I know many caterpillars only eat a specific plant and many others will only eat the food plant they are first given but I read that Attacus atlas cats will wander from one food plant to another. Is this true? Has any one found this? It would make feeding them easier if I could use a variety of foods, less chance of running out.

Also what food plants have worked well for you? There is lots if info on what they eat but most of it is passed on info rather than personal experience.

Yes, they are whats termed polyphageous (spelling??), which means they feed on a range of host plants.

I know them to do well on: Privet, Castor Oil Plant, Alianthus, Budlejia, Lilac and a wide range of others.
You can also switch host plants during their lise, which is not always true fro all species with multiple host plants.

Thats cool for me because I don't have a garden of my own so I have to nab plants from friends, family and public places, that makes it a bit hard to have a large constant supply of exactly the same plant every day. I can get Castor Oil Plant quite easily as it grows as a weed around here. The info all says they eat lime which I don't have but I can get my hands on a lot of lemon and orange clippings which I'm thinking might well be much the same to them. It can be hard working out host plants cos we get such a different range of plants here in Portugal than in UK. I'm sure there are plenty, we probably have even more choice year round, it's just knowing which are the right ones.

I always raise my atlas cats on a mix of Laural cherry (Prunus laurocerasus sp) and Privet. If you give both food plants at the same time, they will wander of from one to an other and eat from both plants. As far as I have experienced, they will grow larger if multiple food plants are provided.

I don't have either of those. I'm hoping if I give them a choice I'll see what they like and then I might be able to mix and match a bit. I would be careful not to change their diet too suddenly. Will they eat plants that might do them harm?

If you can easily get castor oil plant, I would start with that.
They rear very well on it and you should not have any problems getting them through their life cycle.

I have heard of citrus being taken, but its too expensive/slow growing a foodplant for most in the UK to use.

This is what I mean about food plants, what we have available is so different. I'd have big trouble getting my hands on oak or privet but orange trees grow every where!