The Tale of 2 Chrysalises

Here's it's beautiful open wings!

I had to take these photos in the bathroom on my fabric shower curtain. I needed a light background and a place where my kitty cat wouldn't be tempted to chase it. GF are the ADHD type personalities of the butterfly world. He didn't want to sit still for very long. After his photo session, I put him in the holding cage until tomorrow morning when he will be set free. He's gonna love it out there in the big wide world. I saw a number of GF today in the backyard on my Maypops and also on my Porterweed in my front yard. (I've decided I'm going to add one of those large Porterweeds to my backyard somewhere this year. The butterflies love them! They must have a lot of sweet nectar because they attract every kind of butterfly that I get in my yard.) Anyway, he's gonna meet the Florida GFs tomorrow and get jiggy with them! LOL

Deb - Please let us know how long it took for this GF to pupate from chrysalis to butterfly. He's a beaut! Congrats on the birth of your butterfly! :-) :-)

Congrats Becky and Deb!!! He's a beauty! Good job Becky!

Congrats Becky!! He is a beauty!

I have 11 Monarch pupae ( sp?) now. I am interested to see how many male and how many female.

Awesome, Karen! Hope they stay around your yard to shadow you and delight you! They are so much fun those Monarchs! Gotta love them!

Oh Boy!!! Becky what a good job!!! JOy Joy JOy!!!

She/he is beautiful!!!

**It took 14 days total time** Even with the flight and change of climate!

Perfect! Bless you Beckaroo!!

Congrats to the new mommies. Geez Becky. Ya had me cleanign coffee sputers off my monitor. Totally cracked up and lost it when I read your " Anyway, he's gonna meet the Florida GFs tomorrow and get jiggy with them! LOL"

If I didn't know butterflies got jiggy before I sure do now. : )

Keep us updated on how the kiddie takes to the new enviroment.

Congrats to you both! Job well done! He/she is going to go outside and realize "he's not in Kansas...I mean Texas anymore!! But at least there will be plenty to eat there, it is one lucky GF for Debnes to rescue him and ship him to FL to Becky. ....Now for the Swallowtail wait and watch.

Coffee sputters...ROFLOL!!

Thank you everyone!! Specially Beckaroo!
This has been so fun so far, spewing coffee and clicking our heels...We have 1 transplanted butterfly flittering around and getting jiggy in Florida....

Nothing like the rich color of brand new wings!!

Deb and everyone - I released the little Gulf Fritillary today. I tried to take a photo but the minute I took him outside he went crazy at the sight of my sunny yard and plants and flew away. Later in the day I was out front and several GF were nectaring off the Porterweed. I believe one of them was the little fella. He is smaller than the others, so he's pretty easy to spot. The 3 GF's were chasing each other all over my front garden and then taking a nectar break in-between. Do you suppose they play "tag - your it!"? LOL

The weather was beautiful today! I've been out working all day in the yard, so I'm pooped. Gonna get ready for work tomorrow. Ta ta!

Exit Lady Butterfly.... NIghters Becky!

Jimmy look at what Becky has done for me!!

Deb - Your Black Swallowtail butterfly eclosed tonight (Jan. 25th) at 6:32 pm. It appears to be a male. He's gorgeous! He's been placed in the holding cage until tomorrow morning when I will release him in my yard. I've been seeing quite a few Swallowtails lately. Mostly females in my yard because of my dill and parsley.

How many days since he became a chyrsalis? How many days since you mailed him to me?

And of course ....... PHOTOS!!!

Photo #2! Full view of the top of the wings. The color patterns are what makes me believe it is a male.

And a close-up side view. Handsome looking fella! The BST ladies will be swooning over him! I see many, many offspring in his future!

Congrats to you both, he is beautiful!! Good teamwork!!

Thanks, Sheila! I'd say the praise should mainly go to Deb for feeding him and protecting him and then sending him east to me! He beat his siblings into the world of flight as a butterfly!

Deb - You'll have to let us know when his siblings eclose. It will be interesting to see how long they take. How many BST chrysalids do you have?

This message was edited Jan 25, 2007 7:46 PM

What a beauty! Nice work again, ladies :0)

Thanks Sheila and Becky!
Aww what a handsome butterfly he is too!! Awesome shots Becky. that was amazingly quick! He went into his chrysalis on October 23, 2006. I mailed him to Florida on January 8, 2007.. He has been there 17 days. He was in the crysalis for 94 days total. Now we will count again when these 3 I still have here eclose so we can see the difference.

Beautiful!!

Deb

He is just beautiful!!!! Great job Deb and Becky!!!

Thanks, grampapa and fly_girl! (Edited to add fly_girl, as we were posting at the same time! lol)

Wow, Deb! 94 days! I've never had any butterflies stay in their chrysalis besides this one for more than 12 days! That's a record for me!

Just curious ...... if these BST were in a chrysalis in your yard ..... would they survive the freezing temps and snow & ice?

This message was edited Jan 25, 2007 8:57 PM

Sheila,
She found her son, I believe everything is alright now. I mentioned on your bog garden thread Becky, about DD having a wreck, ( she is unharmed, Thank God!). These things never happen so you can plan them!

