Mating Moths, Part II

In response to the question in last entries post.

No, we've not kept the moths in a tank -- they've just been in cool whip containers with toiletpaper rolls. The idea being that they'd cocoon in the toilet paper roll but that only happened a few times.

We were able to take them outside without even touching them and then didn't seem to want to fly around the house at all. They only wanted to fly to each other. I think they needed to get to a mulberry tree to eat but a couple died and I don't know if they die normally after mating or really anything about their life span for that matter.

Regarding the mating, they attached themselves at their butts. As in: "oh gross mom, their butts are stuck together." But I'm not sure how they fertalized the eggs because a single moth was able to lay eggs all on its own so maybe the fertalization process comes right after the egg was laid. It is a mystery. We did have some information on the silkworms/moths but that has disappeared into the black hole that is my daughters room. I suppose I could look it up on the internet but at this point, I think I'm through. We've got a batch of eggs in the fridge and we'll pull them out next spring and see if we've got worms. They will then go to the nearest mulberry tree and my experience with silkworms will be through.

I'd sure like to figure out what to do with the seven batches of silk I've got. Any ideas?