My season got off to a weird start!

Ok...so I was on the phone and my husband started saying "pssst" and pointed, then started flapping his arms. Knowing he must be signaling there was a butterfly in my yard (woohoo!) I grabbed my camera and ran with the phone to see a Tiger Swallowtail!

Each spring they are usually one of, if not the first, of the larger butterflies to visit. It was really windy and it was having a hard time staying on the Scabiosa flowers and I was having a hard time getting a good shot of him.

So...as I'm just watching him, because he's a little too far for the macro, it flutters around and back to the same bunch then suddenly starts flopping all over the plant, up in the air, down on the ground on it's back, then finally back up in the air. WHAT?!?! I don't have my camera aimed and it was happening so quick. It finally got airborne but was sort of sideways.

I'm on my knees so I'm leaning trying to see what is going on and I see what looks like something hanging from it and some sort of white blob at the end. My stomach sunk and my head said "spider!" It landed on the ground and I ran and picked it up and it didn't even try to fly off. It would try to move and flip over and just kind of sit there. I put it inside in the cage and it hung to the side for a while but never moved. When I checked on it again it would crawl onto my finger but was losing that ability. I guess the spider had bitten it and it had paralyzed it's wings first because they couldn't move at all, instantly.

So....knowing that it would never recover and was dying a slow death that I feared was painful, I felt like it was much more humane to put it in the freezer.

Ok, now tell me that's not one weird story to start off my season!!! I looked inside the plant and saw a Wolf spider but I think there was a little crab spider that got her and that's what was dangling from her for a minute. BAD SPIDER!!!

I got a couple of pics then took it inside and put it in the cage. It clung to the side

This message was edited Mar 28, 2007 11:21 PM

What a beautiful butterfly. I can't wait to start seeing them. I did see a sulpher yesterday. What does putting it in the freezer do? I know it kills it but why choose that way? That was a very fascinating story.
Dawn

Ooooooooh, Paige! That is so cool that you got to hold it and take a really good shot. What a bummer about the spider killing it. Yeah, that little spider would be history if that happened in my garden. Bad, bad spider!!! Like he thought he could eat something that big! Grrrrr.....

I rarely see these in my yard, but recently I have seen one every morning floating around the east side of my garden. My neighbor has 2 citrus trees right next to my fence there and it comes to my yard and then floats over to her trees. It doesn't stop in my yard. I am thinking about using a hatchet and shovel to remove the copper leaf bush in that area of my garden bed. I just bought another of those large leaf purple porterweeds and I think that would be a much better choice for that area of the yard. That is also where I have a crop of milkweed growing along with all the passion vines. So it would be a good place to plant the PW. And I might be able to squeeze in one of my Wild Lime (which IS a host plant for the GST) bushes over there too. That is the butterfly garden "room" in my backyard. What do ya think?

This message was edited Mar 29, 2007 9:02 AM

Ooohhhh, that's so sad.....very bad spider!

Poor butterfly. Spiders give me the creepy crawlies, and have since I was a little girl. Wolf Spiders don't generally bother me too much, because they stay on the ground and usually run away. But I'm afraid your Crab Spider would be dead meat if it were on one of my butterfly plants. I know they're beneficial, but ...

Carla

Oh yeah, when I actually see the crab spiders I get rid of them. I even got down in the grass and started looking around a little but didn't see it.

It could still move it's legs when I took the picture but when I checked on it again only the front 2 could move a little. Putting it in the freezer just puts it to sleep since it slows all the organs down. I thought that was quicker and easier than if it was being slowly paralyzed.

LOL Becky! Picturing you stomping over to a bush with a hatchet is too funny!! Now that's a woman on a mission! ;) I'm all for removing something that isn't beneficial for the butterflies, but then I don't have a lot of room. I have a few bushes and other things that I just like but once I get tired of them or I just need space, they're out! btw, I'm still trying to get some of those PW seeds to germinate! Have you had any luck? Maybe I need to cover them with a little more dirt?

Paige - Good question about the Porterweed seeds. I am trying to germinate some too, and so far that area of my seed bed is empty. Hmmmmmm .....

Not sure yet if the copperleaf bush is history. I am really thinking so. It serves no purpose except shelter. So .... I don't know yet. Probably will be gone soon.

Carla - I, too, like the wolf spiders! They are "cute"! lol

I would have never thought of putting it in the freezer. Very thoughtful. I have to remember that. I have read so many neat things here on DG. It never even crossed my mind that a spider would jump, bite, grab hold , whatever on a big butterfly. I have seen a crab spider before. Even taken a picture close up of one. I think next time is see one it'll be dead. I love my butterflies.
d

Oh yes d, the crab spiders are the worst for getting butterflies! I see all kinds of spiders around but the ones on my plants are crabs, except on my passionvine and there are other varieties. It's hard to kill them without mutilating a flower or foliage since they can crawl under leaves etc. so a lot of times I will give them a big thump that catches them off guard and sends them flying and hopefully injured or killed them.

UGH! Bad spider!!! I know this is the way of nature but I still show 'em my way...by knocking them to the ground and stomping on them. Either that or squish them between the leaf they are on. Have seen gobs of butterflies caught by insects over the years and I know there's nothing that will save the butterfly after it's been injected by a spider's venom but it's still sad to see.

Phil Schappert (author of A World of Butterflies, The Last Monarch Butterfly) comes down to the south Texas a few times a year - a couple of years ago I nicknamed him Dr Death because he was going around photographing every butterfly we saw in the clutches of a spider, praying mantis, assasin bug etc. The morbidity must have rubbed off on me because I know catch myself photographing the same!!!

~ Cat



This message was edited Mar 29, 2007 10:27 PM

..and a poor Bordered Patch.

