Help! My 'Coral Glow' passion vine has been completely denuded by Gulf frit cats. What else do they eat? Don't want them to starve to death - I tried putting one on a native passion vine, but he wouldn't eat! Thanks, Samantha
Gulf Frit cat's diet
Update - it appears that given scarce food, they will cannibalize! Oh, well, I hope the 2 big ones that are left hurry & make their chrysalises! Samantha
They eat a variety of passion vines. Out here they use p. suberosa, p. foetida, p. trilobata, p. biflora and a few others. Try looking at your local garden center for passion vines. Just make sure they haven't been treated with an insecticide or chemicals that could kill the caterpillars.
~ Cat
Caterpillars of any kind can have trouble switching food sources, especially if they're nearly full grown. I've also heard that they can have trouble switching between the native and exotic passifloras.
That is so true. I've had GFs that refuse to touch exotic passifloras. They will stick to one of the natives and eat it to the bare stems. That's when I start taking cuttings from some local haunts or grab a bunch of cats and drop them off with neighbors who have the same passiflora - either that or relocate them to some of our local butterfly parks. They always have plenty of larval host plants to keep caterpillars happy :o)
~ Cat
Thanks for the input! I don't know anyone with passion vines, & last time I was at Lowe's & Home Depot, they had none. There is one other place I can check, but that's it. Valdosta is really behind the times - no butterfly park, very few resources of any kind! I'll check when I'm out today for Passion vines. Samantha