I hate when you write a long post and accidentally erase it before it gets posted. Maybe it is telling me to stop writing such large posts.
Anyways, question about my caged gulf frit cats. So far so good on these babies. The only trouble I am having with these is every time I go out to get more passion vine for them I find more cats. So in this cage I have cats of all sizes. They are doing great, really seeming to have no problems. I have 11 at this point at all different stages, instars, whatever. The first two I brought in have gotten to be a pretty good size. Mind you they are not as big as the BST cats I have seen but maybe they do not get that big. They are longer and leaner. Then I have babies, mediums, medium to large. Okay on the two that are the biggest, one has been acting totally normal; he is still eating, moving around, acting like he does not like me, etc. The other one has been acting strange for a couple of days. Twice he has been up on the top of the cage, the last time he stayed up there for two days. Then yesterday he was on a stem and he was curled up pretty tight. Don't think he was eating. Then today when I checked on them before work he was on a different stem, glued to the stem and by glued I mean his front end or back end was stuck to the stem and he was hanging down in a J or comma position. So I think maybe the time has come. I hope so as I would love to have a success story come out of all of this. So I am curious if yall think that is what is happening and the other bigger one should be doing this soon also? Also I have stuck 6 wooden skewers in there hoping they would pupate on those. This guy may not do that. I wanted the skewers as someone on here said it was much easier to move them to the chrysalid/releasing cage and I can see that. So if they do not pupate on the sticks and pupate somewhere else how dangerous is it to move them to the other cage? And if not too dangerous what is the best way to move them? I know I have seen chrysalids with string on them and other stuff but I have no clue what is going on there. Please any help is sooo appreciated.
Thanks muchly,
Leslie
Question on caged cats!
Help!!!!!
Leslie
Oh,, my, I don't know anything about raising them.. sorry.
Elaine
Your cat is indeed making his pupa. It will be done in a few hours.
If you need to move him, wait till you are sure he is finished what he is doing. I moved mine and hot glued them in my cage. Some were on sticks, some on a piece of vine, and one on a leaf, itself. I had to glue the leaf to a stick. lol
~Lucy
This message was edited Aug 10, 2007 11:40 PM
Here's what he will look like.
Everytime you go back to look at them they will be in a different position. lol Sometimes straight down, and sometimes sideways. Kinda cool to watch. : )
You were right Lucy. I checked on him several times and he was hanging there for several hours. I only noticed color changes mainly. He got a lot lighter in color than he had been. Then last night I checked one more time and the little toot was in his chrysalid. I missed the whole thing by about an hour but I was so thrilled I was running through the house screaming making everyone come look. It just seems really small to me. Is that unusual? He is on a leave and I am thinking of cutting the stem andputting it in the other cage. However, I do not have a glue gun. So any more suggestions of how I can get him on something in there? I have wooden skewers set up but don't know how to get him onto one. I really want him in the other cage so he can have some peace and not be bothered by the others I have in there. Also I have the other big one is (luckily) on a wooden skewer now just laying there and has been since yesterday. So I think his time has come also and he may cut me a break and do his thing on the skewer which wil make it so much easier. Then again I have all different sizes and ages of the other ones and it should be a day to day adventure from here out. Do you think I can tie the stem to one of the skewers somehow? I really am hesitant to mess with the chrysalid itself too much but maybe could get the stem tied onto something. What do you think? And also the question of him being small, is that a problem or normal. I would say he is maybe a little over an inch long,maybe longer I don't measure too good. And he just does not seem very big. I hope he did not pupate too soon but I don't think so. Any more help is greatly appreciated. I am waiting before I do anything before I hear a little more info. Thanks for the great pics though. I cannot tell from your pics how small or big they are though so am still curious about that.
Thanks again,
Leslie
A small glue gun and the mini wax thingys at Walmart will cost you less than 5 dollars. If you have a Walmart. Some one else will have to help you with hanging them otherwise, these are my first also. I'm just alittle ahead of you. : )
I think they do need to be hung up tho, somehow.
They are small, about an inch in lenght.
~Lucy
Sounds like yours are the same size as mine then Lucy so I don't feel so bad. Hopefully someone will come along and tell me how to hang them up without the glue gun. Thanks for everything.
