I was outside doing what I do on the weekends and "lo and behold", I almost fell down laughing so hard. Do you think he realized just where he was ?????
Strange place for a chrysalis
ADORABLE !!!!!
Of course, the catepillar knew .. He planned it all, and quite well !!
Also .. you could've very well missed the whole ordeal .. Look how long it took you to find 'im!!! .. (*hee*)
Next question: what catepillar does this chrysalis belong to ?
.. Where's our butterfly experts when we really need 'em .. heehee ..
Now, if no one will take and try to make this pic into something 'naystee' - it should prove to continue to be quite a wonderful read and some wonderful amazement .. at the creativity and 'art' .. of the world of the morphing butterflies and moths!
.. The truly excellent entertainment and honest humor they provide us human folks, is phenomenal !!! ..
- Magpye
Too cute! Kipper2, do you know what it is? I'm going to just take a guess, maybe Gulf Fritillary or Zebra Longwing? I can't tell what color it is or if it has any.
Sorry about leaving out the ID. It's a Gulf Fritillary. I have passion vine growing all over my bench swing for this purpose. I've counted 8 chrys's so far. Last year I had @ 20 to 30 Frits being born plus 15 to 20 Monarchs that I could find.
Kip, that is hilarious! I have Mexican Milkweed in my yard, for Monarchs. Last year I saw two of their caterpillars, but couldn't find a crysalis to save my life. Maybe I'm just overlooking them? Or don't know where to look?
Maggiemoo, you will rarely find the chrysalis if you are looking for it. (That's why I bring mine inside) Once they start looking for a place they will go and go. I put several BST's in my cage recently but a few had already left the host plant. The next day my son found one by his garden which was about 50ft or so from the starting point. For a little caterpillar that's like traveling across the US. lol I hate to think of them traveling across the yard! eeekkk!!! I need little "stay off the grass" or "keep on the path" signs for mine! LOL
I like those sign ideas! (They would actually make pretty cute little garden stakes. Hmmm..... Thanks for the idea!)
Kip, that is so funny. I am wondering why it would attach itself there in the wide open. Maybe it was thinking that your butterfly decoration was a butterfly hatchery station. The neighborhood cats have been killing the monarch catepillars in my "butterfly" flowerbed. There was a swallowtail eating all the leaves off of the curley parsely I had purchased 3 days before. I was so happy to see it and I knew that the parsely would fill back out. After it had its fill and had no cover because the leaves were all gone, a bird swooped down, grabbed it and took off. I was so sad. Thanks for sharing the photo ... it has made my day. :o)
I'll be darned! Cats eating cats. I've never seen that before. :-(
Oh, John, you are just too clever ... I hadn't ever seen Cats eating cats before either. I just am sick about it. These Cats have made paths through my larkspur which are in my main butterfly plant flowerbed, hide in amongst them and catch the butterflies and moths just for fun I guess. I don't think that they would be much of a meal. There used to be lots and lots of butterfly visitors. The numbers dropped dramatically when my neighbor threw his 3 Cats out of his house to fend for themselves. He does not feed his Cats and stated that they could eat birds, lizards, field rats and such. I just wish his Cats would stay in his yard so that they would quit killing the lizards, birds, snakes, praying mantis and other critters in my yard. They have also destroyed or mutilated a lot of my plants over the past few years.
Well htop, it sounds like we need to figure out how to get the cats out of your garden! Hmmm.... how about planting catnip somewhere at the opposite end, like close to his fence? I'll keep thinking...
Well, I have thought of evil solutions at times as have my other neighbors. This neighbor lives across the street and his cats are almost never in his yard. But, it is not the cats' faults so I don't want harm them or have them taken off. There is a cat leash law here, but I don't want to make him pay a fine for each cat (there are 3) because he is a great neighbor otherwise. One of them jumped one of my neighbor's fences and dug up all her seedlings in one spot over a 3 day period as it used her garden for as a kitty litter box. She cried. Cayenne pepper doesn't work. I've used mothballs when it is cool which helped; but, when the weather heats up, they disintegrate too fast. The smell, of course, is awful and I can't smell the fragrance of my plants' blooms. I have used Liquid fence, but its very expensive when you have to spray it over your whole front yard. I'd try planting catnip in his yard, but he has very few plants and the "blooming" ones are artificial. He would probably pull it up. But, thanks for the suggestion.
Sounds like you've done quite a bit. I read recently to keep cats out of something in this article they put a thorny vine underneath or around the plant. ??
That would work, but I'd have to have all of my beds planted with thorny vines which is notfeasible. Thanks for the suggestion though. I saw 3 swallowtail catepillars today and hope they survive.
I saw one, too. Went out to bring it inside and it had disappeared. ???
I hope a bird didn't feast upon it.
Me too or, a cat! :-)
I started to say maybe a cat ate it, but I had talked so much about cats, I refrained. :o)
Hazel, maybe you could start saving any thorny cuttings (that you don't intend to root) and just lay them around the plants. They actually take quite a while to decompose if just left on top of the soil.
Just a thought. I love my kitties, but they do want to sit and lay everywhere I don't want them to! (They are only in the garden when I am in the garden.)
I have heard of that technique used with success.
What? The technique of kitties in the garden only when you're in the garden? ;-)
Hazel, I have a few seriously thorny roses that I cut canes from, from time to time throughout the year (they'll get a wild hair and one cane will grow way longer than the others.) I'll be happy to save them and deliver them to you when we go nursery prowling.
LOL! Shish kabob sticks, too.
See, someone else knew about that idea! I'm sure it would be hard to put them under or around every plant! I was thinking more like the ones that the cats tend to bother the most. lol
I don't have cats in the yard but I do have little sparrows that love to take dirt baths under my crepe myrtle and they just dig holes and throw everything all over the place. But I love them!
Me too.
One thing that I have heard of to keep cats out of the flower beds is to lay a wire mesh ala chicken wire on the ground. For some reason cats hate the feel of the wire mesh on their pads and will stay clear.
So far the only places that my cats like to lay is where nothing is growing or inbetween plants. How nice of them. Oops, there was one time that Smokey brought a field mouse into the yard to play with and the little bugger got loose and ran under one of my salvias. Weeellllll, after chasing it around the bush I ended up cutting back 4 to 5 stalks. Not a problem for me since she had a good time and that's how nature works. More stuff for the compost.
Here's a shot of the Huntress
Thunder-thighed roof cat!
My goodness that little girl has a large rear-end! ROTFL! Just teasing! She's lovely :-)
I've heard of the chicken wire too! Might give that a try soon.
Went out my front door and looked at my beautiful blooming peruvian lilies to find one whole plant colony knocked to the ground and the blooms broken off as well as the false freesia crushed to the ground. A dead bird was 2 feet away from my hurt plants so I know who the culprit was. :o(
Maggie, no need to save me thorny rose branch cuttings. After loading my 45, I calmed down and set the animal trap back out with a large can of tuna in it. I can't take it anymore.
Trust me, that's all fur in the picture. It was with her winter coat and she's a long hair and STRONG.
Sorry about that happening Hazel. I know that it's frustrating but you need to do what you need to do. I wish I had some suggestions.
Kip
Oh Hazel, I'm so sorry to hear that!!! :( I would be really angry too!! I do love cats, but your neighbor is going to have to take care of his.
Oh Hazel, how awful for you! I agree, sometimes you just have to do what you have to do to protect your property.
Very sad darlin', Hazel. I feel your pain.