My new Adopted Gulf Fritillary Cats

The Monarch, in his J Position

The Monarch chrysalis is beautiful. It looks like pale jade with a gold stripe around the top. The GF chrysalis looks like a shriveled up dead leaf on the Passionvine. Which is probably a way to chamoflauge from predators.

I'm glad you told me what color to look for. I'm sure he'd blend in quite well with the PV leaves. Maybe that's why he chose that place, instead of the top of the cage, like I envisioned. Should I consider moving that little pot that he's J'ing on away from the others? I wouldn't want the big GF's to eat him, now that he's come this far. That would break my heart!

Janet

Yes, I would. The GF cats might start eating the plant he is on and cause the leaf/branch to drop to the ground.

Nice pics Janet.

I have seen a black little piece with 2 antennae that is discarded. It's amazing to me too. Sometimes I will see the chrysalis moving, sort of swaying.

Here's a pic of the beginning of the chrysalis forming.

BTW - Great photos! Glad you were able to get some despite the rainy weather. :-)

Here's another

OK, I'll move that plant in the morning. They are all sleeping now. I'll have to make sure that there aren't any GF's on the plant.

I found a small plastic cage at Goodwill today. Looks like it might have been for lizards or something like that. I can put him in there in isolation. I'd planned on putting the tiny cats in there, but I think maybe he's more in need at this point.

Great photos Fly! Now I know what to look for in the morning.

I was glad I was able to get some photos too Becky. It's not like they will stay the way they are for long. I especially wanted to get some of the monarch since I read Fly's post about things happening so rapidly. I'll keep the camera by the back door.

Janet

Here's the last, the whole process took less than a minute and I was lucky enough to be standing there.
The pics aren't the greatest.....my camera :(

Early this morning, I moved the Monarch to the plastic cage, along with a GF chrysallis that was laying on the ground. The outer shell was hard. That was the first one that had made the J at Connie's and we moved him from her house to mine. I saw his little head wiggling when I moved him this morning. I just came back inside from taking a photo of the monarch, in his new home.

I've labeled the GF Chrysallis in this photo.

Here is a photo of one of the GF Cats, now in the J Position.

I was lucky enough to document the entire metamorphosis thing with a Monarch. If you haven't seen it, here it is. Karen
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/581393/

Thanks Karen for sharing that link. Now I see what I missed while at the grocery store today. You were so fortunate to document what was happening as each stage occured. I know how often I look at those caterpillars. You must have watched Chomp like a hawk to capture each stage.

For any of you that haven't seen this link from back in April, please check it out. Awesome photos of every stage of Chomp's life.

Isn't the internet wonderful? To be able to share such an exhilarating experience with others that appreciate the majesty of these beautiful creatures.

Thanks again Karen. I might never have seen that without your providing me the link.

Janet

I'm a new Grandmother.... of my adopted Gulf Fritillary Butterfly.

I had something exciting happen this morning. Hubby was emptying out his van of hunting stuff and found a small hairy caterpillar. I took him out to the "cat house". Didn't look like anything was happenening with any of the chrysallises yet. I did notice two new chrysallises outside of the cage. I started looking and the cedar has shrunk a bit there at the opening of the cage. I could see "daylight" enough that a cat or two could have gotten out.... or something, like a wasp or a lizard, could have gotten inside. We'll have to fix that, and soon.

A little while later, I was out taking some photos of my herbs and saw something moving in the cage out of the corner of my eye. I was worried because as I was walking around the yard, I saw a wasp. I walked over to the cat house and saw one of the Gulf Fritillary chrysallises on the little plastic cage within the cat house. There beside it was this folded up gorgeous color of orange. The butterfly was emerging. I had the camera in my hands and tried to get some photos. My heart was racing and fluttering bigtime. I hollered for Hubby to come see. He didn't hear me. I reached in to touch it and the wet butterfly crawled onto my finger and began crawling up my arm. Alsmot as though he knew I was his new "mom". So I closed the cage, with the butterfly crawling up my shoulder. I went around to the front with the camera and wanted Hubby to get some photos. Instead, he held out his hand and the buterfly walked on to his finger. I snapped a few more photos. Then told him to take some with me holding it. The colors of the butterfly were so beautiful!

I think this is amazing because the chrysallis was so plain jane compared to the Monarch's chrysallis. You can see the chrysallis beside the wet butterfly in that first photo, top left.

