Last year I started growing several milkweed in my garden. I only ever saw one Monarch, but one day I had about 20 cats on my three milkweed. I took pictures, and thought "this is great!" Then like two days later they were all gone. I don't know if birds ate them or what. I didn't see any of the little chrysalis (sp?).
This year, I have added 8 more milkweed, and I've seen several Monarch butterflies. I just want to know if I did something wrong, or whether I didn't do something. I've read where people keep the cats until they morph - is this what I should be doing? How do you do that? I don't want to kill them....
Thanks for your help,
~~Peggy
Monarch Cats - Did I do something wrong?
Oh, here's a pic from last year....
You are probably not doing anything wrong. In my experience, I have found that my caterpillars munch on their larval plants, as they are supposed to, and then crawl off somewhere else (that's sheltered) to form their chrysalis. I can NEVER find the stupid chrysalis! (Although I saw one today -- about five feet away from the passionflower vine, my Gulf Fritillary cat crawled off and made its chrysalis hanging from the top of my living room window. I'll try to remember to get a picture tonight.)
So, after the caterpillar disappears, I assume one of two things has happened: either the birds picked off a nice juicy snack (and that's okay,too, because it's all just part of the cycles of nature) or my cat has gone off to metamorphosize and I'll see it flitting about as a butterfly in a few days.
Yep, if you don't bring them inside to pupate then they will just suddenly disappear. I have only seen a couple of the chrysalis from ones that are outside. I have no idea where they go. One of my BST's went from one side of the yard all the way to the other side and stuck himself it a stone. For him, it was a LONG crawl, so you just never know how far they will go.
Keep planting the milkweed!!
Well, I must say I feel much better. I felt like I was saying "come here, come here", just so they could be eaten.... I guess the fact that I have one back this year is a good thing...
It's a wonderful thing. As long as you keep planting, you'll continue attracting fluttery things.
This story will make you feel better.
The first year I decided to try flutterby gardening, I did it all in containers on my deck. Well, down here in the summertime, we get this huge, creepy looking (and totally harmless) golden orb spiders that are about the size of your hand. They weave huge webs, sometimes 6-8' in diameter. Well, one spider spun her web about ten feet above my deck, although I didn't notice it.
So I was thrilled to discover some black swallowtail cats on my parsley one day. A few weeks later, I was even more thrilled to find a chrysalis hanging delicately from the basil (I had no idea how rare it is to even find the chrysalis). Imagine my thrill when I happened to be out watering after the flutterby had come out of her chrysalis. She sat on a leaf for a few minutes, flexing her new wings. She prepared and took off for her first glorious flight....
Right into the spider web above her where she became dinner for the spider.
:: Slaps forehead ::
Turns out, I'm not raising butterflies; I'm feeding birds and spiders.
OH NO! That's horrible! :( It's kind of funny now, but I know it wasn't then. I have almost the same story with my first butterfly, which was a BST that I had raised inside. My parents even came over to see the butterfly, so we all went out in the backyard to release it. It flew over to a bush and sat still, actually long enough for a few pictures, which I have learned is rare with my BST's. They just take off! I took about 2 pictures and suddenly a huge red wasp started attacking the butterfly!! I started yelling and jumping and slapping my camera strap at the wasp trying to get it to stop! Finally the butterfly did escape, but I was traumatized. lol
LOL.
I have a sick and twisted sense of humor, so I thought it was pretty funny. Natural cycles of life and all that... Spiders will be spiders!
That said, I have been flicking wasps away from my Gulf Frit. cats on the passionflower vines! ;>)
lol well, that does make me feel better... :) Nature is cruel sometimes.... I was all ready to buy tanks and stuff. My dad was already rolling his eyes...
This message was edited Jul 15, 2005 4:44 PM
I have many cats on the vine and did last year also, but I have never seen a chryllais. Don't know where they hide. My vine grows on a dead tree stump (glad that I decided to leave it there). Maybe they are hiding on the stump and I just can;t see them.