DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 23

Welcome everyone!
Glad you're all still checking by.. Watch th wave in a few weeks the tables will turn our focus on butterfly gardeners in the South. Please continue to post pics and comments liberally.. My thread is your thread!

I got tied up packing all my seeds to send to Becky, and didn't want to stop until I was finished. Boy did our thread go long! lol!

Still rather warm here, and quite a bit of activity out in the garden. Here are a couple pics from yesterday. This Monarch Cat was crawling around on the Frostweed, aparantly looking for a good place to morph...

I saw many different species here yesterday: Sulphurs, Skippers, Monarchs, Queens, Hairstreaks.. and a few others.

Red-banded Hairstreak Calycopis cecrops

edited to put back name of butterfly. Some characters I had in there cut it off in the first post.


This message was edited Nov 5, 2007 5:55 AM

Here is one many regulars that have been sleeping here for the last few weeks..

Those are lovely! Debnes.
My G.F. chrysalyses x3 are doing fine, I've 3 more cats. and temp. is still mild here. So hopefully I'll be able to see them off, spreading their wings in matters of days...the 3rd one decided to crawl up the cage and morph there....take a look.
Felicia, the Butterfly-whisperer is darling. I just love to see her with her whispering. :-)

Lily, I had one that made a chrysalis in about the same spot yours did. Mine fell and his wings were deformed. If you have anything you can set in there, or if you can lean a few sticks around, that would give them something to stand on when they come out. Gulf Frits don't seem to be quite as coordinated when they come out. Anyone else have that problem?

On Saturday I went to the education center at the preserve I go hiking in. I'd never been there before; it's across the county line and I actually thought it was a lot further away than it really is. I'm going to have to go more often. They gave a talk about Monarch migration, based on a slideshow from monarchwatch.org. Also, he had captured three Monarchs the day before (to make sure we had some since most have flown on) and we tagged them. There were two children there so they each tagged one, and I got the third! I also got to point out a White Peacock to the kids. We also saw lots of sulphurs, gulf frittilaries, and I saw zebra longwings ovipositing on passion vine. It was very informative and it was nice to be a part of a science experiment that spans North America. I hope next year to participate again!

Melanie

Melanie,
Thanks for the tips. I'll see about finding another pot of impatiens for a "net" to catch those clumpsy newly ecloses G.F. lol.
The lighting is indirect from the window, so impatiens maybe just right providing a cushiony "carpet" for it to fall on if needed.
Kim

. Thanks Kim.. There are probably a dozen Monarch cats out there on the MW now. I am going to let them do their thing out there. The predators are attracted to the frass when finding their prey. Rinsing under the host plants helps a lot when leaving cats outside in the natural.

The main thing I have had with GFs, is the pool of fluid they release after eclosing. As long as they can climb up the sides they are fine. Paper towels in the bottom of the cage will absorb the fluid. Be real careful when bringing plants into a cage, there can be tiny predators in the soil.

debnes

Thanks all for the helpfull advises. I'll watch out for other critters as I introduce them into the indoor setting. I'm delighted with the prospect of seeing my G.F. eclosure for the first time ever.
Kim

IndianaLily, I LOVE the photo of Cori with the butterfly!!!!! It must've tickled! I would be so happy to have a butterfly land on my face and stay there, Cori is quite privileged to have experienced it.
I've only seen a few sulphurs on my pineapple sage, and this pretty buckeye today. My big excitement was having a single hummer here yesterday afternoon and today, when they've been gone for the past few weeks. I had even put away my hummer feeders, so I had to run and fill them with sugar water (thank goodness I had some left in the fridge) and hang them back out. The funny thing was, I happened to look out the window when I was ironing, and there was a hummer looking right in at me! I ran outside to tell hubby, sitting out on the deck, and he said Guess what!!! A hummer was just here!! It was like he knew just where he'd find us both, to say hi!!

