Fruit Feasters

Here's a photo of an Empress Leilia and a Red Admiral slurping up some butterfly bait I poured on a fence post.

..and another of the same two butterflies.

awesome pics Cat

just curious - what was the bait? I haven't had any luck with rotting fruit - but have read "recipes". I still have monarchs - but my milkweed only has top leaves and very scrawny at that. Would the bait help them? I'm in Houston. Thanks!
Nancy

I just bumped an old thread with TPP's recipe.

Usually the 'brushfoot' butterflies are the ones that like the bait. Of course, you can get the curious or if you have harvester hairstreaks which feed on wooly aphids...aka MEAT :o)


Out here we get Bluewings, Crackers, Emperors, Malachites, Red Admirals, Question Marks, Satyrs and Snouts that feed on fruit and butterfly bait.

There are various recipes floating around...as for me, I blend about 10 lbs of bananas, 1 lb of dark brown sugar and 1 bottle of Guinness Stout and pour it into a plastic jug and leave it in my garage to ferment. I also will cut up fresh fruit or set out fruits and veggie leftovers for the butterflies. If you decide to use the bait...just make sure you pour it in a very shallow dish...elsewise some butterflies with drown in it.

You will also get butterflies that like to puddle on the ground where there is water - as the water leaches minerals to the top of the ground. There are also butterflies that like scat...they get minerals and salts from that...yuck!!! Have seen a Southern Dogface trying to get minerals off the side of a box of miracle that got wet :o) Some leps out here use spitwads (yes, exactly that) as small bait on leaves or if they see dried scat or something an owl might have upchucked...they will add a bit of water to it to 're-hydrate' it...and the butterflies will come to it!!!

~ Cat

So what is Guinness...I wondered how you guys got all the butterflies to hold still.

Guinness Stout is beer :o) Not sure why but after trial and error with other lepidopterists in this area the general consensus is that the dark beer works best...and of those...Guinness Stout has worked wonders. I don't drink the stuff...but the men say it has something about the malt, hops, yeast and fermentation etc....and go figure...butterflies would have to pick the expensive brand over the cheaper ones! Guess they have expensive tastes :o)

Okay, I'll put that on my shopping list. We have butterflies here, don't know the names, but they just keep fluttering by all my flowers. Yesterday I finally got a pic of a very small one after chasing him back and forth my yard for an hour. Expensive maybe, but if they would just sit still it will be worth it.

How do you keep the ants out of it?

...you don't :o) The ants don't seem to bother the butterflies...aside from making them twitch their wings if they start crawling on them. I have a variety of wire hanging baskets/plates and logs I hang from my trees and plant brackets. I move them around to keep the ants from accumulating. I also have some wire trellises (similar to tomato cages) that I'll lay a piece of wood on and brush bait on the wood (I literallly get a paintbrush and brush on with the bait mixture).

I'll have to take photos of what I use in my yard when it's daylight and share those later.

Here's an old photo of one of the logs at the NABA Park.

Thanks for the recipes, it's such a great idea. Can you get the Guiness at any grocery store?

I buy Guinness (for the butterflies, of course) at the local HEB grocery store here.

Hahaha...sure TPP, whatever you say ;)

Whatever works! Hiccup!ooOO

Guess when Butterflies are as thick as they are there, the ants don't get it before the Butterflies find it. Aside from using it at home I see it would be good to take to a park that has a lot of Butterflies.. For a quick draw! (All sorts of puns intended.) hehe

TTP - The 1 bottle of Guinness Stout .... is that the reason all the butterflies are parked on the branch instead of flying around? They're too buzzed to fly?!!! LOL

Now we know the secret to getting all those great shots heehee

There ya have it! LOL!
Honestly I can't stand dark beer, but DH dirinks it. Blerk!

I will try that here. I have no idea of what types we have other than Sulphurs, Monarchs, Queens, Frits, and now and then, a Swallowtail.

I would definatly have me a batch of that if I were where Cat and trois are! Especially this time of year! I will fix some when the BFs flow back thsi direction-)

This message was edited Nov 16, 2006 10:09 PM

Heh heh...yep, it does wonders for keeping the butterflies on the bait stations...and if they do decide to fly away when you walk up to them...they don't fly very far :o) Am wondering if they keep coming back because they're addicted to the stuff!!! Granted...one little bottle of beer mixed in with about 10 lbs of bananas and 1 lb of brown sugar isn't very potent...but it works.

Do we need to open an AA chapter for butterflies?

TTP - Are you kidding! All that fermented fruit with the beer! It was probably 100% proof alcohol. They are probably all alcoholic butterflies. Do they get the DT's when you stop feeding them the bait! I can see them all hitting your windows begging for more! LOL

Hmmm...I put out some fresh tangerines and a little bit of the butterfly bait...seems this Red Admiral prefers to wallow in the bait instead of having some healthy fruit?! Heh...heh...

Oh yeah definatly need to open a local chapter "AABF". And aparantly one for aggresive cats, "anger managment", and survivors of attacks..according to Becky's "Cat Behavior" thread. What have we done??