~ Cat

Paige - I am thinking of saving the deceased butterflies when I find them (if they are in good shape). I cool temp laminate them between plastic for my class, so that kids can study them up close. Great way to teach anyone about butterflies and the different species. And if you don't want him, please send him to me! :-)

Hopefully you won't see that happen again this year! But we know the odds ........ :-( :-( :-(

Sad Paige!! I saw a TST just like that one the other day, didn't have the camera handy, (rats!).

What an adventure you had! Its only just beginning...

Better days coming~


Deb

I can't look at those pics, sorry Cat. Save the wings...there was a link posted a while back about repairing damaged wings. It would be worth a try, I've had several e. with deformed or bent wings and if I would have had some spares, who knows, maybe they could have lived for a few more days or weeks.

I can't look at Cat's pictures either. Even the thumbnail prints give me the heebie jeebies, there's no way I could look at them in full size. The spiders that "bug" me the worst are the black hairy ones, with white dots on their back. I know they're harmless but, geez oh pete, they look mean and intimidating, and they're so jumpy. If they're outside, I will leave them alone though. Last year one made its territory in my hose reel. So every time I went out to water, I had to be careful and make sure I knew where it was at all times. Ick! And then one day I was delighted to see Mr. Black Spider hanging from the jaws of a Gecko. I love geckos!! :-)

Carla

Actually to Cat's credit.. We need to see the enemies to aprehend them. I hate it too Carla and Roxie... real bad grrrr!! But getting a good look at the preditors will help us head them off at the pass better, ...Don't ya think??

Deb

I know the next crab spider I see, it will become a dead one. Fomr the pictures, I now know!
d

wow - that is a hairy spider, I don't think I've ever seen one of those!

What amazes me is the small size of the spider as compared to the butterfly - as in the Bordered Patch photo...or thinking of the one that got the Tiger Swallowtail. Those little predators can hide between petals, under them or a leaf, or even amongst the pistils and stamens!

I like geckos and anoles too but have seen them chomping on a butterfly too :o( I usually leave them alone but if they are camped out on a nectar bush I grab them and throw them over the fence!

~ Cat

Becky, I don't think this one is a very good specimen now. I didn't hold the wings down and they folded up. You have to set something like a coin on the wings to keep them from folding. Weird thing is that they fold down, opposite of the way they normally close them.

If you laminate them does it squish the body?? That's a good idea if it works. It would keep the mites from eating the dead body over time.

Roxanne, I remember something about patching wings. It just went in and out tho so I'm glad you brought it up. If I have any more this year I'll save the good for Becky and bad for parts. Not that I'm going to try and patch any tho. But hey, who knows?! The one my cat tore up sure would have loved a donor pair!

Cat, although sad to see, it happens and I did look at the pics. (For those who didn't look, the spider isn't actually doing anything in the pics) You can only take so many pics of them sitting or mating so I can see why you're taking these now. I've not actually taken any tho because my first instinct is to say "stop that!!" and knock the butterfly out of the spider's clutches, even tho it's too late. The bottom spider is funny. It's the kind that is in a book that my son has. They have those huge eyes. The second one is the white crab spider that I usually have too. Bad spider!!

Suddenly this year my husband has taken a liking to the black fuzzy spider with the white dots. ? They don't bother me because they don't usually hang out in the beds.

Well, I lied but by accident. I was looking for the pic of my huge garden spider and discovered that it was having lunch when I took it. This is the one that I eventually had to remove because it made it's web where the Monarch's were coming around a corner. NO NO! We had a great time throwing milkweed bugs to it tho!!

I remember that lovely beast Paige... What a spot she had for a while!! She had a Monarch trapped the day I came over.

Deb

Paige, I have noticed that the Butterflies fold their wings down when they are poisoned by something like a spider. But most that die of old age or other natural causes are often with their wings straight out. I let them "dry" out before laminating so that their body doesn't squish out. Much prettier that way! lol

Those crab spider are sure interesting! We probably get them here, but I've never noticed any. I mostly see the Wolf Spiders and the Daddy Long-legs. Both of which I like. As long as they are NOT trying to trap a butterfly, I'm okay with them. Usually, I just move them somewhere else where there are no butterflies.

I can't find the thread or google about mending a butterfly wing.....drat! I'll keep looking, we may need it.

I love those big orb? spiders like your Paige, but they have such efficient webs.

I haven't seen too many crab spiders, just those assassin bugs and that big praying mantis on my mw last year. She was huge and blended in so well, I almost touched her...ick! I pushed her into a jar with a paper towel and relocated her across the street in this wild thicket of Yaupons. What bf likes Yaupons? I never saw her again, she must have heeded the warning I gave her.
Can you see her?

Awesome photo! She blends in quite well, indeed!!! I'd have relocated her too! Way to go!!!

Speaking of spiders....how about this baby. A Banded Argiope.

She spanned at the very least three inches from leg to leg. Her web was constructed right in the middle of a huge patch of waltheria indica growing in the back pasture. That area was frequented by hundreds of butterflies all day long. I checked on her every weekend for three weeks last year then we hard some strong rains and cold temps and the waltheria died down and I couldn't find her. Sad to think of all the butterflies she rolled up for a late night snack but at times you have to respect nature and admire her macabre beauty.

My sister-in-law would not get out of the truck - she'd just look at it through the binoculars and scream how huge it was and for me not to get close to it :o)

~ Cat

What a bute Cat!
Guess it is like the hawks that come for sparrow/dove to my garden...Yet the birds are pretty smart, and they skedaddle pretty quick.
Where there are flies of any kind there are going to be spiders.. I have relocated several of them, only to find they make their way right back.... I suppose all the wildlife has to be considered in gardens like we all keep. The balance of nature seems to be without emotional influence..which would be a human factor.

Deb

That one gives me chills, Cat! YIKES!!!!!!