DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 13

Continued from:
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/755524/
What a week this has been! I see by all the new threads that the butterflies are booming! Some ups and some downs..
It was pretty sad to go out the other day and find my perfect little Buckeye had eclosed, wings together and dried.. but it didn't make it. Hopefully I will get another shot at raising them. That was a ripper!! I am wondering if the stink bug had actually harmed it,... oh well!
On the upside, I had about 2 dozen Black Swallowtails placed in the big hamper to eclose. 1 eclosed yesterday, and today 10 eclosed!!! I had raised them all inside smaller containers and gladware, kept them clean and fed and safe from predators. So far 99.5% success! I kept a couple of them out of the main eclosing cage bc of abnormalities I noticed, and even one of those 2 eclosed. The other one in quarantine had a small black spot, so it is still separated, not eclosed yet. The rest of them (about 13) will be eclosing all this week.
Besides the BST^, I still have about a dozen of 4 other species almost ready to pupate. Among them are Gulf Fritillaries, GSTs, Monarchs, Silverspotted Skippers, and some others out there in the garden with a lot less help from me, doing just fine.
Feel free to keep using this thread for posting any daily pics you have.
:-D
Here are 5 of the 10 Black STs. Today 8 males and 2 females ... couldn't get them all in one shot

It's really working to raise them in smaller cages and then place them in this big hamper when they have hardened. See how much room they have>

Amid all the fluttering BSTs just being released, this fella (Male Queen Butterfly) flew in for a minute and lit near one of the Milkweed patches. He had to pick a browned seed pod of Blue Mist, even with all the blooms available. Maybe the seed pods still have something, bc he had company, (not clearly visible, a white tipped black moth). Kim (blue_eyes) has a great shot of the same kind of moth here:
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/758193/

This message was edited Aug 9, 2007 11:23 PM

Great photos. Gotta love having all those swallowtails eclose at the same time :o)

Strange how those Queens go after the dried blue mist flowers. They do that here all the time...I think someone mentioned the odor of the bloom is stronger? Do butterflies smell...well okay, with their feet. Still haven't quite figured that out...but they do go after the spent mist flower blooms.

~ Cat

Deb, How did you move the chrysallis to the inside of the netting?
I needed the cage that the swallowtails made there chrysallis in so I took down the netting from above my daughters bed.

I couldnt think of anything except glue the sticks to the table.

chris

The monarchs are starting.

See the hood starting. Amazing

chris

Great shots Deb and Chris! I had my Monarch eclose a couple days ago. Did get a pic, but it is still not on the puter!
Off to work. Man will I be glad when I retire, I am missing so much!

Ah Chris,
It was a little time consuming, but I was able to scrape the silk of the BSTs from the plastic containers pretty easily, then sew them to cheap ribbon about 5" apart. I safety pinned the ribbons inside the mesh hamper. Ya have to be careful not to stab the chrysalids with the needle, or wrap any thread around them. The silk is very strong.
With Monarchs it would be a little easier bc they have the one cremaster. By the time all the BSTs eclose, the hamper will be empty for the Monarchs I have about to pupate.
You are doing very well in the enclosed room there. Pretty soon we will be taking pointers from you, lol! In about 8 days you will have a swarm of Monarchs! :-O The BSTs look fine on the sticks, just watch out for those tiny Chalcid wasps. I have to be downright vigilent about them.
The pic of the hood forming is fantastic!

LOL Cat your right they taste with their feet, but they smell (olfactory sense) with their antennae, (you knew that). Actually I can see how the seed pods would be rich with a stronger oiley kind of nectar. Queens favorite nectar seems to be the TX Blue Mist. The seed pods are going in envelopes today. I need to make sure I have them saved for the fall round-up here. Also for the round robin trade Becky organized. So much to do!! Time is closing in on me. Yikes!

Thx Sheila.. congrats on your Monarch. I have to see if I can collect some babies today, and the next few days. No telling how many are out there. We will hold the fort while you're at work, and see that you don't miss as much.

I think I have a pet Blue Jay now.. It just stays in the back yard and hops around. Wings look fine, and he/she gets along well with all the other birds. It is kinda unusual to see one so docile and friendly. Guess it feels safe in this little sanctuary. I think it's parents use the next door neighbor's trees, Maybe it's just claiming this as it's official territory. Sweet bird tho'.

