Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: ID needed for Odd Coccon next to each swallowTail Cat , 1 by TexasPuddyPrint

TexasPuddyPrint wrote:
Freaky article!!! Sad to say they are most likely wasp cocoons.

Last year I decided to raise some Theona Checkerspots so I brought in a bunch of caterpillars that were feeding on Cenizo. Also took cuttings of the Cenizo they were on to keep them fed.

Each time I'd clean the cage I'd find lots of little white cocoons right up near some cats. I put those cats and the cocoons in a separate cage and ended up with tiny wasps! UGH!

The first few that hatched got sprayed...the rest of the cocoons got sprayed too and then stomped on. The caterpillars continued to feed but did not make it through the chrysalis stage.

I couldn't find the photos of the tiny wasps - will keep looking but I remember they small and quick!

~ Cat

This message was edited Aug 18, 2008 8:42 PM