Here is the safety cage I made for the dozen or so brand new cats on my tangerine seedlings- Now they will be safe (I hope!)
the cats are safe!
Very clever! Let us know how it works out. I may try something like that with my citrus tree when a Giant Swallowtail visits and lays eggs for me.
Good idea!!!
My citrus trees are huge and I can never find the cats once they get to crawling around and start to blend in with the branches or looking like bird poo.
Most times I end up putting them into one of the cat cages and I keep them supplied with fresh citrus leaves. The GST cats don't seem to eat as voraciously as let's say, monarch cats. So swapping out fresh leaves is a breeze.
Saw a female GST flitting around the firebush (hamelia patens) in my front yard today when I drove off to run errands. Am hoping she noticed the citrus trees in the back yard. Will have to check for eggs tomorrow.
Haven't quite figured out the GST butterflies yet. One year they'll lay eggs on the orange tree, the next the tangerine or lime. They don't seem to like the grapefruit though.
~ Cat
I saw my first GST of the season just a few days ago then it came back the next day and left a few presents on the Rue. Today she was back and she chased off my first visiting Tiger Swallowtail!!! Bad GST! AND she even chased off 2 sparrows!! My husband was watching and thought that was really strange but I have seen them do it before.
I'm not going to bother to bring them inside this year until their last instar. I love raising them but some plants just aren't so easy to feed in a cage. I hate laying them flat and making them eat in some unnatural position, even if they don't realize it. I do notice that they all eat much more and are much more colorful when left outside.
I guess I should add that I say this every year but as soon as I see spiders and wasps around the plant I go running to gather them up. lol
What are the predators of the cats- I guess I was just thinking of birds- but other insects get them too? Maybe my net cage won't do the job-?
Other predators can include a variety of ants, spiders, wasps, parasitic flies, dragonflies, praying mantis, birds, rats, toads, lizards, snakes and the list goes on. Yet, some ants tend to the caterpillars of various hairstreak butterflies as the larva has a sugary secretion the ants like. Those ants do not harm the caterpillar and provide a bit of protection from other predators.
Konkrete...
I use small shallow containers and jar lids to hold wet floral foam. I let it soak up water then I stick the branch cuttings or leave stems into it. The cats can crawl all over it and I never have to worry about them drowing or getting hurt. I remove the old cuttings and use an old brush to knock off the cat poo. I add water and new cuttings/leaves as needed.
Here's one I made using the icing cup that comes in the refrigerated cinnamon biscuit tubes. It's hold a small branch of new growth from my tangerine tree. I prefer using wider dishes like the kind 8 ounces of sour creamor pimento cheese comes in...I'm a packrat and had to find use for those icing cups. I also use jar lids to hold leaves for the little instars. Just in case the little bugger falls off a leave it won't have far to climb.
~ Cat
This message was edited Jun 4, 2006 11:36 AM
Cat, that's a great idea! And we just had those horribly fattening, but delicious, cinnamon rolls this morning! I'll hold on to that can and get some of that foam. That is so much better than using vases.
I take it by cats you mean caterpillers, not kitty cats!!!!!!!
I'm using a screened cage similar to yours for some of my Spicebush cats (not a very big plant). Only I realized after a while that some of the smaller cats were disappearing. Now I'm removing the older cats at some point and putting them in cages to raise off the plant, to keep the smaller ones safe. I know that's also a problem with the Giant Swallowtails, having raised them myself. Yes, "cats" can be used to mean caterpillars.