:-D

Great pictures!!

Great photos ya'll. I agree with you Sheila. Shift works sucks...but it does leave daylight hours to go butterflying :o)

You are so right Deb...I am always amazed at how merely minutes after bait is set out the butterflies show up.

Several of our butterfly parks have large patches of blue mist...the Queens really congregate on them....it's always fun to walk by and watch the "wave" of Queens - they all flit up then settle back down again.

Here's a very old photo...I used the background of the walkway so you could see the Queens easier. We do get them by the thousands and tend to take them for granted :o) We consider finding one with aberrant markings a good find!!!

~ Cat

I have tons and tons of butterflies here, but this is the first photo I've been able to get of what I assume is a female Black Swallowtail. Who-oo -- cats-to-come!!!

She's a colorful thing, so I'm not sure why they named it "Black" Swallowtail.

Suzy

This message was edited Aug 10, 2007 12:46 PM

Okay Deb, now I'm getting scared. How long did it take for your BST's from the time they pupated til they eclosed? I had one eclose last Friday and expected the rest over the weekend and early week, except for one guy who took a long time to pupate, he should eclose a little later. But here it is, a week later, and no one has eclosed!!! Your chrysalids look a lot greener than mine, mine range from really dark to a light brown. I don't want to horn in on your thread, maybe I'll start another and put on a couple of photos.....
I can't believe all the effort you put into relocating your chrysalids!!!! That had to be one scary operation! I'm too afraid to touch them!!! You explained it to Chris but I still don't understand how you attached them to the ribbon without putting the thread around the chrysalid.
It's sad about your Buckeye, what a shame. I do hope you get another chance with them!

LOL, sewing really isnt my thing. My tools of choice are hot glue, duct tape and velcro. One of these things usually works for anything I need to do. I chose the hot glue for this. I was very careful not to get glue on the chrysallis and then I glued the wad of white cottony silk from the top of the cremaster (thats what deb called it) onto the green wire, bent it and stuck it in the styrofoam block.
Deb, No pointers comming from me anytime soon, I really am winging this. I have no idea what I am doing. I am very glad they are all chrysallis except for 1 runt. Those cats were hungrier than my 3 teenagers.
picture of monarch chrysallis hot glued onto green wire.

chris

Thea, don't fret about the color of the chrysalis, I have about 1/3 green and the rest brown, some lighter than others. All but the two I have been waiting on have eclosed. Not sure what causes the color difference. It may be humidity when they are changing etc. As long as they are ok and able to fly when it is all over, I don't worry.

Hi Thea!
Your welcome to post anything here.. It's a daily for everyone!
There were a couple of brown ones in my bunch not to worry on color. BSTs take about 8-10 days. Relocating them wasn't hard because I use smaller "quick & easy" cages for them. (I have a thread about the cages). The silk peels right off the plastic, and if they pupate on the fabric of the cut-out lid, I just pin the fabric into the big cage. I had lost about a dozen to a tiny Chalcid Wasp, and I was bound and determined to make them safer, and it worked. This week I have released 18 healthy BSTs.
Chris~ If the BSTs you want/need to relocate them, and are able to get all the silk it might attach to the hook side of the velcro. I havn't tried this, but the silk is pretty sticky and it might work.

For sure Cat~ The first Queen I ever saw was on Tx Mist...your pic is amazing, even with the blur.

Suzy~ So cool you're getting lots of butterflies!! Yaay!! Your BST is a male btw.. They have a extra yellow bar on their wings the female doesn't have. He is a beauty! Here is a female: http://davesgarden.com/forums/fp.php?pid=3839016

My camera is outside... when I upload the pics later I will post some more.

:-Deb

Hummer..making like the branch is a tightrope, lol.>

After seeing that hummie tight rope photo...couldn't resist adding an old...OLD photo from back before digitals hit the market.

Who greased the wire?!

~ Cat

Very cute hummer pics!!!! I'm still trying to get one, they just always move so fast!!

LOL Cat, What a hoot! Too cute!

After playing hard with Cori, this little guy just had to rest!

Can the tiny Chalcid Wasp get through window screen? I still have my cage inside, but kinda wanted to take them out for alittle warmer weather.

I know tiny ants probably could, so I might put my real fine material I have, over all the screen. Just thinking out loud......