I put him back into the cage to dry out his wings. A few hours later, I was getting ready to go to Connie's and thought I'd better go ahead and release him, in case I didn't get back for several hours.

Here are some photos I took of the release.

This caterpillar was the one that had already made his "J" at Connie's, but wasn't in the chrysallis yet. He was attached to a little wire basket that was around a string of lights out by Connie's pool deck. I'd worried and worried that he wouldn't make it because we moved him. A few days ago, after it had rained so much, there was quite a bit of condensation in the little plastic cage. The Monarch that is in there was fine, hanging in his chrysallis on a passion vine stem. The poor GF chrysallis was quite moist. I laid it on top of the plastic cage to dry out.

This evening, when I came home from Connie's house, I brought another 15-20 home with me. We had just checked for cats and brought home about 15-20 the night I brought Penelope home.

No matter how many times I get to watch this happen, THIS one will always be a very fond memory because he was the first.

Janet

Janet - CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Isn't it so cool to watch and experience a new life emerging into the world! How cool that it felt right at home climbing on you and your hubby! I wonder if it will follow you around the garden. Some of mine do that. It just makes working out in the yard that much more enjoyable! :-)

I just spotted your camera on the love seat, Janet! Now what if another one decides to emerge ?
I sure have seen lots of Gulf Frits this week. Dozens. Doubles were flying around together as if playing in the wind. Mating possibly. Wondering if they were ones we missed on the passion vine who did their thing all by themselves and newly hatched. The passion vine has traveled way up on the little apartment's deck so I rarely go up there unless Janet is here and we inspect for cats. Since their chrysalissess are so ugly and look all shrivelled up like a dead leaf we may not have notice those.

I don't know if it will follow me around the yard, or not Becky. Something else happened, or didn't happen. I don't know for sure. About 10-15 minutes after I released him, I was ready to leave for Connie's house. I let Tinkerbelle out to take care of any business she might have and as I opened the door, I watched a HUMONGOUS dragonfly exit the lantana. That sucker must have been 4 inches in length with a cigar size body. He was the biggest one I've ever seen. My new GF was no where to be seen. UGGGGGGGGGGGGHHH!!! Surely he wouldn't have eaten my new baby, after all he'd been through. Surely NOT!!! I'm praying he flew off somewhere and wasn't a snack for the big guy. Yes, that's what happened. Surely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think you may be right Connie about the ancing pairs we've been seeing around your shop. I didn't even think about that, but I also noticed them when we were working on Penelope. I just figured it was the same pair, having a grand old time, dancing through the air.

Those cats I brought home tonight were pretty good size. They should be doing the "J" pretty soon. I'm glad you had that extra wire jungle gym too. I'm sure with all of the cats in there now that it will get used. I need to do some cleaning in there first thing in the morning. It was already dark by the time I got home tonight.

Speaking of which, the pitcher I transported them in was full of cats and cuttings. We'd found some pretty big cats at the last minute, so we just put them in there. I put the pitcher inside of the wire cage on the floor board of my truck. I'm driving down the road and watch in horror as the pitcher tips to the right. OH LORD! I'm doing that little jig there at 11th Street so I can't just stop. I head on over the bridge and it tips back to the left, as I turned at Kroger. I take a deep breath and slowly drive home. I park the truck and race around to the passenger side. I pick up the pitcher and there were 5-6 big cats on the floor board and crawling up to fire wall. It's dark, and I'm scrambling to get those guys to the cage. What a wild ride!!!

I am going to print that last photo of my 1st grandbutterflybaby and hang it on the wall. I think he's just beautiful! I couldn't be prouder than if I'd watched a new baby being born. It was such a great feeling turning him loose. The photo below isn't really great quality because my hands were shaking so badly from excitement. But this was his 1st photo. :-)

I didn't even realize that I forgot to bring the camera home. I'll come by tomorrow to get it when we start on the golfer.

The "new" 1988 video camera I got FREE today with my GOGWF card WORKS!!!! I told Hubby he needs to set it up at the deer blind. He liked that idea. Hey, for free?? Heck yeah!!!

