Between July 20 and July 27, 23 of my little BST cats had pupated. One eclosed August 3rd. The rest seem uninterested in breaking out and joining the world. How do you know things are okay inside the chrysalis? Mine seem to vary in colour, from light brown to dark. In the photos taken by another DG'er, her chrysalides looked green, mine definitely aren't. I'm getting really nervous!!! I'll put on a couple of photos.....
Here's another (this one is one of the bigger chrysalides, some of them are pretty small!).....
Oh Thea girl. Will this trauma ever end for you. I have to say I had a gulf frit cat pupate today. I was so excited. Out of the 11 cats I have one finally pupated. Now I don't know what to do but wait but I have no idea how long to wait so I surely cannot help you. Maybe they just take their sweet time. I don't know. I have another post asking questions about pupating but have not been answered. I know you will be helped Thea I just feel bad for you. This has been a long drawn out process for you and I wish it would just be a successful experience for you. Keep up the good work and be patient. Someone will be along to help you.
Keep your chin up.
Leslie
Take heart Thea, I still have a couple from that same time frame that show no outward signs of being bad, but are in no hurry to eclose. I had one from the 27th appear yesterday, ahead of about 4 or 5 others a few days behind it. I hadn't been marking the dates on them until the 20th of July. It was mentioned on a previous thread that the BSTs are "do it my way" as far as when they eclose. I have noticed that I usually don't have any eclose when it is raining or has been.
Thea, I have one BST that is in my cage and has been in his chrysalis for over a month. I think there's probably something wrong with it but just don't have the heart to remove it. I don't know of any way to determine if they aren't going to eclose or if something has gone wrong, other than just wait, and how long to wait...that's a good question.
On the monarchs, when it's been longer than normal I gently squeez the chrysalis and usually it is soft and I know they have died for some reason.
It's always hard when you take good care of them and feed them well until they pupate and you think everything will be okay, but sometimes it isn't.
Maybe someone else will know the answer on the BSTs.
Thea,
Just be patient. The BSTs sometimes take a while to eclose. In some cases, mid-summer chrysalids can even over-winter as pupae. I found this out the hard way this spring. Last summer I raised quite a few BSTs, GSTs, and gulf frits. I didn't remove the empty chrysalis shells as they eclosed. In early August I thought they were all done, so I put my cage back in the garage behind some junk. When I went to take it out this spring, there were 4 dead black swallowtails in it. They had over-wintered as chrysalides after pupating the previous July. I know they eclosed this spring, because I checked the cage in the winter and it was clean.
You should check your cage every morning and night. The BSTs usually eclose pretty early in the morning, and the chrysalis will turn clear the night before. You can actually see them through the shell on the night before they eclose.
Hope this helps!
Mark
Ya'll are so helpful, I never would've atttempted this whole exciting project without you!!!!
Leslie, you go girl, I'm excited for you!! Isn't it cool, every step of their little lives is exciting for us, if only they knew! You bring them inside, feed them, they get fatter, you're thrilled. They start wandering away from their food source and hang up to pupate, you're thrilled. They do their last poop, ecstasy. They turn into a chrysalis, holy mackerel. Then you wait, wait, wait, wait and finally they unfold....oh man, who knew life could be so exquisite!!!!!! I'm so glad for you and your little frits, and that you didn't give up after your BST's!!
Sheila, I wondered if maybe they do have some weather sense, even though they're indoors now. It's been so very hot, I wonder if they know it, and so are delaying their eclosures?
Yup, Flygirl, I'm going to wait too and just be patient! If you got rid of them because you think they've gone bad, you're probably going to be haunted with wondering if only you had just waited.....
Mark, that's a horrible experience, you must've felt so bad. But it's a good lesson for all of us, thanks for telling us. I'll leave my crate in place in my hobby room, and I'm in and out of there all the time, so it's easy to keep an eye on them. I'll wait for however long it takes!
Thanks again, everybody, you're all terrific!
It is exciting Thea. Funny when you get ecstatic about the last poop being ecstasy. Ha, ha. So true. They do teach us many things and the one thing I have learned is that this old world and the things in it are so much bigger than I am and the little things are as important if not more than I am. It has been a great lesson. Loving it.
Keep your chin up. As I have said about 100 times you are doing such a great job.
Leslie
Thanks Miz Leslie, and you too!!!!!!
And here I'm about to start a new family: I just found some bst cats on a pot of parsley that had gotten partially hidden by some angel's trumpets!! Tiny guys, first and second instars. And one older cat on my dill! So....here we go again!! I brought in the one on my dill already, I have to get brave before I tell my hubby about all the little guys on the parsley I'm going to bring in!
And the whole time I was out there, deadheading and working in the flowers, a mom bst was nectaring, very close to me. When I moved, she moved with me, like we were buddies. What a beauty she is! It just fills you with awe looking at those lovely colours, the blue is amazing....
When you finally do get them to eclose and get to have them on your finger that is double ecstasy!!
I have to say that one of the really great spiritual experiences of mine and Catbird's life was the first time we released a Monarch - with the trite comment "fly, be free" - what a truly memorable time. We have released hundreds since. Plus Giants ST's, Spicebush ST's, Blacks, Gulf frits, etc. It is still a thrill everytime. We have a saying though, "you can count on Monarchs, but the Swallowtails are dumb as dirt". I can set an alarm to ring when the Monarch will be ready to emerge - hell, you can time it from egg layed to first flight, and won't be off over a few hours either way. With ST's - you just never know. Watch the chrysalis for color change. When you can see the spots on the wings they are only hours away. At this time we have 2 Eastern BST's in chrysalis, 2 in 2nd instar (enstar?) and 2 Monarchs between cat and chrysalis. Released 2 Monarchs today. The color of the E. BST chrysalis can change with the plant they are feeding on and the material where they go into the chrysalis stage. No consistency.
I have been a Christian for many decades. But raising butterflies has made my belief even stronger. The little computer chips in those eggs that pass on all those instruction - awesome! Totally by Grand Design.
One of today's new babies attached - female Monarch.
Rod (mate of 8)
Thanks Rod! What a lovely monarch! I had two in my garden the past two days but I don't see any milkweed around here so I think it was just a quick stop for a lantana nectar snack. I brought in 13 more BST cats today to frustrate me! Wish the BST's were a little less casual with their eclosing schedule, sounds like they could learn something from the monarchs! I'll watch for the signs, thanks for the info!
I'm glad I found this thread. I had two BSTs. One was to emerge (given the 10 day rule) or is that, eclose - last Tuesday. Nothing but a lot of banging around. Today, the second one emerged beautifully according to the rule of time. So, what you're saying is, wait it out for up to a year?
So beautifully spoken Rod. It is the grand design and amazes me to no end on a daily basis. Those baby eggs hatching and then everything going according to plan right up to the end. Amazing. Also so amazing to me is the Monarch migration. Those poor things. They know to fly south every fall no matter how far it is, no matter how dangerous it is. They do it every year and then when it is over they come back and start anew. I'm sorry yall but that to me is just mind boggling.
Anyway, beautiful words Rod and so, so true. So keep the faith Thea. They will eclose. And congrats on your new babies, I think. LOL. Cool how The BST follows you around your garden while you are working. She knows what you are doing and she is thanking you for it.
Leslie