Oooh, Buckeye! Nice!

Dad got mad at me for talking about caterpillar poo, so I figured I better come on here and talk to people who understand me, LOL! The zebra swallowtails are in two critter keepers right now. The cats are in one, and the chrysalis are in the other. Whenever a cat does their massive poo thing, I transfer them to the other cage so they can make their chrysalis. Well, yesterday I was looking at a black one and there was a green one below him. I remember thinking that I hope the green one moved because they black one looked like he was on the verge of the massive bowel evacuation. Sure enough, I come home tonight and there it is, and the green cat has a trail all down one side of him. Looking closely at another black cat, I saw that he had gotten some on him too. (Sigh.)

I usually clean the cage anyway when I put new food in, so I went ahead and got everything out of it. Then, I took the spray nozzle thing on the kitchen sink and sprayed the cats with warm water. I was totally expecting them to go all stinkhorn on me, but they didn't! I guess they appreciated the shower.

Which brings me to another point I meant to mention. I noticed this a while ago, but I was reminded today after I sprayed the water. Have you seen your caterpillars drink? I know they say they get all of their water from the plants they eat, but I've seen mine suck up the water droplets on the side and bottom of the plastic. At first, I thought I was seeing things but I've watched them enough to know it's happening. Someone tell me I'm not crazy.

In other caterpillar behaviors, I have to ask about their silk-making abilities. I get that the thread comes out near their rear end. But sometimes when I pull them away from the sides (like when I need to clean up after them) they have silk attaching most of their body to the side. How do they do that? And for that matter, how do they get that sling around themselves? I've also noticed my cats moving their head in a figure-8 pattern. Has anyone else noticed this? I've seen them scratch the pattern into new leaves I've put in, and I've also seen them do it after they eat something. When they're feeling around for stuff they tend to sway side to side so I figure this figure 8 thing has a different purpose.

Melanie (who has watched more hours of caterpillar action than TV this week)

I love looking at everyone's photos on these "Daily Butterfly" posts :o)

Am working the day shift this week so don't get home in time to see any butterflies. Did go to the ranch this weekend but everything out there is soooo dry. Nothing is blooming. I put out a banana and some grapes on top of a post near the fence and was able to lure in a Tawny Emperor and a Tropical Leafwing.

~ Cat

Here's the Tropical Leafwing. I swear I could hear the snorf/chomp/hmmgulp of this guy chowing down on the fruit. :o)

~ Cat

Sweet pics Cat!
Yep folks it's that time of year ..... The fruit feasters out in force, making their rounds before winter sets upon us. The best time for the 'brew' is spring and fall here. Before flowers have come and after they've gone. Most nectar butterflies have already migrated further south by the time the flowers fade. Look for the various fruit feasters where each of you live.
The little Snouts come when it's too cold for most other butterflies. They have a snout instead of a proboscis. Look for those too.

One batch of brew comin' up!!
Here for all who may have missed that recipe:
http://www.theletteroflove.com/wallpaper/index.php?paged=4

debnes

Oooooh, brew! I am gonna whip a batch of this loveliness up this weekend. I wonder what will show up to sample it?
Thanks for the recipe!
Cathy

Here's a very informative fact about raising chrysalises inside your home.
This has happened to me before as well.

Look around this sign, and you can even sign up for a monthly newsletter from them as well.

... more about dehydrated chrysalises.
http://butterfliesetc.com/dehydratedchrysalis.php

I overwintered several Black Swallowtail chrysalids last winter in my back mudroom. We don't keep it air conditioned, but I still spritzed them with water at least once a week. They all emerged beautifully..

Indoors they would definitely need spritzing more often..

