It has been a number of years, but today we had the Red Spotted Purple pay us a visit. In addition to our rotten banana attractant, we have added some willows to our yard this year, one of it's host plants. I'll be checking the willows routinely for cats in the upcoming days. :-D
Beautiful Butterfly!
What is the rotten banana attractant? What does it consist of?
Marilyn
Hill be sure to get a pic of the cat if you find them. I had them all over my yard at the old place and could never find any cats on them
Marilyn. Just a over ripe banana cut length and placed on a flat surface for them. They love over ripe fruits, rotted veggies, wet clay/sand/dirt for minerals, wet doggie poo etc....
Hi Donna--If I find any cats, I will be putting them in a cage to pupate and emerge, and will take and post the pics.
Hi Marilyn--Donna's info on the bananas is correct. We freeze our bananas first to hasten the rotting and simply put them out in the yard in the shade when thawed and wait and see what comes in to feed on it.
Link for some general info on the Red Spotted Purple:
http://www.birdsandblooms.com/dycon.asp?parent=47135&RefURL=&KeyCode=&tdate=&PMCode=&OrgURL=&r_d=y
Thanks for the great info Donna and Hill!
I'll have to try it! Never done it before!
Marilyn
Oh, lucky you! I have never seen one. Hopefully if some are straying this far West into your area then I might eventually see one too! I will be watching my BST's and Pipevine's more closely this year. There are willow trees on both sides of us too.
Let us know if you see it again, see more or find cats!
Such a pretty b-fly!
