I have been reading your posts about butterfly raising. So today I started. I have seen Monarch cats on my milkweed over the years but never seen them turn into butterflies. So today I had a Milkweed Tussock Moth climbing on the screen door. So I went out to the garage and cleaned up the old aquarium with a screen top that my daughter had for a pet lizzard many years ago.
I put some dried stems from a daylily in there for the cat to climb up on and wet oassis with fresh milkweed . Placed the tank on the patio table with the umbrella up and put the Tussock cat inside. Then went back out to the milkweed and found the prize....a Monarch cat.
Now I'm new at this so here is a ? or 2 Should I protect from the sun. ( no sun today) What should I look for? Any advice would be helpful.
Thanks,
Chris
Been lurking, now acting
Hi Chris,
If there are enough leaves, the cat can get shelter from the sun if it wants. The cat will eat and eat and excrete and excrete until it gets big enough.....
Then it will attach to (probably) the top of the cage and form the letter J.
Then, within about 10 minutes it will pupate.....
Until it is done....
About a week later.....you will notice the chryslis getting transparent and be able to see the wings in it.
And before you know it, the Monarch will be out and drying its wings. Enjoy!! Karen
Karen, that's a lovely series of photos!!
10 minutes! I wish - mine seem to hang for hours before they form a chrysalsis.
Thanks Karen, nice pictures too. Little concerned about the top of the cage, as this is what I have to remove to get inside. That is why I put the dry stems in thinking it will attach to them. Any advice?
Oh, I found 2 more M cats and added them to the collection. They are a bit smaller then the first one.
Chris
maybe you could make another cover that would fit inside or under the orginal with a large enough opening in the center for you to get things in and out but the cats could J up around the outside edge.Or a large piece of screen you get at HD and cut the opening in center and tie a lot of big rubber bands together large enough to secure the piece of screen to the tank securely.Then you can cover with the orginal cover. Just a thought
I don't know about the temperature where you live, but down here in HOT (too much 100/100+ this month) Texas, I wouldn't leaves cats in an aquarium unless they're protected from the sun from all angles. There a kind of ovenlike effect to glass containers, even with screened lids on top. It's also possible to use paper towels across the top (if aquarium is small enough) with really large rubber bands holding it in place. But anything across the top will have to be removed (very carefully if cats or chrysalides are on top) for cleaning up frass (cat poop) and putting fresh food in, in any case. I just like paper towels because I can from time to time easily remove the chrysalids to another container or cage, replacing with new paper towels, leaving only cats in the original one.
Thanks everyone! All is going well for the cats today. I don't think I have to worry about the heat. I was in long pants and sweatshirt this morning.
If I gently lift the cover and set it up on top of something to elevate it, would that be okey?
I think so but only when it has pupated (is that a word?).
By the way, I didn't mean that 10 minutes after forming the J it pupates. I meant that the pupating process takes about 10 minutes. My first Monarch cooperated by doing the whole act in front of us. It was amazing!! Karen
That settles it y'all, Im growing milkweed next spring!
I have a cat cage that consists of a 10gal aqurium and a wire attachment I bought at petco that fixes tightly to the top, and gives them twice as much space, and plenty of space at the top for them to attach. I have been hatching Gulf Fritillaries all Summer until my passionvie was completly bare. I trimmed it way back and it is getting lush again.
~Debnes
Here is the last one Ben (7), and I watched emerge about 2 weeks ago>
Hi, Debnes, cute picture "How I spent my summer vacation" LOL
Hello Debnes, I need to make a personal connection with you. I don't know any other FW DGers. I will send a D-mail your way.
Love the picture it is precious!!
This is what I woke up to this morning.
Another picture
Yea! Congradulations!!
Thanks Sheila, Can't wait till tomarrow, when I got home from work it was getting dark so hard to see what was going on. I have 2 more to go. It is getting late in the season, but I am looking forward to next year already.
Chris
Here is what I came home to yesterday @ 5:30 p.m.
This message was edited Sep 9, 2006 9:56 AM
From the above pictures, how long does it take for them to turn into a butterfly?
I'm growing milkweed from seed now. Hope to start a monarch environment beginning next spring.
Deborah
ladygardener - good for you! That's going to be really exciting to watch the monarchs hatch out of their chrysalis. I had a much more humble and lowly event - we brought a tomato hornworm in the house that had braconid wasp cocoons all over its back and the little wasps hatched before I knew it. I wondered what in the world those tiny little black flyers were - they were coming from the hormworm netted cage and flying out the kitchen door. Good luck!