Plant It and They Will Come #7 Eggs and Cats Oh My

hahaha. Coleup called me and is coming to rescue us! Is that not totally special and wonderful?!?!

all is saved!
coleup brought a variety of containers, leaf holders, and two mesh 'cages' for me to borrow. Gave me all the care tips, squished a bunch of aphids on my swamp milkweed, spied seven caterpillars and helped me get them safe in cages munching away. And two of my first batch are starting to "J" in their plastic tub. I'll have to keep them on their side so they can hang when they come out.
coleup should change her name to Auntie M.
:^)

Yay, coleup!

Thanks for the Milkweed Lesson; I thought there were more butterflies and moths that used it as a host plant.

I tried many times to get a clear focused closeup of my eggs- just can't. I am pretty sure they will hatch by morning. They are purpleish on the tip
http://texasbutterflyranch.com/2013/09/03/welcome-to-the-world-lil-joe-monarch-eggs-retrieved-on-the-llano-river-this-weekend/

I lost my spicebush cat :-(

When it rained over night the other night I couldn't find him in the morning and haven't been able to find him since. It was probably not too far from it's last instar but it was still green last I saw it. I've looked all over for a chyrsolis but haven't been able to find one.

Some my find this link of interest. http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/plant_insects/database.html

So sorry Seq4!. But please be comforted that caterpillars often seem to come and go mysteriously, in my experience. I've had many monarch cats over the years and rarely find the chrysalisses.

coleup and I wondered if anyone else would need rearing cages. I see I can order them online from Loudon Wildlife Conservancy for a decent price. I could order for the group and bring them to swap and condense the shipping fee a bit.
http://www.loudounwildlife.org/LWC_Store.htm
Unless someone we know just 'happens' to be able to pick them up and bring them to swap....

I cannot speak for Pat who has a lot on her plate at the moment, and I depart in just a couple of days and have insufficient time to connect with LWC. If anyone is going to the LWC native plant sale on Sept.12 they can purchase the cages there and avoid shipping charges.

Cool, thanks Sally. I've tried to convince myself that it's somewhere I can't see. If not, oh well, circle of life.

ok thanks for letting me know! I certainly don't want anyone stressing out over this. I may go ahead and order a few.

Oh, hey, I just got the eggs out half hour ago to show my other son and he said, Ha, looks like one hatched. Sure enough- newborn! hadn't even eaten his eggshell yet. He has some tender young common MW leaves and some tropicals to tempt his tiny taste buds.

Now I've got three pupating and five in J stage

Greenthumb, thanks, that is an incredibly detailed list of insect-plant connections.

Howdy peoples!
Was outside today doing a bit of yarden clean-up, watering, etc when I decided to wander over to the driveway-side bed to see what's happening there (I don't get over there too often, it's right next to where DH's BIG truck gets parked)... I've had more success with Asclepias than I'd realized, so I started to give them a good close looks-see. Lookie what I found!!!

My first one ever, I'm so excited!!!! Please oh please tell me she is what I think she is!?!?!?
Of course, I'm sure we all see all the pesky little critters all over the plant as well (yellow aphids, and I dunno what all else), but I had to come in for some lunch, so those will have to wait. None of those pests will hurt her, will they? < =/

Congratulations, Sally and speedie!
Yes, it looks like you have a Monarch Butterfly caterpillar, speedie. Check out this handy link coleup found for photos: http://texasbutterflyranch.com/2012/12/07/queen-monarch-caterpillars-and-butterflies-how-to-tell-the-difference/

I don't know whether the other critters will hurt your caterpillar; I'll let someone else tackle that question!

yup, and the nasty things are aphids , plant suckers, not predatory

YIPPEEE!!! < =D I'm so darned excited!!!!!! Excellent link Susan, thank you! =) I've got 5 or 6 plants out there for her to choose from so she can happily munch her way to bliss!