I am so glad you thought to call me Sheila. I almost didn't log in tonight, and could have missed this ray of sunshine. Guess it is just what I needed! What timing is that?

Thank you for the extra set of eyes, your a real good friend.. :-).

Thank you Jan and Roxanne too!! I am extremely pleased with how this all turned out.. WOW!

What a dramatic way to end the day!

NIght!

Yeah Becky. Glad these were able to live

The Tiger, Spicebush, and Zebra ST chrysalises can be kept in the fridge for up to 2 years. What kind of temps and light was he exposed to?

fly_girl - The temps in my house are usually between 71-76 degrees. The lighting is my soft kitchen fluorescent ceiling lights.

Deb - I'm so sorry you had to go through such a horrible ordeal with your DD. Glad your day ended on a good note all around! {{{HUGS}}}

Deb - tons of hugs!!

My BST was in chrysalis for at least 3 months and then just picked a day and poof. I hope he is oK cause the weather here is supposed to be very cold (30's).

I hope my 11 Monarch pupae survive on my lanai. I would have brought them in but am afraid that they will eclose and it is so cold out.

Is it really cold on your lanai? Or is it sheltered and warmer than the rest of your yard?

I had some chrysalids in my yard during a brief freeze last year and they all died. I don't know if it was the brief cold spell or something else that killed them.

This message was edited Jan 26, 2007 7:22 AM

I hope she (DD, Val), learned a little somethin somethin.. She was pulling out of an apartment complex which had a large low-set sign at the entrance. It opens out to a curved road where another girl was speeding like a demon around the curve. When Val pulled up to see better, she rolled a bit too far and clipped the back wheel of her truck pretty good. It popped the girls tire, and messed up the front of Val's Saturn, but she was able to drive her car. Then she helped the girl change her tire before she could leave the scene. (Sigh)

Thanks for all the good prayers of all you guys, today is a whole new day.

Debnes, Glad all is well on the home front. That was nice of her to help the girl with her tire. I hope they got off the road to do that. Glad neither were injured in the accident.

Well after all of the waiting you have success with shipping them off. Hope your others here at home do well. Where are you keeping them..in the fridge?

Yes it is cold, but some shelter. It faces south so once the sun comes up it warms quickly. They all look OK this morning but we shall see.

:-) Sheila,
They are on the closed in patio. It stays fairly cool out there and never freezes. If it gets warm I cool it or open the back door.

I have an emergency nectar kit I got from Monarch watch in case they eclose before anything is available here, lol.

Good deal Debnes! I wondered if you could ship a live butterfly without problems? LOL!

Karen - The reason I asked is because Deb didn't think that Monarchs would overwinter in their chrysalis.

It is pretty nippy here, too. Though not freezing. I wonder if all the newest cats (Sulphers and Great Southern Whites) will be able to handle the cold in their chyrsalis? Does anyone happen to know? I know that around my yard there are probably quite a few of these cats that have morphed into their chyrsalis stage because I don't see the cats on my plants today. They were all BIG cats, so I knew they were getting ready to become chrysalids.

Deb - Again, I am so glad that your daughter is okay as well as the other girl. That was probably a little too close for comfort.

I hear you all, thanks!

Becky it could get too cold for some of them, and some may adapt to be hardier. I would hope for the latter. Usually they are hidden so well the cold doesn't get them. I wouldn't worry too much about it.. Lord knows you need a break, that is what winter is for.. even if it a milder climate. Everything and everyone has to have a significant 'rest' stage of some sort. Even their Creator rested.


:-S

LOL! I like that .... "Even their creator rested." So it is written.

Deb - I wasn't planning on finding them and saving them! LOL! I was really just thinking out loud here on this thread, wondering if they overwinter. I have over 30 GSW chrysalis still in 3 different cages inside. Since they were all born on the same days, I'm gonna have a LOT of Great Southern White butterflies very soon!

I have been seeing Sulphers in my yard a lot! So I think the cassia plants have done the trick to bring them around. Yay!

I am truly amazed at all the different butterflies I'm seeing. Two years ago, I wouldn't have thought that there were more than 3 or 4 different species! LOL! I've learned a LOT since then. I never cease to be in awe of them!!!!!

Had you guys read about Dave selling DG yet? If you notice the bottom of the page it has NameMedia Inc. now. It isn't a bad thing, and it happened 2 weeks ago! Sorry about the highjack, but I thought it might be worth mentioning. He talks about it on Daves Garden Forum.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/687274/

Not to be too far off topic, a GF, my only attempt at helping nature.

Sheila - Yes, I already read and posted about this change concerning DG. I sure hope it is a good change.

Your GF is BEAUTIFUL!!!! Congrats on your first hand-raised butterfly! I hope you raise many more! :-) :-) :-)

Deb - Here's a photo I took after I release your BST fella. He couldn't wait to get out of the cage and into the yard! He eventually flew out of my view. Perhaps he'll return to check out all the lady BSTs that visit my yard tomorrow! ;-D

Deb, as usual, I'm drifting in late. just wanted to say that I'm so glad your DD is OK. and I think you're right. it might be a good lesson learned at not too expensive a price. my oldest DGD has her permit and it sure causes some uneasy feelings.

Sheila, congrats on your GF! one down..millions to go LOL