Isin't she a lovely caterpillar?
Here is my second Baby!!! A giant Sawllowtail.
Here she is trying to pupate.
The chrysalis, looks like wood.
And here she is in all her splendor, a gorgeous butterfly.
When we released her she did not hang around she took off for a tree, so we have no pictures of the release.
Josephine - How long was the chrysalis stage for yours? Mine is still in it's chrysalis and you are right .... it does look just like a piece of branch/wood. Good way to hide from predators! I can't wait for mine to emerge! This is the first one I have ever raised. So cool! Thanks for posting all your great photos! Nice!!!!
Thank you Becky, actually I didn't write it down, but I know it was at least 20 days.
Josephine.
What is she on, Josephine? From the thorns, I'm guessing Hercules Club. I have a HC, but have never seen a cat on it, though it's full of butterflies when it's in bloom. Perhaps I should be checking it more closely?
Carla
Yes Carla, it is a Herculis Club, you really should check it, caterpillars love it, I bet you are just missing them.
Right now I am raising six more, and three more on the way.
They are so much fun!
I can't any cats on any of my host plants not even the HC?
Me..pouting
~~~~~$:>{
Carla - It's kind of like "true love" ..... you never find it when you are looking ..... it just kinda happens! LOL!
Just check your plants a couple times a week. Sooner or later you'll see some! :-)
It's really slow here in Florida for me and a few others for butterflies, too! Fall is usually our busiest season in Florida.
~Becky~
Bigred, if you have GSTs around they will eventually find your plants, give them a little time and watch closely, they are hard to see when they are tiny,
Josephine.
Great photos Josephine!!!
I know there's eggs and surely cats on my citrus trees because I've seen a few butterflies flitting around the top. The trees are too dratted high for me to look for GSTs. Wish they'd lay eggs on the lower branches :o)
~ Cat
I had some of these cats on a potted up citrus plant some time ago. They also pupated there and whenever it was about to freeze I would run the plant inside for the night. LOL.
Here I just found the photos. They are just like frostweeds except on the citrus.
Soon afterwards
Very nice pictures Delisa.
Thank you Frostweed. I was totally loving the whole experience when it happend.
Delisa - I am enjoying all your photos! I love the GST butterflies! They are some of the biggest ones we get here. :-) They do seem to prefer citrus plants over wild lime here. They do like my Hercules Club though. (My HC needs to get much bigger so they can find it easier and lay their eggs!)
Josephine,
How great that the GST's love you so much!! You lucky girl!
Delisa- what type of citrus do you have?
Bigred- I feel your pain!! :)
Adrienne
Josephine,That's great,nice pix's too.What do you feed them while they are in your charge?Are you raising them in a cage? I only see them so rarely here and only the small males usually. Don
I feed them Herculis club leaves, my plant is small, but there are many trees in this area growing in fence rows, and I go and gather some leaves for them.
Josephine.
Great pictures of your GST Josephine! Good job raising it. Your's too Delisa, wonderful before and after shot.
Way to go Josephine! Aren't they really odd cats? I have 5 right cats now, but also have 4 eggs. I'm wondering if 3 aren't going to hatch, because they've been dark for a while now. That would be unusual. Usually all my GST eggs hatch.
I watched a GST lay eggs on the orange tree, and last night when I looked, the eggs are all gone and no caterpillars. Next time,should I pick the leaves with the eggs on them and put them in a cage?
Yes, Definitely if you want to see them survive. It's a shame so many don't last but a few hours after being laid on a host leaf. :-(
I just collected 3 eggs form my little tree, I am afraid they will be eaten out there.
Yay! Way to go, Josephine! They are relatively easy to raise. Just be sure to separate them when they emerge from the eggs. They can be cannibals. =:-O
Thank you for the advice Becky, I will do that.
So, if you collect 10 eggs, when they hatch you have to put each one in a separate container? Do I have that right? Just checking, so that when I find eggs, I will know what to do.
~Lucy
I bought some Rubbermaid food containers for 2 / 97 cents at Walmart. They are about 3" high and 5" square. I cut a hole in the lids and hot glued tule on the opening. I think they will work until they get really large. Then I can put them in larger cages.
I've found that the problem with GST cats mainly arises with mixing cats of different sizes. I can usually keep 2 or 3 same-size cats together in a container with plenty of food without that kind of problem. No guarantees, you understand. What I didn't realize until this year is that VFs are problem cats that way. Even 2 late instar cats about the same size didn't work out in a container! Suddenly there was only one.
Linda - I had 3 baby cats of the GST that emerged within a 24-hour period of each other. One was just a tad bigger and literally ate one of the other cats. I caught it attacking and chewing on it! I have had some pretty mean caterpillars over the years. I often wondered if male cats might go after other males. Survival of the fittest! (Or maybe it's females? Don't know.) But if you want them ALL to survive, then I suggest separating them. Better to be safe than "sorry". (As I have been so many times.)
And I agree that those little rubbermaid containers are great. But I use very thin material (like used in scarfs) to cut into squares which I just rubber band over the top of the containers because they have a lip. I am not very crafty like Linda. (I hope that made sense in explaining what I use?)
Ok, I will remember to separate. Surely don't want to see them eating each other. Ewwww....
Actually, I do use rubber bands also sometimes...I have a lot of different sizes. You have to be very careful, however, when you remove the rubber bands. Make sure to check to see if there might be a cat on the lower side of the material or whatever you have on the top. With some containers, I do have the lid with a cut-out top part that just fits down over the material or just a heavy-duty paper towel. Whatever works...I'm not a very crafty one either...but DH has tools. I do prefer plastic containers that are see-through so I can check on the little cats sometimes without opening the thing.