Okay you guys...you are giving me the BF raising fever!! Is there anywhere I can go to find out basics? We had a ton of GFs this year, I've seen a couple of Monarchs the last month or so and we had some Giant Sulphurs too...oh, and yellow and black swallowtails like crazy. Where do I look for the eggs, what do they look like and where can I identify the cats? I found a black fuzzy one by our back door the other day and picked him up and put him in the garden. He had no markings, just black and fuzzy soft. But I'd love to start raising and I think it would be great for my 9 year old stepson (he is also about to start learning about composting). Thanks for the BF newbie help!! =)

Hi Greenie, I'm a newbie at this myself, so don't know if I'll be of much help to you or not. It's fascinating watching them in the caterpillar house.

Coming to this very forum was the first RIGHT thing you have done. There is a wealth of information within the Butterfly and Hummer Forum.

I think one of the first things to do it to learn to identify what you have. Second, you need to see what is native to your specific area. Certain butterflies seem to migrate, while others don't. Even if they migrate, they make every effort to return to their "home" plants.

There are specific host plants for the caterpillars. The Gulf Fritillary caterpillars are deep pumpkin orange with black spikes on them. The orange is harder to see when they are smaller, but it's there. The GF use the Passion Vine as their host plants.

Both my sister and I have passion vines. We've never held the blooms side by side to see if they are the same variety. My passion vines have remained empty of caterpillars. I've never seen a single GF cat on my vines and I do look, several times a day. Oh the other hand, I've been working at Connie's for several weeks now. Her Passion Vine starts on her patio, travels up the lattice to the deck of the apartment up above. Every couple of days, I'll go up the stairs to see if there are any news ones. Each time, I come home with 10-15 caterpillars in various stages of growth. I now have approximately 60-75 caterpillars in my cage. None of which actually came out of my yard.

I have 1 Monarch that was brought home on a plant from a nursery. He's made his chrysallis and is just about to emerge/enclose (I'm not positive about the correct term there.) We'll just say that he's about to become a butterfly. :-) I can see more and more orange through the chrysalis, which is now almost black. When he made it over 2 weeks ago, it was green.

This photo will give you an idea of how I have my cage set up. Excuse the cat frass in there. I took the photo and when I was reviewing the pictures, realized that I hadn't cleaned the cage yet today. It's an every day job with that many cats in there. Fortunately, I can use a little wisk broom and sweep it into a little dustpan. I was using a damp paper towel, but this seems to work better for me.

The little cages you see I found at Goodwill. I use those for special needs... like the Monarch is in one. Cats that I find on the OUTSIDE of the big cage that have already begun to form their chrysallises get put into that little white cage. That is just so that the others don't mow them down since they are in the "slow down and pause" mode.

The "cages" are wire baskets that usually have coconut liners in them. The cats seem to like having the wires to climb on. Gives 'em sumptin' to do, I suppose, other than just crawl around on the floor and the walls.

Notice the "sentry" on guard for the cage. :-) (Closer photo to follow.)

Janet

I just hope that as the butterflies emerge that they don't have a heart attack when they see their "protector".

Janet

NIce set ups as usual Janet! :o)))



Greenie feel free to join in the threads we've been discussing much of what might help you.
We began with Host plants, (there's about a months worth) 2 Threads for that:
Discussion http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/661953/
Trading http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/656598/

TexasPuddyPrint (Cat) Has a very cool thread about cat cages, I can't find that thread.. Anyone have it handy?

Now we just started a new Nectar Thread
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/667130/
I will set up the Trading thread for that today!

I'm over here in FW, and i will help ya any way I can!

Deb

Deb

This is the one I think you are talking about Deb, with all the cat cages. http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/643281/

One in the same, thanks Sheila!


o/

thanks, guys!!

Janet, absolutely gorgeous photos!!

Thanks!

I spent the morning putting the BF Garden plants into one of the ponds. That worked out better than I expected it to. Around the edges of the pond, I put cuttings of portulacca in a variety of colors.

Into the pond, I planted:

4 Blue Mist
1 Buddleia
6 Lantanas
3 Ruellas
2 Pentas
2 Salvias
1 Yellow Shrimp

And a few others things that the names are escaping me at the moment.

I ended up using 2 waybigo bags of Miracle Grow Garden Soil to fill up the pond.

I still need to move it about 10 ft. and it got really heavy when I put that second bag of soil into it. When hubby returns from hunting, we'll get it moved and I'll get some photos then.

I'm very pleased with the way it turned out.

Janet