DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 57

Mellie,
I've got 9 Monarch cat's inside right now...3 of which I found yesterday! My milkweed got nipped even w/ covering it. I'm gonna have to call Debary Nursery to see if they have any more cause I think I'm going to run out. Two of the cats look like they are going to form their "J"...hanging off the top of the cage and silky stuff around them.
Don't know what I'm going to do if the nursery doesn't have plants cause I've only got two more small/med. size plants left. I picked some of the "frosted" leaves and some of the stems...the bigger ones are eating the steams but the tiny ones seem to want the leaves.
Hope I can get them by.
mj

MWperry...you mean Dillard's Dept. Store? What department? I've never seen anything like that sold at Dillards. Great if I could get one!

Found this one online at Dillards, is this the one you have?
http://www.dillards.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=301&langId=-1&storeId=301&productId=500725555&Ntk=all&Nty=1&N=1000301&Ntt=microscope&search.x=37&search.y=7&R=01831434

Mellie,
I hoping I don't find anymore for now !!! Emergency housing still! Good thing the nursery had more plants as mine that are in the ground are all "mush" this morning !

I believe Martha had the same microscope I have. It may not be on the online Dillard's. Dillard's had it out in their stores before Christmas with other gift-type stuff (I found it near the men's department by a mall entrance) and then had all that stuff with deep discounts after Christmas. Love those after-holiday sales! It's fun to play with...uses the computer screen for the image. Mine is the same one as on this other site:
http://www.opticsplanet.net/carson-digital-microscope-camera-epix.html

My milkweed are mushy now as well. The cats still ate the mushy leaves I fed them yesterday, but I still have the fresher leaves I picked stored in my fridge. I haven't volunteered at the museum in a few weeks and I'm afraid what the plants will look like when I return next week. I know they had a tank of Monarchs; there was plenty of milkweed in the gardens but if it all got frosted... Oh, but we did have some in pots in the shade house so hopefully that was okay.

It was 25 degrees here Wednesday night and 31 degrees last night! My bromeliads all made it through and I found a Gulf Frit cat on the passiflora that made it through the cold night. Dad was nice enough to bring in my orchids - except the vanda that finally attached its roots to the oak tree! He used clothespins to wrap it with an old t-shirt. It's nice of my folks to care for my plants and cats while I'm recovering.

Melanie

Well I've got four that have formed their chrysallis, and one more forming his "J", so now I'm down to 5 to feed.
Thank goodness...but they may end up eclosing? out on the porch...that could get interesting.............

That is some pretty rare cold weather for you insn't it Melanie? It has been in the 70s this week and of course I had my last GST emerge today just when it is turning off in the upper 30s tonight. Hopefully it flew south with the wind behind it or at least found a warm shelter for a couple of days. It wouldn't been any good to leave it in the cage since I don't have anything to feed it and it was wanting out bad! God will need to protect them.

Yes, we need nice hotels for butterflies and cats....with room service butterfly meals!
"Yes, ma'am, we have all kinds of fresh host plants and nectar plants on the menu! And a huge warm terrarium to flutter around in! We also can schedule your migration south to a warmer climate on the butterfly plane, if you should need to go there"
Whee!

Sorry, double post.

This message was edited Jan 24, 2009 1:18 AM

We get into the 30s often during the winter, but I haven't seen 20s in a few years. the last couple of years we've had frosts, but this is the first freeze I can remember in quite a while. I try to look on the bright side; hopefully, this will be a good year for my daffodils!

When I was reading about Monarchs in Mexico, it said they can withstand freezing temps as long as their wings don't get wet. That would cause ice crystals to form and prevent them from flying. So I think your GST is doing fine.

As for nectar plants, we still have some weeds blooming. And in a nod to using native plants, my Tampa Vervain http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/53076/ looks exactly the same as it did last week. it's my favorite native, endangered Florida plant! The Gulf Frits tend to favor it, as well. I also have a random tassel flower in my bromeliad garden. Sometimes weeds are ok I guess. Oh, and Mom's pansies of course came through like champs. Come May they'll be wilting and drooping, but for now it's their time to shine!

