Hey guys. I sure missed being in here with everyone and I know I have a lot of catching up to do which hopefully I can. I have been doing a little moonlighting work at night and have not had a minute to spare to do anything fun on the computer. So I am at my real job now cheating by writing this but wanted to say hi and I also have a question.
I have been very fortunate so far in my butterfly raising. I had an awesome 10 for 10 on my Monarch raising and releasing. Then I had the Queens after that. I had about 15 Queen cats and they all made it to the chrysalis stage. The only one that did not survive was one that another cat decided to munch on for some strange reason. But what is really strange to me is that while some of the chrysalids looked just like the Monarch except smaller, some would turn a pinkish/opaque type color very soon after the cat pupated. I had about 5 green chrysalids and the rest were this other color. I just knew that meant they were not viable but could not understand how they would die so soon after going into the chrysalid. Anyhoo, so I watched my green ones change into looking like the BF and enjoyed them coming out and setting them free. After the green ones were all gone then I noticed some of the pink ones turning dark. Sure enough out came beautiful Queen butterflies, just as perfect as they could be. By the end of this which was yesterday, every one of the Queens had eclosed and were perfect and released with much relief by me. I have looked everywhere on the Inet and cannot seem to find anything that shows a chrysalid any color other than green. If anyone has any idea as to what was going on with this I would greatly appreciate it. I am just so thankful I did not get rid of the ones I thought were nonviable or I would have lost a lot of beautiful butterflies. Thanks guys and again I missed ya'll and as always appreciate any help you can give me. Sorry this was so long.
Leslie
Missed ya'll and have a question!!
Someone will answer you soon, I'm sure of it. I'm clueless and would like to hear why they turned a funny color too. Just wanted to pop in to say hey there, Leslie! I've missed you!
deborah
Thanks Deborah. Missed you too. I cannot wait to hear an explanation for this weirdness. I am just so thankful they all came out all right. Perfect actually.
Leslie
Found on this website: http://pave4.pavenet.org/users/nsmothers/EDUC6661/6661website/smothersbutterfly.htm
The Queen butterfly is in the same family as the Monarch. They eat milkweed and have the same metamorphosis process as the Monarch. However, in certain subspecies of the Queen the chrysalis can be pink instead of green. The Queen butterfly is like the Monarch with the band of black around the edges of the wings and white dots. However, the Queen butterfly is a burnt orange color instead of the brighter orange of the Monarch.
Where's TXPuddyPrint? I'm assuming this is her webshots page:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2632406700096214582fsjuVb
And here's a good info page from UF
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/wildflower/completebutterflydata.asp?id=44
Yahhh Mellie...those are my photos :o) Seems there was one year when I had a huge batch of pale pink to white Queen chrysalids :o) Very lovely to look at. They all emerged as healthy butterflies that I released back into my yard. All except one chrysalis that got chomped on by a wayward cannibalist caterpillar!
~ Cat
Don't you hate when the caterpillars act up? I'd bonk mine on the head but they have those smelly osmertium. : )
Too funny Mellie!!!
My aunt called me over a couple of weeks ago saying her grandsons had found a caterpillar that looked like bird poo on her orange tree. I knew it had to be a GST so I drove over to pick it up. It was still on the orange tree and they were afraid to touch it.
Was telling her grandkids about the use of camouflage (looking like bird poo) and then told them about the smelly defense. Was trying to show them how a caterpillar will stick out its osmeterium when disturbed/threatened and that dratted caterpillar would not cooperate. I kept touching and stroking and bonking that thing and it was passive as could be. Go figure!!!
~ Cat
Of course they never do it when you want them to! I haven't tested all of the caterpillars yet, but so far the zebra swallowtails are by far the smelliest. I had one the other day that I accidentally bumped with a paper towel while cleaning the cage. Well, out they came. But then they didn't quite go back in. I'm fairly sure the cat was getting ready to molt and I think the osmertium, once it was out, would just not go all the way back in. You know how they're like a "V"? Well, one side of the V went almost all the way back in, but the other side never did (so it kind of looked like a checkmark). They stayed like that all night but they did seem to lose their yellow color. The next morning he had molted and eaten the skin. I was just glad I didn't keep him from molting - I know they're super sensitive at that time.
Hi Leslie,
I like you have not had much time lately to spend in here with all of you LOVELY people.
I have missed hearing from you and are glad that you could stop by.
james t
ps ......... I was counting the number of different bf's I had captured on camera this year and I thnk that it was 13 different ones!!
This message was edited Nov 10, 2007 7:41 AM
Nice to see you Leslie!
Sounds like your doing great! By all means keep in touch with us gf!!
debnes