Well my first Zebra longwing formed a Chrysalis yesterday and today thought I'd better remove it from the side of the pot of passion suberosa and tie thread around the top on the silk and tied it to a hook at the top of the cage. While I was tieing it to the hook I noticed several spots on it's belly of the chrysalis all aluminum color and the thing started to wiggle a little.Never had a chrysalis do that before a day after it had formed. Anyone know what those spots are?
Also I'm forced to see if the remaining cats will eat and survive on passion flower Lady Lavender.I moved two real close to a small pot of the lady lavender and forced them onto it .Now will see if they start eatting it and see if they will stay on it and see if they grow to next instar. Those little white spiked cats are so cool looking.I'll let you all know if they make it on the lady lavender. Don
Zebra Longwing spots on bottom of chrysalis aluminum colored
Good Luck with them on the Lady Lavender. Let us know how they do on that vine. :-) How exciting one has already gone into a chyrsalis! Whoo Hoo!!! And now the fun begins! Post a photo of the chrysalis. I want to see it! :-)
Don, The silver spots are normal. Thats how they look, pretty huh?
I've never had much luck getting them to feed on anything else...D-mail me if you need "food" help.
Adrienne
I LOVE Zebra longwings, but I have to admit that if I saw that ugly thing in my garden I'd go running the opposite way!
Congratulations, Don.
Suzy
Suzy,
C'mon...it's a work of art! :)
Adrienne
adrienne- Thanks so much for the offer and I will take you up on it if they eat up my supply.I just checked and the 2 cats I put on the Lady Lavender are still on it and the larger one I think it's about 3rd instar is eatting away and the smaller one I think early 2nd instar is just hanging out on the end of one of the tendrels.So in a couple of days if the larger one is still with us and makes it to the next instar that will be a real good sign.I figured since the gulf frits will lay eggs on all the passion flower suberosa and lady lavender it's worth a try to see if the ZL's will survive on them as well.
Another bit of very interesting information I learned sunday at the butterfly and herb show at USF Botanical gardens .I had a conversation with the owner of Greathouse Butterfly farm and he informed me that he could tell the sex of the butterfly in the chrysalis.We only spoke of the monarch and he said the male has another extra line at the top that is missing from the female.He said if I was interested I could call and have a chat with the young lady who is really specialized in seperating the differant sexes and she could tell me the signs to look for..That information would come in handy if someone wanted to start a micro community of a spiecies of butterfly.One your sure you had the temp.in your area was right and you had enough host plants to support it.Then you could buy the cats or the chrysalis maybe about 20 or 25 of them .Build like a 12 by 12 screened in cage or turn your swimming pool cage into a butterfly breeding area and keep enough nectar and host larval plants in there and don't release any of the butterflies until your population was large enough.I can't imagine how much host plants you'd have to have(alot).
Well a guy can dream can't he.
Suzy, they are pretty small,most likely you wouldn't even notice it.
Don, I like the sound of your dream. The lotto's up to $10 million - you never know, lol! Glad so many people enjoyed the USF Butterfly fest.
I'm glad to report I have now 7 zebra Longwings cats munching along on Lady Lavender Passion flower.They all seem as happy as cats can be. I hope it continues.It sure would be nice to be able to save the corky stem passion for the Zebra Longwings to lay their eggs on.That's the only plants I've found they will lay eggs on.Besides the Lady lavender grows so fast the GF's haven't even put a dent in it yet.I bet I've got 20 GF's hanging around my yard constantly.
Hey Don!
Can you root a peice of that Lady Lavender for me ??? :)
Adrienne
Got one all ready rooted you can have.I d-mailed my cell number.Call me and we can arrange you getting it. Don
Awwww..... Don's wonderful!!! I picture his yard with a bunch of pots filled with plants he is growing to share with others! LOL! He is so kind and generous with what he has! I know. :-)
Yep, Don is always very generous, and is a downright nice person to be around. I have a few plants from him, also. : )
~Lucy
Becky and Lucy very kind words but I'm not all that.It's my eyes are bigger than my yards stomack and I'm always finding I'm out of room.Becky your vision is almost exact for my back yard(lots of pots).When I get seeds I never expect to get many to germinate and when they do I'm singing "Oops I did it again".More so many many people have been so generous with me. Again thanks for nice words. Don
My wait is over,the first Zebra Longwings chrysalis has just produced a beautiful new born butterfly.It took 9 days was feed totally on P.Suberosa .It's drying it's wings in the sun inside the cage right now. How do you tell Male or Female ? Now I have 4 more chrysalis and 4 more 5th instar cats and 3 more 2nd instar cats.All were taken from eggs laid on P Suberosa and move to the cage and just as soon as I could ,they were placed on Lady Lavender passion vine.So the jury is still out on wether the Lady Lavender will produce normal butterflies.
Congrats on the fine delivery, daddy Don. : )
I have yet to raise any. Can't wait tho.
~Lucy
Thanks Lucy
Don - Congrats! Do take some photos if you can. I really love the Zebra Longwings! I would imagine that if the cats can survive on the Lady Lavendar PV, that they should turn out just fine as butterflies. That is soooo exciting. The cats are so pretty. I like everything about that species! I wish I would see a few here. Very little action going on in my yard the past few days. :-( I've only got the Sulphur cats that I am raising at this time. Very little else in my yard fluttering around.
Thanks Becky, I can't believe how few monarch eggs I have seen this whole spring.I've heard someone say it's because of the drought.Last year at this time I had 100's of eggs all the time it seemed.
I hear ya, Don! I've had very little action in my yard for the past couple of months. And I've got tons of host plants! I do believe Fall will be busy, but it would be soooo convenient to have the action now since I am off from work for a few months until school starts again. Oh well, Murphy's Law! LOL!
Yay Don!
Sorry I haven't called! I had to give a Butterfly talk at our local Library but now that it's done I can concentrate on my Garden again!
I'll call soon and come check out your set up....if thats ok!??
Adrienne
Don,
My daughter and I just looking at Florida Butterfly Gardening by the Minno's. Great book by the way. The females are larger. Their bodies are longer too. Otherwise it's really hard to tell the difference.
Adrienne