Nice site Paul!, I use it sometimes.. I also got the free plantain seeds for SASE from them.
They don't send very many, but they are free.

debnes

Melanie, you asked some good questions, ones that I've wondered about too!!! I had a wandering BST cat preparing to pupate but he hadn't had the last poo yet, and he perched himself right over a chrysalis. I was so afraid the poor chrysalis would get it, but the cat finally settled in another spot. I've also wondered about the little threads they seem to make while they're still feeding; I noticed when I sometimes moved them from a spent parsley stalk to a new one, that they were almost glued with their threads to the stalk, even though they were no where near time to go into the chrysalis stage.
That Tropical LeafWing, Puddy, I can't believe how like a leaf he looks!!! The tawny Emperor is a beauty.
I can't wait to try the brew recipe!!! But I don't have many butterflies right now. Even the Gulf Frits seem to be leaving. Our nights are getting quite cold (possible frost tonight). Would it be worth while to make it now, and try putting some out, here in my zone?

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has all these random questions! I've been letting Mom keep the critter keeper with the chrysalids in her office during the day so they get more sun. I also put two cats in there that were getting ready to pupate. I came home yesterday and she was telling me how the green one "just kept wandering around all day long". Then today it was, "the green one is stupid" because he built his chrysalis on the lid. I told her they were just being caterpillars.

I'm glad someone mentioned the brew. My dad, the woodworker, took some chunks of wood, scooped out enough to make a depression, and attached eyehooks so I can hang them. Someone on here posted a picture of theirs and I told him to copy it, so thanks for the good idea! Dad is also getting good at observing butterflies. He told me the other day when he was out delivering mail he saw where someone's citrus tree had dropped fruit on the ground and it was rotting and "there were all these yellow and orange butterflies on it". Dad leaves Friday to go hunting for a week in North Florida. He has a digital camera with him; we keep joking about us finding the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker and getting rich by selling the photo.

One thing I learned at the Monarch talk was that the caterpillars avoid the veins in milkweed because if they eat too much of the sap they'll glue their mouth shut. I thought that was interesting. Also, we talked about raising butterflies and he told us about one of the commercial industry's practices. Apparently, if you remove a small piece of the chrysalis of a sulphur butterfly, they will change color. He didn't say what color so I assumed he meant different shades of yellow and orange. He said they sometimes do that to match colors to a client's wedding, at which point we all shook our heads and voiced our disapproval. Has anyone else heard of that being done?

Never heard of such a thing! Interesting though if it is true. I have quite a few that just went into their chrysalis stage. Some are a little different in color. I love how they look like leaves! I had one that leaked some fluid, but is still alive (see the chrysalis that has brown on it).

Anyone ever notice the Zebra Longwing chrysalids have a touch of metallic coloring in them?

This is my first time to raise Zebra Heliconian caterpillars - I saw some Zebra Longwings in my yard around my passion flowers vines and found two eggs that I brought inside to raise. Got to watch the caterpillars' growth and now those two have formed a chrysalis...so I decided to take some photos of the process.

Aside from the chrysalis looking quite vicious...I noticed there's gold in them thar hills!!! :o) Almost looks like shiny mirrors on the chrysalis!!!

I've seen metallic coloring numerous chrysalids like those from Queens, Monarchs and Variegated Fritillaries and some Metalmarks...but never this much on a chrysalis. Am tickled pink :o) - or is that gold? :o)

~ Cat


This message was edited Nov 7, 2007 7:54 PM

...another view.

~ Cat

Those are the coolest pictures!

A couple of photos of a Red Rim (biblis hyperia) from the NABA park I took yesterday.

~ Cat

Ventral view of Red Rim.

~ Cat

Great photos, Cat! That's neat about the ZLW metallic patterning on the chrysalis!

Those are some evil looking chrysalis! I hope I get some next year.
I thought I was done for this year and this little (I think skipper) guy stopped buy today.

