Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: I guess I have to "import" the Gulf Fritillaries, 1 by debnes_dfw_tx

debnes_dfw_tx wrote:
Hi Linda!
The same thing was going on here, so I began collecting Gulf Fritillary chrysalids and runaway cats after that. I believe birds were grabbing them.. Wren, Robin, Grackle, Mockingbird, etc..So I built a box frame and put screen on all 6 sides. When detaching them take all the silk they are atached with. If necessary I cut some of the surface they are on in order to get the whole cremaster. Tie unflavored dental floss, or any fine durable string and tie them to the roof or a bar in the cage. Many kinds of container/cage will do, they just need protection, a good space, and a way to climb and hang to dry their wings. The slick sides of plastic or glass reptarium will not work. They can not climb and their wings will dry all bent or curled.

When I say 'runaway' I mean those large enough to pupate that wander off the vine. They are finished eating and will pupate dern near anywhere. The rail sounds great..:-) to a frit! When I collect wanderers, they usually pupate within one day. When they are hardened and safely hung in a cage, they take about 10 days to morph and eclose.
Hope this gives you some idea how to work it, let us know what you end up doing, how it goes..etc.

:-Deb

Yaay greenie!!

This message was edited Jun 2, 2007 5:01 PM