Have 12 Monarch cats in my mesh cage. Yesterday I ran out of milkweed for them (panic!). I called every nursery within 20 miles - no milkweed. So we ended up driving 60 miles to Lucas Nursery west of Orlando where I bought 10 plants. Hopefully that will last a while.
What we do for butterflies
Sorry to hear that you had to go above and beyond for your babies! Good mommies always do that! :-)
This is the main reason why I am going to be pruning my milkweed at different times (not cutting back all of the MW plants around my yard at the same time) and possibly covering certain sections in the Spring (if we have that season this year) and next year in the Fall and Winter (if we have cold weather next year). I have found myself in your shoes way too many times! I just love having the Monarchs in my yard. Sort of like certain species of birds. I know people that will drive to Orlando or miles south of me to get certain kinds of bird seed. But you know the old saying, "If you plant it .... they will come." And they come in flocks if you have the plants/food to support more than just a few. So the only thing I can think of to try to control this ..... is to cover part of my MW or to trim my plants year round at different times per garden bed.
We love our critters! :-) :-)
The one advantage of having LOTS of host and nectar plants is that you get MANY of any given butterfly species in your yard (often all day long). I just love having them grace my yard with their stunning beauty. I look around at the rest of the yards in my neighborhood and I don't see any butterflies at all. But if you even look at my front yard garden, there are at least 3-5 butterflies fluttering around at any given time during the day. It's like my own little slice of nature and heaven combined. I love walking up my driveway after work and just seeing all the butterflies before I even reach my front door. Puts a huge smile on my face. And that usually prompts me to go outside and putter around rather than sit and watch TV or snack before dinner or something else that I shouldn't be doing. Gardening is great exercise! So for me personally, it is probably extending my life in the long run! So I provide for nature and nature in turn provides for me. Does that make sense?
Perfect sense. I just spent about an hour watching one of my Monarch's pupate, a couple of others bump noses while eating the same leaf, three cats looking for spots to pupate, and one nutty cat on the edge of the plant container doing a marathon, around and around and around.
Interestingly, when the guy pupated, a little of the cat, including antennae remained up at the top right near the connection to the cage. Have you seen that before?
Oh that's cool, Karen! It is fascinating watching them pupate! I've seen it so many times but never grow tired of it. The way they morph from a cat to a chrysalis just boggles my mind. It's miraculous!
Yes, sometimes my cat-to-chrysalis do the same thing where the shedded skin doesn't fall down. I try to pull it off a couple days later when the chrysalis is very hard. Just be careful that you don't pull the chrysalis down. And if it doesn't seem like it's coming off easily..... leave it! Trust me ..... I pulled and pulled one time and it ripped a hole in the chrysalis and the morphing butterfly died. :-( I've learned the hard way on things like that. :-{
I think i will just leave it alone. Today i have 2 pupas, 4 "j's" and 7 cats-a-eating. :-)