Yes Cat, Red Admiral only goes for nectar when scat, mush, and sap arent available. That concoction is their favorite thing besides other animal's scat. (I know, eeeewe..) but true.

tried to add something on edit, and it wouldn't post right..

This message was edited Nov 17, 2006 7:07 AM

Texas: How long about do you let the beer & bananas ferment, or how will I know when it's done ?

You can use it right away or use little by little leaving it to continually ferment.

I make about a gallon of the stuff and leave it in my garage for anywhere from a week to a year. I put some out when it's freshly made...and keep using it throughout the year until the jug is empty :o) I use only an ounce or so maybe once a week...sometimes not even that depending on what my work schedule is and what the weather is like.

I usually brush the stuff onto a bait log or pour a little on top of a fence post (it helps to cut grooves into the part of the log that will be facing up - the bait will seep into the crevasses). If you decide to use a dish...make sure it's shallow or set a new plastic scrubbie or some marbles, stones etc. in the dish so the butterflies will have something to walk on and they won't walk into it and get stuck or drown. The scrubbie works great in a cottage cheese or cream cheese container that's been cut down to about an inch. I sometimes pour the bait about 1/2 deep and add the scrubbie - the butterflies can easily use their proboscis to reach the bait through the scrubbie and the bees/wasps can't.

The longer the stuff sits in your garage...the more it ferments :o) Just make sure to vent the plastic jug elsewise the pressure inside will make it explode :o)

This message was edited Nov 18, 2006 11:22 PM

...and here's a goatweed leafwing, hackberry emperor and katydid? sharing a piece of fresh ruby red grapefruit.

~ Cat

...and a Harlequin Flower Beetle (gymnetis caseyi) sneaking in to sip some of the butterfly bait I poured on the top of the fence post before I set out fresh fruit.

~ Cat

Fresh fruit works well too. Just look at the proboscis go!!!

However...as fresh fruit starts to dry out the outside tends to get hard and sort of seal itself...gotta give it a squeeze to get the juices flowing out for the butterflies...at least until it starts to rot and get mushy.

TPP - I absolutely LOVE the goatweed leafwing, hackberry emperor and katydid photo! That is such a wonderful photo of the 3 of them together! You got it going on with the fruit and bait. I'm gonna have to try that stuff myself. A picture says a thousand words!:-D

Wonder pictures Cat, please keep posting. What kind of money did you spend before digital cameras?? You are living in the most bf prolific area, wow! I may have to try the "brew bait" next year. I don't think I want to risk the explosion over the winter when I forget it's there. LOL!

TPP, great pics and so interesting!

Wouldn't that garage thing be called 'bootlegging' heehee

LOL! I thought about the jug exploding before Cat mentioned it. Definitely 100% proof! Ya'll know that's her secret .... she lures them in with the alcohol and when they can't walk much less fly - she gets all these incredible photos! LOL! My kinda gal! I wonder if they get a hangover from it?

Ah-hah !! Think you've pegged it, Becky & fly_girl. You've been 'found out' Cat!!! .. lol

And that's when their 'tongues' get thick, start stutterin', and their 'words' get garbled .. and end up calling each other 'flutterbyes' .. (And we'd all been under the guise that the etiology derived some other way!)

Some new Lepid terminology to put into place, 'ey!?! Not only are there butterfly migrations .. now there's the 'Inebriation Stations'. And, for those species that seek the scat: it's 'Potty Time', the mature 'Scat-Cats' (hee) and the special 'Feces Species' .. LOL ..

Cat ..
Absolutely luv, and am enjoying all the wonderful photos of the beauties you've been sharing! .. 'Specially the one of the three 'flyers' on the red grapefruit.

Seeing the katydid 'dining' .. reminded me of a very surprising and most unique visit by a katydid, just last week. Managed to snag a few pitters, but they're a bit blurry .. because I was so surprised at the incident; I jes couldn't stop chucklin' while shooting.

BTW .. Noticed that you've been adding some of those butterflies: but, have ya added the other bug you've mentioned (the Flower Beetle), to the BugFiles database, also? Sure hope you have, or, will .. He's a mitey handsome lil feller, for sure - clad in, and sportin' his abstract tux.

- Magpye

Heh...heh...the exploding jug hasn't happened to me but a fellow lep out here told us it happened to him. Since our south Texas summers get into the 100's...and most garages get even hotter than that...it was inevitable for someone to goof up. I don't want to even think of the mess if that happened to me...but would probably have the only car butterflies chase!!!

...and speaking of which...here's a photo of my new butterfly decals. I got Gulf Frits, Giant Swallowtails, Painted Ladies and others that are residents of south Texas.

A couple of folks came up to me and laughed saying they thought the Gulf Frit on the side of my xterra and the Giant Swallowtail on my windshield were real and sunning themselves on my car! :o)

~Cat

...and another photo...sorry zapped out my license plate....but heck, with all the decals I won't be hard to track down!!!

..and up close of the GST on my windshield. Ya know...you can't tell the clear outline when you're a few feet away :o)

Hey moonshine mama.....love the decals...they do look real!



Lol, MP....flutterbies

This message was edited Nov 19, 2006 10:34 AM