whenever it is maintained with less than 16 hours of light out of every 24. I culture it using exactly the same medium as for wax moths, although it may be kept using simply a mix of wholemeal flour and dried yeast in the ratio of 9:1, and then mixed to a crumbly texture with glycerol. It is recommended (although not essential) that all materials be heat sterilised at 105°C for 2 - 3 hours. The culture vessels should be around 250ml capacity, stoppered with foam or cotton wool, and into these should be placed 40g of medium. Incubate at 25°C for a life cycle of 4 - 6 weeks. As mentioned before, to prevent diapauses, a light regime of 16 hours light and 8 hours dark should be employed throughout. These moths seem to appreciate small rolls of corrugated cardboard in which to pupate.