Yes Sally, those aphids are nasty icky plant suckers! I think I'll do what Gita did and get a soapy cloth and wipe the plant down... a very gently soapy cloth, that is. I've got a generic "green" brand of dish soap, I'll look into its ingredients before I use it on the plant.

Oh boy oh boy oh boy!!! ... doing a happy dance!

speedie, congratulations!
You just might find more next time you look.
DD (age 21) checked out the cats in the mesh cage yesterday. 'Mom, I looked earlier and saw the four pod things, right and these guys..they were crawling around like normal, ya know? Then I looked later and they were all hanging up here.."

pods ROFL

I used the link David gave just up there to see what might be eating my Sensitive fern. (sawfly larvae, I think) Anyway, led me to this Google book
https://books.google.com/books?id=M7YoAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA397&lpg=PA397&dq=Hemitaxonus+dubitatus&source=bl&ots=0L3y21SA1l&sig=x1fujEDVKRmSTyER_OTwSKCPbLM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CEsQ6AEwCWoVChMI5f7OkOPBxwIVwz4-Ch2prAd2#v=onepage&q=Hemitaxonus%20dubitatus&f=false

Proceedings of the US National Museum in 1912.
National museum of WHAT? LOL. Back then, there was only one National Museum?

Oh Sally, you know,.. THE US National Museum!! ;) LOL!!!!!!! (it's volume 41, does that help?) heeheeheee

Hahahhaaaa "Like, those pod things, ya know?" Hahahahaaa!!!! I'm looking forward to finding 'like, those pod things, ya know?' too!! =)

Speedie I'm so excited for you!!!! There really must be something to this 'Plant it and they will come'! Congrats on the Asclepias taking in your garden, too.

As to the yellow oleander aphids....since you found one Monarch cats and this is prime egg laying time hereabouts, be sure to check for eggs and tiny baby hatchlings on all your leaves before you remove aphids, and what ever you use beyond your fingers to smoosh the aphids, be sure it will not harm eggs or cats you may 'miss'!

Personally, even though soap and water is good treatment and sop for aphids, it just seems wrong to me on Milkweed I want Monarch cats to thrive on...not sure I would be able to rinse off residue for one, and I have visions of a soapy drop landing on a fresh laid egg and smothering it!
Hey, the orange color does wash off!

http://whereyouareplanted.com/aphids-milkweed-plants/?relatedposts_hit=1&relatedposts_origin=2081&relatedposts_position=2


This message was edited Aug 24, 2015 5:07 PM

Thank you Judy, I'm SUPER excited!! You may have something there, I think I'll just trim my nails and use bare hands and warm plain water to clean them off, safer all the way around. I've been peeking as closely as I can at as many leaves as I can get my bare eye up to and I'm not sure I see any new eggs... didn't have a lot of time yesterday afternoon (we've got SO much going on around here these days!), but hopefully I'll have more time on Wednesday, so I'll get out there and give 'em a really really good close inspection. I've been checking out the links everyone here is sharing, and the pics, so I can be as careful as I can about eggs. When in doubt, I simply won't touch it. =)

Congrats on all those newly-found eggs and caterpillars, Sally and Speedie!! yay!!

From one "Cat" to the others, eh? ;) heehee

haha--yup! :-D

Most of my caterpillars hatched on Thursday morning, and then they spent a long weekend with Auntie Coleup, who graciously babysat them while I was out of pocket for a few days. I picked them up today to find them fat and big--and the first one is now a chrysalis!

Here are pics of the chrysalis and some of the caterpillars!

I've looked at the milkweed again, and I've found some little holes where baby caterpillars most likely ate after hatching, but alas no caterpillars--not a single one could I find. :-( Glad I got these babies safely inside as newly-laid eggs!!

This message was edited Aug 25, 2015 7:13 PM

Coleup--

I am done collecting seed pods from the Swamp Milkweed.

I remember you said to put them in a paper bag and write on it
all this information: ?????????

