The Giant Swallowtails have been teasing me and flitting about the backyard for months now, but no cats were to be found. I was watering my citrus this morning and spied that there were some leaves that had been munched on. The Orange Dogs had arrived!
Well I looked all over that tree and couldn't find them, but I knew they were there, just hiding. Later this afternoon, I went to check again and there they were--at the top of the 8 foot tree.
Here they are with a sharpshooter friend.
I snipped the branch off and brought it inside and put it in a vase. My ODs will safely grow up in the kitchen under my watchful eye. Can you find all four??
Not to be outdone, my DH found a clearwing hummingbird moth cat on our Lonicera today also. This cat is safely in the kitchen too.
The moth cat is almost ready to pupate, so I'll have to get a tray of soil ready for him to bury himself in.
wow it was your lucky day. Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hill...this photo group is wonderful! I've learned a lot! Thanks...
Moth cats need to bury themselves to pupate? I have two IO moth cats eating up a storm.Karen
Hi Karen,
Not all moth cats bury themselves to pupate, but the cat in particular that I have does pupate in soil. He has now safely buried himself in the tray of dirt I provided him, is tucked away on the buffet in the dining room and should emerge in a few weeks. Yes, you read that right--I have a tray of dirt containing a moth pupa sitting on my buffet, lol. I promise I won't serve any meals from the buffet anytime soon. :-))
As far as your Io cats, hubby says that they simply spin a cocoon of silk to pupate in. You can provide them dirt to spin their cocoon in or they will also pull leaves together of whatever you are feeding them and spin their cocoon in the leaves. So, essentially the cats will make do with whatever you provide them.
Thank you Connie and Donna for the kind words of your posts. The ODs are busy growing and eating, or actually perhaps the opposite--eating and growing. Two of them have moved into their next instar stage already, but all still have quite a few stages to go before they pupate.
Life is good today. We even got a bit of rain, with a promise of more to come.
Kenya
Very fascinating information on the cats, hill. I can't wait to read the later installments!
It's strange how IO cat's act. Here in the yard they eat practically nothing. Once in a while a small chewed hole in the hibiscus, which they seem to prefer in my yard, but other than that, nothing. I have had their cat's here for years and it's always the same.
An update:
>I am still waiting patiently for the clearwing hummingbird moth to emerge.
>I have 3 gulf fritillary cats feeding on passion vine in my kitchen, with many new eggs remaining outside.
>I have 6 orange dogs, including one just about ready to pupate and one just emerged from its egg, feeding on citrus in my kitchen. Many, many other OD eggs also remain outside on the tree.
DH went to Wmart one day recently and bought out their marked down supply of passion vines to feed the hungry frit hordes. We have had a great influx of gulf frits and giant swallowtails in the garden recently. This morning we stood amongst the passion vines and watched at least three gulf frits laying eggs around us, chasing each other and the giant swallowtails with their butterfly aggression tactics. DH also noticed one of the gulf frits in her egg laying frenzy, putting eggs on a big clump of our purple fountain grass, near one of the passion vines. He kindly rescued the eggs for her. Ok, it's time for me to go move the sprinkler! Gotta keep the garden oasis going for the upcoming fall butterfly visitors.
Oh, you in the sunbelt are so lucky with your butterfly populations! So much activity!
I have had some BF visitors and I keep watching my milkweeds and passion flowers and parsley and such, but haven't found any signs of a new generation!
Keep us posted on what's happening! t.
Hi tabasco,
I think our luck this year with the butterfly (and bird) population has been due to the horrendous drought we are experiencing. Our backyard garden is literally an oasis in the middle of a brown crispy desert with temps repeatedly over a hundred degrees F day in and day out. It is teeming with flowers and host plants that have drawn the insects and birds, albeit a little later this year.
We are extremely fortunate that our little community has not had to go to mandated water restrictions yet, otherwise, there wouldn't currently be an oasis in the backyard for all the creatures. I will admit we are paying the price for the oasis in the monthly water bill with all the surcharges and high usage fees added, but it should hopefully be only for another month or six weeks at the most. Well, that's what I am hoping, anyway.
Here's a pic of my oldest orange dog. :-)