Not to much in the way of butterflies right now, except for the mysterious Mommy Monarch that comes and lays eggs when I'm not there to chase her off. But I did see a woodpecker the other day when checking for frost damage. He was making such a racket! He was on the telephone pole and it sounded much louder than when he's on the oak tree. Also, we had five sandhill cranes http://davesgarden.com/guides/birdfiles/go/37/ roaming our yard. My brother was out there taking pictures of them. I like to chase them around; I know I shouldn't, LOL! I keep thinking I could corral them and tie them up like a dog in my yard and use them as natural pest control. They seemed to find plenty of bugs to eat in the lawn. Plus, it would keep them out of traffic. We already had one get hit on the corner of my yard this year.

Melanie

I looked at the 10 day forecast and it's supposed to be "normal' weather for us here...70's day/50's night. So that's good news for emerging BF's and my heating bill.

I was feeling pretty good today so I went to my favorite native plant nursery to see if she had any milkweed (just in case). Hers was about as fried as mine, so it looks like I'm going to have to poach some from the museum. Anyway, I bought a geranium and two rue plants. I'd been meaning to get some rue but hadn't gotten around to it. I was pleasantly surprised to find some. By the way, that stuff really stinks up the car!

Apparently, the nursery has the market on all the butterflies right now. Of course, I didn't have my camera so I naturally saw some real beauties. First, there was a female Monarch hovering around the milkweed. Then, I saw a male Queen! I haven't seen a Queen in months. I looked really close to make sure it wasn't a Viceroy, too. There was also a beautiful sulphur (probably Orange-Barred) flying around; it was huge! Finally, I saw a little skipper and a Phaeon Crescent. Haven't seen a Crescent in a long time either! They were all favoring the purple osteospermum she had blooming.

So we still have butterflies here in FL; they're just a little more sparse than usual. Oh, I saw a Gulf Frit when I was waiting at a red light. And there's three GF cats on the passiflora. Well, maybe four. My Monarch cats are turning into chrysalids which is nice since I'm running out of food.

That's the report from Tampa!

Melanie

Nice Mel, that's a way better report than from Illinois where it is 5º.

Mrs_Ed, you have my sincere sympathy. I've only experienced 5° once in my lifetime and I shiver just thinking about it. And such cold in zone 9B! The nurseries will probably do well there this spring! I've kept some of my milkweed in fairly decent shape this winter by covering or bringing some in (either way gets pretty old when it's repeated too many times). But that's just so I'll have some alive in the spring. We only have sulfurs and GFs left...and a single snout shows up every time it's pretty warm.

Hey Linda, when I was in Mexico, the overnight low here in Illinois was -34! And that was without wind chill. How's that for excellent timing.

Oh, I just really want spring. Maybe we should start up a pool to see when my Black Swallowtails will come out.

Three of the Monarchs formed their chrysalids, a 4th one started to and then it looks like he died!! Also 2 of the other smaller cat's died. I'm wondering if the new milkweed plant may have had some pesticide on it...but there are still two more cat's that are ok...so don't know...but was sad to see them die.
Saw a Sulhur yesterday, poor thing was flying around looking for something to eat!! Only thing I have left w/ any blooms is a red trailing verbena in a pot, a pretty sparse Penta, and few blooms on the potted milkweeds and some potted impatiens that were in the barn during the cold. I don't think there is a lot of nectar on any right now but maybe with things warming up some it will be.

mjs.... They may have been parasitized. The ones that made their chrysalis could have been also, but let's hope now. It is sad but unfortunately that is the way of nature. A fly and a wasp that are super tiny will lay their eggs under the skin of the caterpillar. When their eggs hatch they begin eating the "non-essential" insides of the cat; that however is the makings of the butterfly. They may die earlier as your's did, or go on to make a chrysalis then it gets black spots and mushy and never emerges as a butterfly; the wasp or fly hatches out. Here is one I had last year. It was from a caterpillar that was in a third instar when I collected it. I figure the earlier I can collect and cage them the better chance I have of getting them before the wasp or fly does.