Tell me again what is important to write on the bag. Please.
Is a reg. brown lunch bag OK? Then i will bring it to you at the swap.

Can I now cut the tips of all the branches off to get rid of the orange aphids?
How far can I cut back?
I do not see any more "use" for the stems and branches of this MW. Do you?

gita

Good article on raising Monarch cats
http://www.learnaboutmonarchs.com/learnaboutraisingmonarchs.html

"By the 3rd instar, the caterpillar will begin to consume many more leaves. Be prepared for rapid growth during this second week. During the 4th instar, expect the caterpillar to begin eating about one leaf per HOUR."

Catmint, do you think you will have enough milkweed for your brood? (Auntie Coleup says 'hi' and come visit anytime!) Thanks for the pics.

Today I started collecting leaves from some Common Milkweed patches I scouted out last year. My babies are almost big and ravenous enough to tackle the huge tougher leaves of the Common, bulking up for pupation and then possibly, migration,

Sally, it was fun to meet your cats! Are you using the pop ups? Have they been to the Library yet? Was good to meet all three of your kids, too.

Speedie have you spotted yours again? Any thoughts on bringing her in if you do?

Seg, Monarch cats have been known to travel 20 - 60 feet away from their Milkweed to form their chrysallis...Swallowtails travel double that! And they are fast! I watched one cover 10 feet in under a minute.

Muddy, have you seen any yet?

Gita, leave some leaves on your Swamp Milkweed in case a Monarch wants to gift your garden with some offspring. And a lunch bag is fine for the seeds. Info neede is type of milkweed, location or zipcode, and date collected. Thanks for your effort!

No, I haven't seen any eggs or caterpillars yet, but I know there have to be some somewhere!

thanks, Coleup! I'll keep an eye on the milkweed supply and how much they're eating. Perhaps I'll be visiting sooner rather than later! :-D always nice to have an excuse to come visit you :-)

coleup- I have the three pupae in the plastic tub, and seven in the pop up. With some busy days expected at work (new printing station), and not being there coming Saturday/Sunday myself, I am keeping these babies at home through the weekend. I will take some in Monday, I think, and expect some hatching while I am there everyday to monitor.

Found two eggs on Tropical MW.

Nice cool day---I will be doing lots of gardening....

Will check my Tropical MW carefully for eggs.
Still have not seen any Monarchs! Not even at work...

Coleup--I will not trim any MW tops or leaves. By which date can one
say--OK! They are all done!
g.

fun site
http://www.ba-bamail.com/content.aspx?source=facebook&emailid=15807

That is indeed a nice site! #3 didn't seem to work, but the rest were really interesting transformations.
About caterpillar #9 - Acharia Stimuela (Saddleback caterpillar): If anyone sees it, don't touch it!! It is highly venomous.

Cool caterpillars!

That's too bad about #9 Muddy, that's the one I want to find the most, it's just so darned cute!

Checked on my baby out front earlier after I mowed the lawn and WOW she's gotten FAT! Didn't have my iPod with me so didn't take a pic, but I'll get out there in a bit and get one. I do love to see how much she's growing! :) She's still the only one there, and I don't see any eggs on any other plants. :(

Would love to see a photo if you think of it Speedie! :-)

It IS cute, Speedie, and I for one would have been tempted to handle it....but fortunately greenthumb let me know how venomous those cuties are!. They were all over one of my neighbor's native St. John's Wort shrub last year.

I noticed little caterpillars on one of my Scutellaria incana and was very glad for the link greenthumb posted above - http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/plant_insects/database.html - which allowed me to figure out what it probably is: Caloptilia scutellariella
http://www.microleps.org/Guide/Gracillariidae/Gracillariinae/Caloptilia/index.html

This Skipper (?) was enjoying the Mistflower growing from seeds I sowed by the creek.

Nice color combo there, Muddy! G.

hi, Muddy. Pretty! It looks like a Pearl Crescent! :-)