Leslie
The only other thing I can think of is if they are on a stick or piece of vine is some strong tape. But make sure none of the sticky is exposed, cause you don't want one to get a foot stuck in the tape.
~Lucy
Please be careful with the glue gun, the chrysalis shell is so thin, you wouldn't want to melt the shell and the developing bf inside. I don't think there's a lot of extra room in there to spare.
I've only had to move mine a couple times. If they pupate on a stick or stalk, I cut the stalk and wire it to the top of the cage. I try to do everything I can before touching the chrysalis, if possible.
I only used the glue gun to glue the sticks in place. : ) No where near the chrysalis. : )
~Lucy
Oh okay, sorry Lucy, I panicked!
I like your setup, they have lots of room to strengthen thier wings.
This message was edited Aug 11, 2007 2:44 PM
I finally just got some sewing thread and took the leave the little guy was attached to (luckily he was nowhere near the stem) and tied the stem to the wooden skewer. I tied it two different times to make sure he was on there tight. Now he is hanging happily I hope in his little release cage all by himself, not being bothered by anyone but me ogling him every few hours. lol. Looks like I am about to have another one. Oh and I went out to cut some more passio vine for the babies, was running low too, and came back in with 5 more cats. This is crazy. Every time I go out to get more food I come in with more cats. It kind of defeats the purpose. I think I have 18 now. So I went to look at the vine again and found 5 or more out there. So the ones out there, if I leave them, will eat the vine outside which leaves none for the ones inside. If I bring more cats in they will eat all the vine I bring inside which leaves none for the other cats. What a dilemma. Now how brilliant am I, (duh!!!) Called the nursery and they had some more passion vines so I just went and bought another one, $16.99, and brought it home to have more leaves. I bought the one with the most leaves on it. May not be the best flowering vine there but by gosh they will have some leaves to eat. Now to the real dilemma. As soon as I plant that vine that mamma BF is going to come back and start laying more eggs. How do you win in this situation. I mean I love doing it but really. Oh well, I am having fun and will continue to do it as long as I can but don't know if I can keep buying passion vines. lol.
Leslie
Oh, my I would mail you some of my passion vine, but not sure how they would survive. I checked my vines today and they cats were crawling all over them and mummy was laying more eggs. If I can just keep those wasps away.. My vine is loaded with fruit mainly because a bumble bee has been busy for the past month. I see passion fruit jelly in the future,,
Elaine
Thanks Elaine for the thought. I just finally had to break down and go buy another one at the nursery. It is a different kind but labeled purple passion vine. I got the one with the most leaves on it as that is what is important right now. It is pretty leafy so I think I may make it. The only problem now is momma will probably come back and lay some eggs on this plant. Just have to say my second baby is going into chrysalid as we speak. He has been laying on his stick all day and is now hanging in the J position. I get such a thrill out of it but then at the same time cannot image what the little guy is going through. So much change to his body. Does it hurt, is it scary? I know probably dumb questions but I have always felt each critter has feelings even the ones we don't like so I think about things like that. Anyway, that will make two for me and the more I can get to go into the chrysalid stage the less I have to feed. I was also reading that this kind of BF ecloses in 5 to 10 days. That does not seem like a very long time to wait to me. I won't even have time to get nervous. lol. Thanks again for the thought Elaine but hopefully with the new purchase I will have it covered. And I guess one can never have too many passion vines, and I did actually get to see the other one bloom several times before momma got ahold of it. It was beautiful.
Leslie
You're welcome.. the older passion vine must be loaded with nectar.
Elaine
You mean the one I have been feeding the cats must be loaded with nectar? Or are you talking about yours? Is that why the momma would lay eggs on it because of the amount of nectar? I have never heard that. Let me know if I am understanding you or have misunderstood you because I just planted that vine this year, about three months ago. Would it already be loaded with nectar? That is awesome if I am understanding you right. Please feel free to correct me, I won't feel too much like a dummy. I am very interested to know about this. Thanks Elaine.
Leslie
The passion flower must be loaded with nectar,, sorry. Not sure why they love to lay their eggs on the vines. Will have to go read more about that. And you are not a dummy, but you must be a kind person to worry about your cats and butterflies..
Elaine
Thanks Elaine. I worry about everything. LOL.
Leslie