~Lucy

Debnes had them come through the tule fabric, so screen probably wouldn't be a challenge.

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing all the information.

My husband says y'all are a bad influence. It had never occurred to me to actually raise the caterpillars. So, I set up a little cage and now I've been hovering over the parsley and milkweed all week hoping something shows up. Nothing.

A friend called this morning and said she had several cats on her parsley. So I ran over to her house to get them. We had to hide from her husband, she says he monitors them constantly. "Here, hold the scissors, pretend you're deadheading." I smuggled away 3 cats, we'll see how it goes. We got to laughing that her husband probably wouldn't notice if she bought 2 dozen new pairs of shoes, but he'll probably have a fit when he notices that the cats are gone. We decided to tell him that "wasps" must have gotten them. I was raised Baptist, so it's not exactly a lie...

Jenny

My two dozen Monarch cats and three remaining Queen cats are okay so far. And 3 itty bitty probable TST cats. Two found on black cherry leaves and one hatched on Texas Ash. There's a few more eggs on Texas Ash that haven't hatched. I prefer the cherry leaves...they don't begin to get crispy almost as soon as you take them off the tree like the ash leaves do. And yet, the TST mamas seem to prefer the ash. Spicebush leaves wilt too fast also. I've got most of those cats outside in screened "cages" over the plant plus some sleeve thingies over the branches. The half dozen I've brought in go through a lot of leaves. I read somewhere that it's not good for cats to eat very wilted leaves.
Oh, with cats that might pupate on the top of a container...I have some fairly small containers that I use paper towels on the top. I either cut out some of the lid and then put it down over the paper towel or in some cases even put the paper towel over a container, then using rubber bands to keep it closed. I prefer the ones with lids. With rubber bands I have to be very careful when removing the rubber band to avoid hurting any cats or chrysalises. Of course, I sometimes use sticks also for those cats that might use them. And if a cat pupates on the sides of a glass container, it's harder to remove it...the silk stuff really sticks to glass more.

Awesome info Linda.. I haven't been successful with glass anyway.. The silk scrapes so easy from the gladwares. Great numbers on the Monarchs! If I could get some more TST cats I would raise them in gladware for sure. If they pupate on the fabric I can just safety pin the fabrics inside the big mesh hamper after they've hardened. You're having such a good year! :-)(YAY!)

Lucy~ Sheila told ya right, the Chalcids can and will get through tulle. They will penitrate the smallest crevasse. Their lives depend on them getitng into a chrysalis. The Chiffon fabric is cheap and works great. It does ravel because it is a wovewn fabric, so I just use it on the plastic containers. It's thin enough for the cut out lids not to buckle too.

How sweet Lily.. Cori entertaining the HBMoths, :-)

I collected over a dozen Monarch eggs yesterday and with Jackie's help today. Just as the last dozen have practically all pupated. Great timing for them, we have cage vacancies, LOL!

Now for my biggest news..
A female Sulphur came through and began ovipositing all over the Cassia alata!!! Yes after all these years of inviting them and being stood up. they have arrived! Now I have to get out there and collect them all and set them up. I should have plenty of leaves bc the Cassia is almost 5' tall now. I will remove leaves from the bottom to feed them in a few days when they hatch.

This week I released a total of 20 BSTs ... I am havng to create a system to keep up with all the species, and this is a good thing. I bought one of those 6 bin wire units for placing the small gladwares in. A slot for each, except the ones I am raising in larger gages together.
So much to do before I rest tonight.

:-D

Went out to the ranch today for a look around. Checked the rue I planted alongside the house. I counted at least 37 Black Swallowtail second instar caterpillars!!! EEEEK!!! Am leaving them on the plants though.


Also got lucky and spotted a White Striped Longtail Skipper (chioides catillus) laying eggs on Texas Snout Bean in the back field. Never could get a photo of it ovipositing. Dratted butterfly was fast!!! Checked out the plant I saw it on and found this egg thingy.

Doesn't look like any butterfly egg I've seen?! Least I think it's an egg??? Needless to say when I walked back to the golf cart to set the camera down I lost track of which plant it was!!! (the fields are full of Texas Snout Bean).

Initially I'd given up on finding that egg again and drove back to the ranch house to eat lunch but Mom was still cooking so I drove to the back field again. This time I brought out the big magnifying glass and found the egg thingie!!! WHEW!!! Also found a big caterpillar and a small one. A good day indeed!

