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I'm a mother!

josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
in Wildlife gardening
On Sunday my friend was admiring my flower arrangement in the church when I noticed a clutch of insect eggs on a fuchsia leaf.  I took the leaf home and put it in a screw top jar.  Over the next two days the white eggs darkened and this morning they'd hatched.  I've picked some more fuchsia leaves and put them in for them to feed on.  Now I have to think up names for my new pets, but I don't know if they're boys or girls.  Can anyone suggest about a hundred gender-neutral names?
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  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    What have you spawned?
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    Don't know until they grow.  Watch this space.
  • Alan Clark2 in LiverpoolAlan Clark2 in Liverpool Posts: 2,190
    I suspect that they are Elephant Hawk Moths! if so, they will have a short tail.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    You could call them all after food stuffs - Lentil, Mung, Fava, Paprika, Sprout, Lapsang, Piccalillly etc.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Alan Clark2 in Liverpool said:
    I suspect that they are Elephant Hawk Moths! if so, they will have a short tail.
    I agree with that! They stripped my fuchsias last year, you'll need big fuchsia plants for them to feed on, they eat loads. 😀
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    They also eat willow herb ... I’m sure we could all send supplies of that 😆 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    Thanks, I'll bear that in mind.  They are growing fast.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    @Fishy65 asked me for seeds from the Rosebay Willow Herb, I did say I wouldn’t wish it on him, but I have collected some which I’ll post off soon. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    Crikey!  Yesterday I found a rosebay willowherb seed resting in the compost of a houseplant on my bathroom windowsill.  Fortunately  before it germinated!  Although huge sweeps of it in verges etc do look impressive, I don't want it taking up residence.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    My babies are growing but still too small to ID.  Currently getting through four or five fuchsia leaves a day.  It's fascinating how they chew the meat off them and leave a lacy veil.  I've got a big fuchsia bush close to the house, so I don't think they'll eat me out of house and home before they pupate.
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