Feeding a Sphingidae moth

This is my friend Bernhard feeding a Sphingidae moth (Eumorpha vitis) with a mix of honey and water. As you can see, once the moth realizes you're not trying to harm it but to feed it, it immediately stops moving and willingly begins to eat.
Sorry if the video gets blurry towards the end, but the humidity was so high that the lens started to mist up.
Location: Rancho "El Sagrado", San Gabriel Mixtepec, Oaxaca, México.

[@Fernito]

As Jean Haxaire stated in a previous comment, this is an Eumorpha vitis specimen :) (a female by the way; we were feeding it so it could lay eggs).

[@Fernito]

Wow, J. Haxaire himself posting in my video, it's a real honor! Bernhard Wenczel told me a lot about you. Thanks for the info, I will update the description immediately.

[@SteveCarras]

Looks like a bee..:) That's the common White-Lined Sphinx moth,a muich smaller (male?) specimen of which I found in Downtown Los Angeles at a storefront near the famed Pershing Square..

[@Tetra3Ne56scur]

Gonna feed mine pretty soon !

[@jeanhaxaire3842]

This is Eumorpha vitis, not that far from E. fasciatus, but a darker and larger moth.

[@theygowhootnnn5807]

I agree though, holding thier wings is unnecessary and stressful. I don't doubt he's an expert, most eumorphas are hard to breed.

[@SteveCarras]

OK, I was wrong about the moth type, so it ain't a white lined sphinx (hyles linea), but another species (note that I am not a real entymologist here..)

[@CrimsonFox36]

i found one of these while walking around my town. i poked it, it fluttered, and landed on my leg. it was so beautiful, and adorable!

[@pinkdiver5575]

Awwww this moth is cute! I've been trying the shine a light on fabric trick to get big moths but I only got a very small black moth

[@theygowhootnnn5807]

do you have any for sale?

[@theygowhootnnn5807]

I agree I don't beleive it's a vitis

[@rhigel2269]

You are wrong!

[@theygowhootnnn5807]

+rhi gel looks more like fasciatus to me...

[@rowenafrick6461]

halo sind sie herr wenczel

[@winterbird9189]

30 years experience apparently.. even at butterfly and moth conservations they say not to do that. Why exactly are you force feeding it? after 30 years of experience don't you know they're perfectly capable of finding a pool of honeywater/sugar water on their own if you just put it near them... there's also things you can get for them to feed themselves from.. so.. why exactly pin it down and force feed it???

[@winterbird9189]

Also way safer for them to drink it themselves because you don't get them covered in it..

[@rhigel2269]

Because Sphinx moths are hard to rear in captive. Even the large Butterfly Houses are not featuring Sphinx moths, because there are few breeders producing these moths. I have 55 years of experience. How your career going?

[@theygowhootnnn5807]

+rhi gel they ain't that hard my friend. I envy anyone who has 50 years experience, you are very lucky, but most sphinx will breed if given the right conditions, unfortunately too many people thing that a bare screen cage and stressful handfeeding and a day/night cycle are ideal...

[@TheCakepanda]

U shouldn't hold their wings

[@Fernito]

Why not? The person shown in this video has more than 30 years of experience in rearing moths/butterflies. He knowns what he's doing.

[@rhigel2269]

He is not holding the wings. He is holding the moth's thorax.

[@theygowhootnnn5807]

Fernito69 did he get eggs?