Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: The Tale of 2 Chrysalises, 1 by debnes_dfw_tx

debnes_dfw_tx wrote:
The inconspicuous G. Fritillary egg that happened to be on my Passionflower vine cuttings hatched and proceded to eat all the leaves off about a dozen pieces of vine. As I put in a new lush piece it looked like it was ready, (in the form of a J on the top of the container). I began to be concerned then, as it would have not made it this far outside.. we had some days of freezing weather. So I wondered what the little Butterfly would eat when it eclosed....
Then bam, it hit me... to send the chrysalis to Florida for Becky to take care of it and make sure the Frit had breeding ground and nectar to survive.

I sent along the BST while I was at it, so we could see an early eclosure for it.. The ones I still have here will remain in hibernation.

Here the frit that hatched on about December 7, 2006 and ate the whole flat.. The chrysalis was formed January 6, 2007. Normally it would have only taken about 2- 2 1/2 weeks, but when the weather cools down they grow slower and even morph sooner. They also will morph sooner if they run out of host plant. Still the Caterpillar has everything it needs after the third instar to become a Butterfly.

Picture here, at about 1 week old. I washed away the scat every day or so.. I since used the pearlite to perk up some potting soil.

This message was edited Jan 10, 2007 7:56 PM

This message was edited Jan 11, 2007 6:39 AM