Oh...and I tried to dig a few of the Texas Snout Bean vines up...talk about a long, looooooooooooooooooong tap root! I gave up after 10 inches. So hopefully the ones I brought back will survive. I've transplanted them and added some root hormone powder home - they wilted on the drive back but hopefully they will perk up and I can then go back in search of cats and eggs next week. Will have to check for seeds...the pods I saw were still green.

~ Cat


This message was edited Aug 12, 2007 8:12 PM

Second egg photo...strange shape indeed!!!

~Cat

...and the caterpillar. Geez...all the skipper caterpillars look alike!!! At least I can narrow this one down after seeing the butterfly laying eggs and knowing the larval host plant.

~ Cat

White-Striped Longtail Skipper (chioides catillus) caterpilar.

Aweeeeeeee isn't that a sweet little skipper! Good to see you had a productive day too. Hope that bean vine survives, some of those looong tap roots can be a bear, especially if the soil is dry. Hope your Rue is big, 37 BST cats will put a big dent in that, if not devour it. Wow!

I've been luring mine in with the planted hosts, Parsley, Rue, Fennel, etc, Then buying fresh Parsley to take them in and feed them. It is really saving my planted hosts. Plus I take them in so the Wasps will be forced to eat the abundant supply of webworms, maybe even forget how delicious the BSTs are. Ha ha... (right). So I take in all the cats I spend a lot of money on host plants for these days.

Earlier I mentioned the Sulphurs are egging my Cassia.. So I went out a while ago and found about 13 of them. It was getting dark, so I will check again in the morning.

:-Deb

I can just cut a piece of the leaf off? That is great! I thought it might get too dry and crunchy before they hatched. I see wet paper towel. Oh, that is gonna be so much easier.
chris

Yeah Chris there is an inch of wet floral foam under the paper towel too. It's so hot here, I thought maybe this would help keep the leaf bits moist until they hatch. I am watching them like babies in a nursery so I can put a couple fresh leaves when they do.

:-D

I neglected to mention there are about ten rue plants at the ranch...but the majority of cats are on two plants...am sure they will wander over to the other plants if they strip the one they're on. The rue I have here in the city is spent. Perhaps I'll drive out to a local flea market during the week and see if I can find more.

The cassias I got in trade are doing so well. Even the one that was a teeny tiny seedling is already about 7 inches tall. I have them growing on my kitchen window sill...one is already almost 18 inches tall and the others are getting there. Would move them outside but am afraid the sulphurs would get to them and strip them bare before they are big enough to recover.

The soil was dry so trying to dig out the snout bean vines was tough. Am going back next week in search of seed pods...hopefully it will be easier to grow those...and if they grow like beans do...they should grow fast under good soil conditions.

~ Cat

What kind of Sulphurs are you talking about, exactly? Not the ones up here I guess, because we would grow cabbage, ornamental Cabbage, and flowering Kale for them.

Suzy

The ones I have are Cloudless Sulphurs Suzy.

:-D

Cat, I looked up the White-Striped Longtail Skipper and it said white eggs turning yellow. But no other description of the eggs. That doesn't look like a butterfly egg...but who knows?

Is this one? Sorry it's sort of fuzzy - he was too close to me.

Today I saw a blackswallowtail laying eggs. Or an Eastern Tiger ST, Black form, it all happened so fast!

But she was oviposting right before my eyes! She laid on egg on some fennel and one or maybe more on some parsley. I SAW her ovipost on both, but I swear, I could NOT find the egg on the parsley. I looked and looked and I just now came it to get a magnifying glass. Oh, my the wasps are all around though. I don't think those eggs have a chance here.

I collected the egg on the fennel and it's in a ready-cage, but I have to go out and comb through the parsely now so I can't take a pic of my set up. Meanwhile, how soon until the egg hatches to a cat?

Who -oo, sort of. I am disappointed I can't find the parsely egg.

Suzy

The eggs on these look huge, but I assure you they are tiny-tiny-TINY. LOL!

Unidentified Swallowtail on parsley.

Suzy

Unidentified Swallowtail egg on bronze parsley. This was the only egg I actualy saw laid. It was from a black swallowtail butterfly with white spots on its body. LOL. Sorry, It just went so fast!

Suzy