DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 67

I keep my cats on the screened porch and D's SO bought some Caterpillar cages. I keep a fan going out there and they are fine.
Besides the predators, they'd be fine in the heat.
Their even fine if I don't remember to put some fresh leaves in later in the evening. I even have ones that somehow escaped from the cage, and formed their chrysalis on saucers on the porch and they are a little smaller but they do fine.
Predators are your worst enemy.
These are Monarch cat's in a caterpillar cage my D's SO got for me. The cages are on the porch w/ a small fan going. No problem's with them.

My little ones keep disappearing...got to get some of those cages!

Walmart has the rectangular plastic containers 3 in the pack at a reasonable price.

I made a few smaller cages from containers I got from Walmart. I keep the smaller cats in them till they get bigger. I also use them for the eggs. I followed Texaspuddyprints directions in her blog. Very easy to do, and I so glad someone pointed that out to me.

Okay...trying again.....I thought the little ones needed holes/ ventilation. I surprised when they got thru the cheese clothe. I really shouldn't have been since they are so tiny. I have another little guy hatched. in container with solid lid!!

You can also use a paper towel, they won't get through that.

Nanny - HAH! Those critters can squeeze through the teeniest of holes. I figured leaving the larval host ash sapling a Forbes Silkmoth laid eggs on would work great in the reptarium. Once the eggs hatched the caterpillars crawled from the leaves to the mesh sides and before I knew it I had cats crawling on the outside of the reptarium and on the patio table. I was able to round them all up and put them into a plastic container with the portals I'd made out of that nylon window screen replacement mesh. The screen mesh it too small for them to get out and ants can't get in either. Of course, later on as they got bigger and would 'roost' on the mesh I had a norway rat climb up on the table and gnaw through the mesh and suck up/eat a couple of caterpillars.

Set a mouse trap and no problems after that. Did have to sew up the holes it made though.
Here's one of the dratted holes that rat made in my reptarium. Danged expensive reptariums at that!

~ Cat

I have several of these....the screen is leftover from when we had our porch screened in. Even keeps the "no-see-ems" out.

These are the Caterpillar "Castles" D's SO got ...super easy to clean, and they fold up into a flat rectangle or if you keep
"folding" them they compact down to circle.

I have one of those pop up hamper types too...but I used it for some GST's and they stained it when they pupated. UGH! :o)

~ Cat

A little Sulphur...

I saw a BST today flit by the front window. Hope it finds my dill, parsely or fennel!!

Cat,
Mine came w/ instructions to wash in a very mild bleach solution. Rinse and let dry. I did this after the first batch of Monarchs and it came completely clean. I just put 1 capful of bleach in a bucket, wet the cage, and took a sponge and sponged down the whole thing, let it sit for a few minutes, then rinsed w/ a hose. It looked brand new. We have 3 so that we can rotate them if necessary.
I've got Monarchs and Zebra Longwings in two of them now, and baby Monarchs and Vicroy's in of the "Glad cages" and my Giant Swallowtail is in another "Glad Cage". Jeeze, that's enough for now!

I bought two of those small cubes and love them too. BUT. I learned the hard way to look inside before unzipping it!
:-(

Mrs. Ed, Yup, I saw the little guy there just as I was about to unzip the cage once. I tickled him thru the cage and he moved enough for me to unzip it.

Hi guys have had a houseful last several days and not able to be on but i found this critter on my penta can anyone identify it please. Never seen anything like it??? Surely it is not a BF cat.

Hello Mellielong,

When I saw your pic as a thumbnail I scratched my head and wondered how I could have responded to your thread when I haven't been at this forum for awhile. I'm sure now you are wondering...What is she talking about?
Here's my pic of me holding one of our newly emerged BST's which should help explain :)

Lee - looks like you've got a Tersa Sphinx moth caterpillar on your pentas. That is one of their larval host plants. Do hope you'll raise and release them.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/1429/

~ Cat

Are we all posting BST photos? I've got one too :o)

~ Cat

Thks i will was just not sure what it was.

