Found about 10 tiny Black Swallowtail cats on my fennel the other day. As usual, I didn't see the mom, just got the gift she left. I rarely see the BST's feeding in my yard, which is so strange! They come, lay eggs, and leave.
I have babies!
What a beautiful gift (gifts). Imagine, I'm so jealous. You have ten of these things. You're so lucky.
Yep, and the plant they are on is ALL for them. lol I plant it and they come. I should have them all year long, which is so fun! I'll post pics of their growth, which is amazing. One day they look a little bigger than this, then almost the next they look totally different.
Konkrete~:
Doesn't fennel look like celery? What's that they're eating? When do they become chrysalis, and when do they FFFFFLLLLLYYYYY?
You know, I don't know what celery growing looks like. Fennel is very feathery foliage. It's in the carrot family. They also eat dill and parsley. They will eat for about 2 weeks then they will make their chrysalis. It will be between 1-2 weeks after that when they eclose. I have brought what seems like millions of them inside to raise, but I am leaving these outside until they get to their last instar. When they are big and fat, I will bring them inside and put them either in a wooden cage I have or the aquarium. That way they will make their chrysalis inside and I can make sure it's protected and they eclose safely! They are SO fun to release! It's just so awesome to have this creature that seems to have come from nowhere and to let it go and watch it fly for the first time.
So what's the cycle? Are they like salmon, who come "home" to spawn and die? How many cycles will they go thru each year? When will your "first time flyers" come back (?) and deposit their eggs?
Up in Boston, from whence I originally came, we had mostly "gypsy moths" who created tents and scads of cats, which decimated the host trees.
This message was edited Apr 18, 2005 8:58 PM
I am not sure how many "broods" they can have each year. Each batch of mine could be from the same butterfly or all from different ones.
First is the egg, which takes about 5-7 days to hatch. Then they go thru I believe 5 instars, which is when they shed their skin and are bigger and sometimes a different color. I'm not sure how long each instar is because it's impossible for me to catch them "morphing" when they are really small. I have raised so many that I have actually not paid much attention and forgot some of the details. I will have to pay attention this time.
When they are thru eating and ready to make their chrysalis, they will start wandering around. On the ground they could travel a long ways from where they started. In a cage they just wander in circles for hours. Finally they find a place and secrete this silk thread and attach themselves to something.
About 12-24 hrs after that their skin will split and the formed chrysalis will come out!! It is SO weird!! The thing that really amazed me the first time I saw it, was that their skin came off like a costume, FEET and all!!! LOL
The chrysalis wiggles around a while and attaches itself again and dries. After about a week or two of going thru it's DNA meltdown, the end will split open again and the butterfly pops out. It will hang for a few hrs and lets it's wings dry. I release them as soon as their wings are dry and they appear to be ready. The male BST's are always ready to GO. Monarch's are slow and like to hang around a little longer, which makes for good pics.
Wow!
Now you've gotten me hooked. I'll try it when I'm back in NJ mid-May. How do I start? Do I have to buy cats?
Congrats konkreteblond, I know your happy. I just gave fly to a couple of Monarchs two weeks ago. Also found some Fritallary cats on my Passion vine today while cleaning up the beds. I have yet to get an expectant Swallowtail around my fennel yet going on 2 years. Who knows, maybe yours just tastes better up there.
Brad, you just need to plant some fennel or dill. But again, I can't promise they'll come. lol
Kipper2, no BST's in 2 years?! Do you see them in your yard on the flowers? Maybe they eat at your house and come lay eggs at mine. lol I love the Monarchs! They are the most fun to raise. Brad is "patiently" waiting GF cats to come chow down on his beautiful new vine.
I went out to check my fennel today... nothing.
THEN I found cats on my little Bachelor Button transplants.
Yippppeeee. Imagine that.
mel
konkrete~:
OK I am now involved!. I have dill growing -- but -- it's inside our screening. So, I'll put in a couple outside in my herb garden, here -- and wait. But, since I'm heading North for a few days, I'll also put some in up there, and let it do its work and wait for me to return in a month or so. Who knows what will happen? I'll try fennel, too, if I can find some.
This should prove more fun than fishing. With fishing I also have the messy job of cleaning them.
Mel, what do these cats look like? I have no idea what eats Bachelor Buttons.
Brad, don't be fooled. These cats can be messy too! lol But that's only if you bring them inside to raise. As much as they eat, it's got to come out. At least their "frass" (poop) is pellets. lol I'm glad you are willing to give these herbs to the cats. Let me know if you have success!
Konkrete~:
Eating dill and fennel, at least their "frass" should be pleasantly aromatic.
LOL.... it actually doesn't have a smell. That or I'm used to it. (GROSS)
GROSS!!!!
Imagine, at our age we're back to, like, cleaning diapers!!!!
I barely got away from diapers, then started this. Plus the cat box.
Here is what they look like today. ...this should be the 3rd instar. First is when they are really tiny. The 2nd would be the first picture, then today is in it's 3rd.
This message was edited Apr 19, 2005 10:25 PM
Cool.
You must be feeding them well. Don't they ever need a change in diet?
