What's that recipe for butterfly attractant? I gots the bananas, gots the Guinness, what else finished it? And isn't there a separate one that involves peanut butter for moths? Or do you use the same stuff?
Not much on this list about moths. Don't you guys like em just as much as the day shift?I like 'em even better, me.--Melis
This message was edited Sep 1, 2008 10:46 PM
Butterfly goop
Brown sugar - I think if you check the sticky thread at the top there's a couple of links to various recipes.
Melanie
Melis,
We like moths too! They're just more work 'cause you have to get a light, and a sheet, and stay up until 3A to see if your Lunas mated! I personally need sleep! I do like feeding Lunas though because they are so big and sturdy.
Maggie
I got very casual about all saturnids when I lived out in the country here, If we waanted moths we just went down to the Cardinal grocery store (only bright light for 20 miles in all directions) and grabbed or picked them off the big glass window. Every big-big silk-family moth you could ever dream of showed up on that window. You shoulda seen the wall display of them I had for a while.
The poor dears only live a few nights and have no mouth parts, so we only needed to wait until they'd mated and laid eggs and we could capture them without much guilt because they were going to die anyway.
If you like lunas you ought to web search the family name to see some of the luna relations around the world--beautiful!!! attached is one they have in Spain. Very interesting.
melis
two things: that photo ame from googling, and Actias is the family name you want to look for. That one is called 'Spanish moon moth'--M
Melissande,
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/572316/
Blend up about 7-10 overripe bananas, 1 bottle of Guinness Stout dark and 1 pound of dark brown sugar.
Pour the concoction into a plastic jug - something with a screw on top. I must emphasize screw-on top as those snap on tops will literally blow off when the stuff starts to ferment. Every day or two make sure to vent the screw on cap to allow for the release of fermenting gases. Be careful as the pressure can blow the top off while you are twisting it off.
You can use it right away or keep it stored for months as it keeps on fermenting.
I prefer to use mine right away to within a month or two and just make a fresh batch as needed. I also like to divide it up into several 20 ounce plastic soda bottles and fill them up only about 3/4 of the way.
I also like to add a splash of vanilla or cherry brandy - the scent of that seems to quickly attract butterflies. Which is odd...because I've heard vanilla repels mosquitoes!
There is also an informational link under our Sticky Thread with other helpful information. Or you can do a search under this forum for member photos of butterflies at brew.
~ Cat
ps...you can also put out cut up fresh fruit like bananas, cherries, watermelon, oranges, tangerines etc. Butterflies will come to fresh fruit as well as rotting fruit :o)
This message was edited Sep 5, 2008 9:44 PM
Thankyou kindly. Let me add to this information a little trick home brewers use: it's a little plastic 'S-bend' vent you can incorporate into the top of a bottle so you don't have to keep playing with it every couple of days. Most of us have heard of making wine by stretching a balloon over the neck of a bottle of grape juice, well, this is a bit more sophisticated. You fill the little plastic 'S-bend and put it into the neck of the bottle you're using, and water and it will allow the gas from the fermentation to escape, bubble out, and the water keeps the outside air from replacing the CO2.
You can pick them up at home brew shops or get them through the mail from similar shops--worth the few dollars to release you from having to babysit that brew so it doesn't blow up!--Melis
Pardon the intrusion of the butterfly gardening newbie, but how do you keep unwanted bugs or pets out of this mixture? I have little mud puddles for the butterflies to drink, I planted butterfly plants (intentionally) for the first time this year, but I'm ultra-skeeved out by fermenting stuff for food. LOL Should I take the plunge and just get over it?
Well, you don't have to. I don't have much success with that - maybe not enough of those kind of butterflies in my area? You'll still get lots of butterflies from plants alone. Some people have rigged up hanging basket style holders for their fruit to keep critters out. I compost my kitchen scraps so I guess I'm used to rooting around in decaying matter with bugs and worms crawling in it, LOL!
Melanie
Was out at the ranch today and poured a little bit of butterfly brew on the ol' corner post. Guess the leafwings were HUUUUUUNGRY!!!!! :o)
~ Cat
Another view - I counted 20 Leafwings and one Tawny Emperor in the mix.
~ Cat
One of my favorite little butterflies - a male Red Bordered Metalmark. The photograph does not do this wee butterfly justice. There are silvery lines bordering the forewing and hindwing margins as well as small 'tiger swallowtail-like' metallic blue markings from forewing base to wingtip. This little butterfly is a mere inch in width.
~ Cat
Oh, he's a handsome one. I pinched a skipper off an aster today. i think he was a 'roadside skipper'. Didn't get a photo. I pinched a painted lady off a butterfly plant last week. First one I'd seen that close.
My best sighting this year was a sulpher...not a cloudy, a reaqlly big, really bright yellow, really fast one. Isn't there one called a clear sulpher? Anyhow, it was one I'd never seen before. It was twice the size of the common cabbage butterflies crowding around the blue salvias. And I saw one I thought was named after me, Melissa blue. Medium sized with a little blue haze over dk. brown. But then I saw the range, and realised it couldn't be one of those, so I don't know what that was. Because Don's growing hops, we've had commas and question marks all year, and that's been fun.
Melis