Hello Cat,

LOL...well, I really did a "double take" when I saw that thumbnail of Mellie's! Glad you added your nice pic too! :)

Saw a my first GST for this summer in the backyard today!!! We are supposed to really warm up this weekend. Maybe things are finally going to pick up here!

I hope so. I've had mostly monarchs… boy are they laying the eggs! Not even a silver skipper yet!

Hey all... long time no post! Could someone confirm (or correct) the ID of this one as a Spicebush Swallowtail? It's a first for me if it is, so I want to be sure. I have underside pics if you need them.
Thanks.

Barb

Mrs_Ed,

So far I've recorded 30 varieties/species of butterflies (not including all the grass skippers...just the Silver-Spotted one) visiting our gardens already! Of the 30, 28 I have taken pics of...the 2 that flew over our fence line before I could take pics of were a GST and a Common Buckeye...Grrrrrrrr...LOL

This message was edited Aug 6, 2009 3:17 PM

Wow, it's a good year for you. I keep hoping that things will perk up here. I put in a new garden and EVERYTHING. So far like i said, only the monarchs seem to have noticed. Well, I DO still have the cabbage whites. Can always count on them.

Who wants to guess what blue/azure this is? Summer Azure? Seems to have lost a chunk of wing, there.

Check out this worn out girl. She was still going strong though. Layed a number of eggs.

Mrs_Ed,

That's a Spring Azure...we had one of them too! Here's a pic of ours...

I've had a couple, but can't really tell the difference between the spring and summers.

Mrs_Ed,

LOL...now I'm confused too. I didn't know there was a "summer" azure. I went and got these two links...one for each of Spring and Summer...
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species?l=1591
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species?l=1596
I guess I'll have to rename the folder for this butterfly to "Spring/Summer Azure?"
The markings on my pic look a bit bigger than the Spring by Smaller than the ones on the Summer...
Oh well...

see?? confusing! I saw another one on the Oak-leaf hydrangea today. Although I saw one ovipositing before, this one was just nectaring.

Hey someone reply to bjf on this post please. I don't have my links on this computer and haven't seen a spicebush. Might be a pipevine...please id it for her.

Thanks, Sheila. Here is the underside for reference.

It's a Spicebush.

~ Cat

Thanks, Cat. I appreciate it. :)

Barb

Barb, we don't get those this far south but I did see plenty when I was in Georgia last year. A truly gorgeous butterfly :o)

~ Cat

Am home bored recovering from knee surgery. I feel pretty good - so much better even after just a few days. Will be going back to work next week...why, because I'm not used to being at home idle. It would be a different story if there were butterflies in my yard - I could amuse myself to no end and work be darned :o)

Not much flying around the yard as the temps are high and dry. I'd purchased a pocket camera (Canon SD1200 IS Digital Elph) a couple of weeks ago because I get tired of lugging around a camera bag filled with various cameras, lenses, binocs, batteries etc. Have been chomping at the bit wanting to try it out on eggs and caterpillars but nature just isn't very cooperative.

Finally saw a Gulf Fritillary checking out the passion vines so I went over for a closer look. Got a photo of a Gulf Frit egg :o) Woohoo!!! Am excited at the macro capabilities of this little pocket cam!!!

Can't wait until the Fall season when the butterflies will really be rocking out here!

~ Cat

Also found some Gulf Frit instars on other passion vines I'd neglected to check. That little Canon SD 1200 IS Digital Elph is a nice camera indeed!!!

~ Cat

This message was edited Aug 7, 2009 10:54 AM

Congrats on the camera Cat. It really does great macro in your hands. I love seeing how intricate nature is. Amazing.

Glad you are feeling good ... be careful not to over do.

I have always enjoyed looking at everyone's beautiful butterflies on this continuous thread!
I would like to invite you to see my photo essay of a trip to Lewis Ginter Botnaical Gardens!
They have a Butterflies Live Exhibit, and I took my new cameras and had a ball!
I hope you will come and see! I know it's not all butterflies... they start about half-way down the thread.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1024293/

Great link VA - thanks for sharing those awesome photos!!!

~ Cat