I found a butterfly in the house last night...obviously one cat that escaped earlier had been a chrysalis! Okay, I thought it just eclosed because it was in the warm house. But then two more that I had outdoors in the chrysalis cage eclosed early this morning. Weather was too warm maybe, and now just when it's getting cold they're coming out. I was hoping they'd all overwinter. Well, Texas weather is pretty confusing.
What a beauty!! We've had a couple of GF's (pic taken yesterday) lately, nice to see yours!
You guys are so lucky :)
Linda, were you able to release ahead of the front that came in?
Great going Linda! That sure is a beautiful male. I haven't seen a BST in my yard since October.
~ Cat
Yes, if the warm weather had held out, it wouldn't be so bad. I did release the male this afternoon, but I probably shouldn't have. This weekend is going to be a mess. Maybe I'll hold on to the two females for a while.
Spring needs to hurry up and come again. I miss seeing the flutter of wings around my yard.
So glad everybody else got some to share pics with us.
Oh just found this post Linda,
I am hoping mine will stay in til spring, now this has me wondering...Oh dear!
Deb
Other than those 3, all the rest of the chrysalides are hanging in there. To overwinter, they need a certain amount of cold. Last night helped, 28.6 °. The cage is outside on the covered deck. Of course, I've got GF chrysalides in that cage also...and I don't think those can overwinter. Oh well. Oh, BTW, my single out-of-season Queen cat is pupating! Oh, I hope it will overwinter, but I bet not.
Linda - One of the two BST chrysalises that I brought inside eclosed and I released the butterfly several days ago. But the other one is still in it's chyrsalis. Not sure what is going on with it. It has been quite warm here. Though tonight the temps are supposed to dip rather low into the 40's. And then it warms up again on Thursday! Crazy weather temps here this Fall/early Winter months. Your BST is beautiful. Mine was smaller, but looked the same. I kind of enjoyed seeing a BST eclosing as I have raised and released so many Monarchs the past 2 months. As much as I love to see the monarchs, it's nice to see a different butterfly for a change. I have 4 more chrysalises in the cage and 2 on my window sill that I better put in the cage. I know the one is probably getting ready to eclose in the next day or two. It's darker now. I get a kick out of touching them as they will jerk around if they feel threatened in their chrysalis. They are not like the Monarchs in a hard chrysalis. The GF and the BST have softer chrysalis and can actually "feel" if they are being harrassed. They will jerk around to avoid being eaten (I guess). It's always funny to see them do that! lol
