PRE-WINTER CARE OF PUPAE- This is a crucial time in their treatment, and here's some careful instruction concerning getting them into the colder weather.
First a look at DAY LENGTH - It's far best to rear your larger larvae in a room that only receives natural daylight, as not to confuse their season.......... unless your goal is to raise your stock for mounted specimens. Anyways to raise them in natural daylight is by far the best........ and it will assure your pupae a dormant winter rest! Here's a neat note to ponder: Once I was raising a batch indoors, and my work schedule called for me to be away from them during daylight hours, and I reared them in the dark basement under artificial light with total success! They were given light from 3:00 to 11:00 PM daily, and were given 16 hours darkness the rest of the time, and they went dormant PERFECTLY!
Your pupae should never be allowed to dry out during storage..... but they should not remain wet either! Remember the plastic sprayer?! Every few days spray your cocoons, and check your "naked" pupae to assure they are barely moist, and safely tucked away in an undisturbed place.
WINTER PREP
(For naked pupae) - In late October, take something like a coffee can, and punch a few holes in the lid, and place an inch or so of moist (not wet) dead leaves, place the pupae on the leaves, add another inch of leaves, place the lid on the container, and store them in the refrigerator.
(For cocoons) - Place them in a similar can on top of an inch or so of moist dead leaves, but do not cover them with leaves. Place the lid on, and keep them slightly drier than your naked pupae. Again make sure there are holes in the lid, and keep them cold..... but above freezing.
Here's a list of cocoon-spinners, as well as those which normally form their pupae underground:
COCOONS
Hylaphora species (including Cecropia)
Antheraea (including Polyphemus)
Callosamia (including Promethea)
Eupackardia calleta
Automeris species
NAKED PUPAE
Citheronia (including Regalis)
Eacles (including Imperialis)
...... and it's best to treat Actias luna and Automeris as if they form naked pupae, as their cocoons are very thin....... and sometimes the cocoon is damaged (or destroyed!) when removing it from the bag anyways.
A note concerning winter-watering of your stored livestock: About once a month it's a good idea to take them out of refrigeration, lift the lid, and air them out for a day or so, about once a month. Pick a date and mark it on your calendar if you'd like (or do as I do, and automatically do this on the first of each month!), and during this time, take out your pupae/cocoons, look them over and see how they're doing, and take a good look at the leaves as well, and change them and spray out the container if they look even the least bit moldy. Even if left out for several days it will do them no harm, but do avoid placing them in anyplace too warm!
Anyways after a gentle misting, replace the lid, and put them back in the fridge for another month! This is about the only care they'll really need during their long winter rest!