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In my years as an eight years aged boy, I was quite interested in plants and bugs. If you would ask me then what I would like to become later on, the answer was invariably forester. The neighbourhood where I grew up at that time was a new and pretty green area and where there are a lot of plants and shrubs, you generally also find lots of caterpillars.
The first larvae I stumbled on were the Lackey moth (Malacosoma neustria) caterpillars on the willows and the Sycamore moth (Acronicta aceris) on the newly planted maples. The Lackey moth larvae came in huge numbers, therefore there was no escape, they were very easy to find and bring home. The larvae of the Sycamore moth were slightly harder to find but these colourful hairy caterpillars were not exactly good camouflaged. If you walked around in the Maple Street (just around the corner) while walking looking up, you saw them without any problem at the underside of the leaves. Especially the variation in colour between one and the other larva varying from light yellow to deep orange-red, made them popular house pets. At home the larvae were kept in glass jars, a few holes in the lid provided enough air. After some experimenting, the number of caterpillars that managed to survive grew.
One or two years later I went looking for caterpillars more focused. With some experience you'll find that the droppings on the pavement or the partly eaten leaves, leave a lot of clues behind. Certain types of willow and poplar are liked by many larger, but harder to find caterpillars and as I found my first Sphinx and Puss moth larvae, since then they have always been my favourite. After finding and caring for these larvae, you will also have to deal with the pupae in the winter and the long waiting before the moths finally emerge. At the end of spring when the pupae emerge it’s great to see a moth inflating it’s wings and fly away looking for a female moth.
From the age of sixteen, I got interested in females of my own species and after school, a Saturday job as a gardener and going out with my mates, there was not much time left for rearing and taking care of caterpillars. During my military service in Amersfoort rearing moths was also ruled out and after my military service, I started working as professional gardener. Against the hours not worked during the short winter days, there were long working days during summer. About three years later I started a landscaping business myself that I kept for over ten years. After I was forced to stop my business, I exchanged my business for a fairly ordinary office job. With the luxury of little overtime and just five working days a week, I suddenly had a lot of time left which of course I spent for a large part to my wife and children. Yet there is still some time left and while I was playing with my son, my eye fell on a couple of caterpillars in my backyard.
My son seemed to be quite interested and the Gypsy moth larvae on my Chinese Wisteria were moved, into a plastic container with mesh lid. After some searching we could find three larvae and because they were fairly large in size, it didn’t take long before they pupated. Two of the pupae were inhabited by a parasitic fly larva, but the pupa of the much larger female came out after several weeks. A mesh cage with the female was put outside on a beautiful summer afternoon and that way we attracted a number of males. After a mating with one of the male moths, I got acquainted with eggs for the first time and kept the eggs during winter in the garden closet. Following spring the tiny caterpillars hatched and my interest arouse again.
After rearing several species of butterflies and moths, the winter period arrived. By searching the internet for information, I had already landed at sites where (sub)tropical material was offered and decided to give it a try indoors. Because those species don’t fly around in the Netherlands, it's always a surprise how these lepidopterans and caterpillars look in reality, also the enormous size of some specimens makes winter breeding fun and different. Later, I joined a number of Internet forums where living material was sold and exchanged so I could swap or sell my surplus breeding material. Because of the many species that are suitable for breeding indoors and little breeding information or images were present on the internet, I started taking breeding notes so I could put them on the internet later on. If I am searching for information, someone else probably does as well and so came the beginning of this site.