They are like my 6 yr old, content with eating one thing. They eat things in the carrot family, but usually stick with what they are hatched on. If they ate all the fennel, I could switch them over to parsley but it might take some of them a little while to figure it out. The next instars is where the color and size change dramatically.
Wow --- imagine my discussing things with the mother of a six-year-old. My YOUNGEST granddaughter goes to Yale.
Uh-oh.
Their are no age boundaries in gardening!! btw, I'm 41. I also have an 18 yr old.
WOW
konkreteblonde: you are so lucky that you've gotten to see your babies (I call them that too - my hubby wonders what I'm talking about when I say that my babies have returned to the garden) make it to butterflies. I didn't get any swallowtail babies last year - our spring was very dry and the butteflies suffered. I got a few Gulf fritillaries on my passion vines, but nowhere near the usual amount.
The year before that the swallowtail caterpillars grew and grew, but one day they were all gone and no crysalises. I think something got them. Maybe if I get babies this year, I'll do what you did and bring them in when they are big. I have a great picture of my babies from the year before last when they were huge (I'm an Entomologist, so 80% of the pictures I take are of bugs and spiders - my poor camera is hardly ever off the "close-up" mode), but I won't post it. I'll wait until yours get big and let you post. I'm interetsed to see if they are the same color as mine when they are big though. Yours also seem to grow much faster than mine, which don't develop in 2 weeks, I'm sure. My big ones are about at least as big as my thumb when they are grown and much fatter than the fritilaries. They also come later in the year, even here in Georgia. My bronze fennel is growing, but no eggs yet - though I did see the first black swallowtail of the season just today - now as long as the unseasonably cold weather doesn't get them, hopefully I'll have babies soon as well.
Do you have fritialries over there? And if so, have you tried raising caterpillars of those as well? They are even easier to raise than the swallowtails, and because the caterpillars "hide" when they pupate (sometimes on the house - heh), they have a good pupation rate. Fritilary caterpillars are "ugly" cute. I will enclose a fritilary "baby" picture.
Wow!!!
imway~
Stop stealing my "WOW" Even though you add "!!!", it's still mine.
Keeps it from being plagerism. Perfectly legal.
My babies are getting pretty big now. I have already lost track of time with them. I guess they probably eat for closer to 3 weeks, rather than 2. By time I find them outside they are usually about 5 or so days old, unless I find eggs. These might eat another week but I'll probably bring them inside soon just to be careful. I took a batch of cats to my son's kindergarden class earlier in the year and they loved them. I would like to take the chrysalises to the class so they can see them eclose.
Night_Bloom, I do have GF's here, but not yet. I have raised the cats indoors before but they are harder, especially since their food is a vine. I leave them outside but they do end up as lunch quite often for spiders. I guess the spiders frequent the vines more than fennel. The first time I saw the cats I was afraid to touch them. lol They are neat since their spines are soft. ...being an Entomologist, do you know what the correct plural term for chrysalis is?? I might have plenty of questions for you this year about bugs! :)
Oops, forgot my picture. Here is what they look like today.
Niight_Bloom, welcome to DG! Please come back to this forum often!!! :-)
konkreteblonde, the plural is chrysalises. You have it spelled correctly.
And as for my caterpillars, I think maybe wasps got mine. I love the wasps for getting the caterpillars in my veggie garden, but I've got to watch out for my babies. I think the GF's aren't as "wasp friendly" because of their spines. The wasps can't get a good hold on them.
And thank you for the welcome, imway2dumb!
*Edited everything else out to be on the safe side.*
This message was edited Apr 26, 2005 2:55 PM
Night~
Please don't pick on imway~.
Behind that gruff exterior he really has a heart of goldenrod
This message was edited Apr 26, 2005 5:09 PM
Did I do something wrong? Whatever I did, I greatly apologize.
I admit that I do sometimes have foot-in-mouth disease. Sorry if I offended in any way, imway. It was no way near my intent with your lovely welcome and all.
You did not! Ignore him. I try to. I sometimes fail
NB, thanks for clearing that up. It's been a confusing word for many. I decided to leave my cats out another day, then yesterday we were getting rain so I went to collect them before the afternoon storm. I only could find 8, but brought them all in and put them in my cage. Almost immediately 5 of them have found themselves a spot to make their chrysalises. Today my son found one of the missing ones on the side of a rock in his garden. It was a long way away from his start. To them it's like traveling across the world. I guess I was right originally when I thought they would eat about 2 weeks.
konkreteblond - yup, they will do that. When many types of caterpillars are ready to pupate they exhibit a "wandering behavior", and they can end up quite a distance from where they were feeding.
I am glad that you were able to find most of your babies, and I'll be looking forward to pictures of the chrysalises which can sometimes be quite pretty themselves. Some even have tinges of metalic gold coloring that look like ornamentation.
BST's are really long travelers when they pupate. They will just roam and roam around my cage for hours on end. Monarch's aren't like that. The one that we found outside is a new color for me. It's really dark, maybe even black on parts. Most I've had have been brown or green. I've heard different tales that the chrysalis color is the same as what they pupate on, which is usually the case, but not always. Any truth in this or just coincidence?