Well, I had an unpleasant experience this morning. I opened up the cage to feed the zebra STs and didn't realize someone had made their chrysalis right at the opening. So I accidentally peeled him off the side. Of course, this got him mad so I got "stinkhorned" (my term for osmertium) first thing in the morning. I felt guilty so I cut the piece of cheesecloth he was on, put him in a plastic container and brought him to work with me. I was worried when I got to work because he had detached himself and was wandering again, but come lunch time he had found a nice place and settled down (again). I got to watch him get in his sling (he was halfway there though by the time I noticed) and I'm still not sure how to describe it. Basically, caterpillars are contortionists. It's crazy.

I had another zebra ST emerge today but he's living in the bf house until the weather warms up tomorrow. Mom swears she saw a Monarch today and she also got a picture of this Tiger Swallowtail. I'm so happy she got a pic because having my parents try to describe over the phone which butterfly they saw was driving me crazy.

Mellie, You are such a great BF mommy!

I'm way too nice! I tried letting the zebra ST go this evening but it was too cold and the sun was setting. It crawled right back on my hand and I figured "I set it free and it came back, so now it's MINE!" No seriously, Mom is going to let him go tomorrow during the day while I'm at work.

Oh, I knew I forgot something. I was out picking some more passiflora for the Gulf Frits (will they never pupate?) and the stem I picked had a small cat on it! I put him in the bf house with all the others. Really, isn't it a little late for butterfly hanky-panky? At least next week we're supposed to be in the low 80s again. Yesterday they high was 72 and this weekend they're saying 75. I'm glad because I'm volunteering with the county's invasive species task force on Saturday. We team up with the Tampa Bay Estuary Program and we're going to pull invasives and plant natives. I'll keep my eye out for butterflies and caterpillars, of course! I'll have to ignore them for a little while though to clean my fishtank. I think my fish feel neglected, LOL!

Melanie,
I've a few G.F. chrysalii at present. There are still cats. outdoor, and we just missed the frost of the season on our zone (thanks goodness!). The weather is warming back up to the hi 60'ish to 70'ish here. I hope these guys hurry up before it gets too cold out there to release them.

How are those Sulphurs doing Becky? It's been a few days.. when will they be eclosing?

Cat! Great pics of the Red Rim! I love it when we can get both views. Nice to finally have some Zebra Heliconians too. Their chrysalids are very interesting, with the horn thingys!


Gorgeous pic of the Checkered Skip Chris! I just love those.. I planted some Mustard Greens by my tomatoes for them and the Cabbage Whites. Thy seem to be more prevalent here in fall and spring.

Mellie! Your mom is the bomb! Glad to see her pics!

Still a lot of GFs here too Kim. They are fun to raise aren't they?

We are getting flocks of Monarchs and Queens here. Quite a few Vanessas too.. Red Admirals and Ladies..

Here are some of the very sociable Queens sharing some Blue Mist..

A way too cute Fiery Skipper..On the Bi-Colored Buddleija..

My what big eyes for a little Skipper, lol!

Love those Skippers, Deb! They are all over my yard along with the Sulphers. I have Canna in several areas of my yard so my Skipper population has grown. I also now have about 6-7 White Peacocks that actually live in my yard. I find them resting at night among my Maypop vine and other sheltering plants. Yes ... I still cruise around my backyard at night with flashlight in hand. I am growing more night blooming plants, so it's very interesting to see what comes out to play and eat at night! :-)

I don't remember off hand how long it takes for the Sulphers to eclose. 10-14 days? I have 19 chrysalises currently and they should all eclose within a day or two of each other! My Cassia bushes are still blooming up a storm and I see Sulpher butterflies all over them during the day (probably laying more eggs). With the temps dropping, I wonder if the bushes will die back? I am also wondering if they are perennials in my zone. My Cassia Privet tree is a perennial.

Cat, Chris, and Melanie - Y'all are so lucky to have such beauties. Nice photos. Maybe this group should write a book about all our experiences and include all these wonderful photos! Still relatively quiet here. I saw a Monarch briefly last weekend, but haven't seen it since. Nothing else other than the Skippers, White Peacocks, and the Sulphers. Which I shouldn't discount, because they are really beautiful butterflies! :-)

Yes they certainly are beautiful! Here they take around 8 days to morph.

