I just wanted to check on Thea and her BST's. She had so many and was having a little bit of a hard time with them and have not heard from her in quite awhile. I hope everything is okay with you Thea and was hoping you had some stories to tell about your babies. Let us know everything is okay please.
Leslie
Thea, where are you????
Hey Leslie, how nice to hear from you!!!!! I don't know why I didn't see your message before now! We were away last week and I've been busy outside and haven't spent much time on the computer; I would've reported back earlier if I'd seen your message!
I have SO loved this experience! But I have not been the perfect butterfly mother I'm afraid, because most of my original crop, from back in July, are still in their chrysalids, so I'm afraid that keeping them in the upstairs room over the garage may have been a bad thing, maybe it was too hot? Though it was just as hot outside, so I'm still baffled. Out of that original group, only one, a beautiful male, has flown, and that was back on 8/03. I took in another 23 cats back in August, and 21 of them succesfully flew away. And since we got back from vacation last Saturday, I've brought in another 8 cats in different stages, and four of them have pupated. Still have 4 early instar kids munching away!!!!!
I AM definitely more comfortable about being a BF mom, and I am so thrilled with finding such a fulfilling hobby!!! Watching the little guys grow, and then walking into the room in the morning and finding a new butterfly just stretching his brand new wings, and then letting him out into the world a few hours later, is the BIGGEST thrill, I just LOVE it!!!!! And to see them dancing around now in my back yard, on my butterfly bushes, and thinking they were perhaps the ones I nurtured, makes me feel SO darned good!! We're digging some new garden beds right now, and I'm hoping to find lots of butterfly plants for them to nectar on and use as hosts. It's just the best hobby for me, it takes my mind off the state of the environment (which worries me constantly) somewhat, and gives me a little something to do to contribute, and it makes me so happy!!
How has your summer gone, and do you have any butterflies-in-waiting at the moment? I just saw, in my old CT newspaper from the area we lived in up til last September, that the monarchs are at their peak there right now, and they're moving south. I've seen a few here, but nothing compared to what you'll be seeing!!!! Yahoo!!! Just hope these storms that keep popping up don't blow them off course. Thanks for keeping in touch Leslie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So great to hear from you Thea. I understand you have been busy. I was just wanting to check in with you and make sure everything is okay. Sorry to hear that your babies may not be doing well. Or maybe they just like being in their little home. lol.
Since I talked to you I have released all of my gulf frits. Out of the 9 I brougth in I released 6. Three did not make it out of the chrysalis. Don't know what happened and probably don't want to know.
I am now the proud mother of 7 Monarch babies. I really did not think I had a chance with the Monarchs but I had three milkweed plants and I got babies off two. I have now bought a fourth plant because I was afraid I might run out of leaves and there would be no plants to be bought. I am probably overreacting but better safe than sorry, right? Right now they are in various stages. I have two tiny babies, and 5 that are pretty good sized but not near as big as they will be. I get the biggest kick out of them when I go in the room they are in and open the cage and say something their heads and filaments just pop up and down. It is like they really hate my voice. And they really, really hate my sister's laugh (but so do I) lol. I make her go in there and give them a good laugh and they just bob their heads up and down like they are saying "shut up!". They are a lot more interesting than the GF's. They are just more active and a lot easier to see what they are doing. I am really getting a kick out of them. I hope I have good luck with them and everything goes well. I am also, in the back of my mind, hoping to get more babies. But with them migrating I don't want to get them too late where they cannot make it to Mexico.
Anyway, great to hear from you. Have fun with your new beds and buying all those BF friendly plants. It is so fun buying new plants and watching them grow. Almost as fun as letting a BF free but not quite.
Take care of yourself and I will be looking for you around the forum.
Leslie
Leslie will you (or have you already) put some photos of your monarch cats on, I'd love to see photos of them!! What a little devil you are, talking about your sister's voice, that's so funny!!!!!!
Now, when do you determine that your babies in the chrysallis are not going to come out? I just don't know when to give up on them, I'd hate to get rid of them and then find out they would have come out eventually!! I don't know what to do!
I've got to find milkweed plants for next year!! Are you using wild milkweed, or did you get a variety for planting in the garden? I envy you, the monarchs you'll be seeing on their way to Mexico!! If I had milkweed around my area, then I think we'd see some, but I haven't seen any milkweed. I've seen a few monarchs, but very few, just the little day tourist here and there.
Thea I am sorry. I have tried posting pics on here for ID purposes and my camera or the picture taker is just too bad. All the pics are blurry. I get good pics on my cell phone but not on the cheap digital camera I have. I am hoping to get a better camera soon but I don't know. I would really love to post pics on here but none I have right now are any good.
I am using milkweed purchased at the garden nursery. I don't know what kind it is. It has orange and yellow flowers. I don't know of any wild milkweed growing anywhere around here. If it does I don't recognize it.
As for the chrysalids, I had to throw three away. I knew they were not viable because they would move around all the time and then turn dark and stop moving. I was told by someone on here to touch them and if they did not move they probably were not viable. I did not throw them out until way over their due date though just in case. It is very sad when you have to do that but from what I have read on here it does happen.
Leslie
Oh no, then I'll bet all my old ones are not alive. I read somewhere (probably on DG) to mist the cage now and then, so I started doing that, but no movement. It was so funny, the first time I did it, one of the newer guys in the chrysallis started wiggling, it was SO cute!! I called my husband to come quick, to see it. That butterfly eclosed the next day.
Out of the four little guys I have still munching on parsley, one doesn't look like a BST! He's more black, with yellow dots!! It would be neat if he eclosed and turned out to be a different species! I'm going to look around thru the forums to see if I can find a photo similar to him.
Boo hoo, I hate not to see your photos!!! I've been lucky with my digital camera. It's not an expensive one but it's been great! It's been a huge help since I found Dave's Garden, because people (like you!) can help me out so much faster when they can see a photo! And I got good photos of my first 19 butterflies to eclose, just to document the experience. Then three eclosed when we were on vacation; I'd shown my neighbor how and when to release them, but she's a busy mom and I didn't have the nerve to ask her to take photos, but at least she was able to tell me their sexes.
You're lucky you can buy milkweed plants!! Those sound like the ones I'm looking for!!!!! And I can't find them anywhere around here. The wild milkweed we had in CT, in the meadows and fields, had a big pinky/purple flower head with a glorious sweet smell, it was ALWAYS covered with butterflies!!!! I miss that down here. I'm trying to get people back home to send me seeds. I wonder if you could grow that down in Texas? hmmmmm.... We've GOT to keep these butterflies happy!!!!