The Cassia alata is an perennial there where you are too. Both say the same on the low temp hardiness. :- This zone business can be quite confusing...

Here in Z8a the Cassia has always been an annual for me. This year I will try to overwinter mine and see what happens on the south side of the house. With all the seeds I am getting from mine this year, I should be able to do a lot of experimentations on this plant, Meanwhile my other Senna shrub is in a pot and the pods are still green. I oughta be able to keep it from freezing when I bring it in with all my citrus plants.

:-)debnes

Thanks Deb for your information and experience with the Cassia.

I do expect the Sulpher butterflies to emerge by the end of next week or early the following week before Thanksgiving! Thanks for the estimated time frame for that! I have raised so many different butterflies that I can't keep track of how long each species takes from instar to eclosing. I think we really need to start a thread about that. It would be a good thread to add to the sticky too. I NEED a reference point for this information!!!!

What's hard is explaining it to someone in a different zone. All I can usually tell is how it does here in Fort Worth..

Then there is the issues of deciduous... and evergreen... yikes. It's really easy to tell here in my zone, but hard to explain to folks further south.

I think you were right about everyone looking up the seeds they get for themselves. The best knowledge is attained that way for me, and hands on experience is the topper.
I put the Scientific Name first on each pkg, With the Common name . Emphasis in Scientific name is important to the species and how it's used. Common names can be misleading as all get out!

Texas has at least 5 different climate regions, so just saying something grows in Texas is not going to be the same in Rio Grand and the Panhandle.. Know what I mean?

debnes

This message was edited Nov 9, 2007 10:53 AM

You are exactly right about that! So true!!!

I just have to tell y'all that I am off today from work. No school. I have been out in my backyard all morning. I was so delighted to see GF all over the Maypop vines! FINALLY!!! YAY! There are also 2 Monarchs and a Queen hanging out in the yard too. And the Skippers seem to be everywhere along with the White Peacocks!! I was hanging out back hoping to see another hummer come by. But instead have been seeing so many butterflies. I think they are all heading south to me to overwinter here in Florida! :-) Can you see me smiling???!!! Oh yes ... I found 5 Monarch cats (large ones) and a small Queen cat. They are all safe and sound in one of my butterfly cages now. Looks like I'm going to finally get to raise and release some Monarchs this year! LOL!

YAAAAAAAAAAY!! I knew it Becky,, :-))) hehehe!

Welcome to YOUR turn!! I need to get to diggin' and overwintering my plants. It's going to be warm for the next week or more here, so not time yet. I just need to stage everything in the next week or 2. I caged 4 more monarchs yesterday on the verge of pupating. I left the smaller ones out there.
Chalcid wasps infiltrated a whole batch of Monarchs last week, so sad about that.. We will persevere on as best we can. The cages cant be too secure or too clean! Those little things are rampant. They get worse as the season progresses. I posted a pic out of a page in my Insect Book that has many of them on one page...in Cats Predator Thread.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/773652/
The post>
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=4170736
The text page post>
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=4170744

debnes

debnes

I would've thought that the Chalcid wasps population would go down as the temps start dropping. I am not seeing as many wasps here, though still a few. But the yard doesn't seem to be over-run with them now like a month ago.

AND .... I saw the hummer again today! It was all over my blooming Cape Honeysuckle!! And it even went to one of the feeders I put out! HA! I still can't believe it!! Boy are they fast! I don't know how y'all get photos of them. My camera doesn't have as good of a freeze frame and zoom lense as some of you. For now, I'm just happy that one found me! Maybe it will bring more to my yard. It isn't staying in my yard but just a drive-by to eat! :-) I have heard that once they find you, they will return! :-) ;-) :-) Whoo Hoo!!!!