MJ, last summer I tried to bring in two monarch cats and both of them died. Both were pretty far along (don't know what instar). Made me really not want to try and raise monarchs. I'll just be more diligent looking for eggs next year and hope that they are okay.

If I spot a larger cat, I still bring it in. I figure that if it is a host to the wasp larvae and dies, I will see to it that they also die by placing the dead cat in the freezer for a few days. These are sold at farm stores as a safe alternative to kill caterpillars that damage the food crops. Unfortunately they can't tell the difference in good and bad cats. I can't help but wonder if the introduction of this insect isn't why we have seen less of our native butterflies in recent years. Here is just one of the sites selling them.

http://www.marshallgrain.com/marshall/dept.asp?dept_id=3342
http://www.asktheexterminator.com/flies/Tachinid_Fly.shtml this one pictures the fly.


This message was edited Jan 25, 2009 11:45 AM

Very interesting, Sheila. Those companies purport to have beneficial insects, but they certainly are not beneficial to our cats, are they. I won't trust anyone selling such now. Thanks for that vital info. Of course, there are companies selling lady bugs. I recently read that imported lady bugs won't stay the season through. But if they lay eggs, their offspring will hang around forever.

Do ya'll remember my telling about the two chrysalises I put in my garage to keep them cold in hopes they would not eclose this winter? Well, please note: I WAS WRONG. It is as someone posted above that some BFs might be programmed to emerge after a certain amount of cold time. That was right. My Eastern Black Swallowtail emerged three days ago. I panicked and did the only thing I could think of. Put her in the GH. It is terribly cold and there are no flowers to be found. So, I scrounged up juicy bits of nectarine, grapes, and butterfly brew that I made last summer. Neither the nearby local nursery nor Walmart nor Lowe's had any flowers. My little BF lived on my concoction alone for two days.

A flash hit my head today. Kroger! Yep, they had a variety of flowering potted plants for Valentines. Being unsure which had the best nectar, I chose Kolanchoe and daffodils. They worked. The BF got busy with her little proboscis and drank and drank and drank! She like both plants. I sprinkled tiny drops of water on the Kolanchoe flowers, and she loved that too.

I must tell you that for some reason she cannot fly. She flaps her wings and that raises her up a little, but not enough. She loves me. She can't wait to hop on my finger when I approach her. Perhaps she knows her food with follow!? Anyhoo, fate has it that she will live out her life in the GH. Someone said BF's only live two-three weeks.

Enter -- "Patricia, the Black Swallowtail"!

Martha

This message was edited Jan 26, 2009 7:48 PM

aww, how sweet. Sorry she can't fly, but so sweet that she loves you.

I can't help but wonder what kind of temps your GH gets to, Martha. Most butterflies need a pretty warm temp to fly properly. So maybe it's not warm enough for flight.

Linda, it stays 70-75° in the day. 65-70° at night. Do you think that's warm enough?

Martha

Hello Sheila,
Love your Sulphur pic...with beautiful pink edges!!!

And Hello Everyone :)
Here's a pic of one of our Monarch Cats from last summer. When it went into it's chrysalis stage on our Coral Honeysuckle vine, it wanted to be in disguise ...LOL

Oh, yes, that's warm enough, Martha! I was just hoping the poor thing wasn't flying because of cold. Oh, I notice sulfurs land on the ground fairly often when the sun's out in winter. Maybe they stay warmer by landing and absorbing the sun's heat that way.

Butterflies have to have an internal temperature of 85 degrees to fly. They can fly when it's colder outside, but you'll see them basking in the sun to warm themselves first. That's also why they have furry bodies - it keeps their muscles warmer. I think I read somewhere that moths are furrier because they fly at night and can't rely on the sun to warm them up.

When I was at the museum a few weeks ago, I was checking for cats in the shade house and I saw a Monarch butterfly. It was still very cool outside so I got it to climb on my finger (I think they can feel our body heat) and I walked it to the flight cage where it would have lots of food and friends. One of the volunteers saw me walking in with it and gasped, "How do you do that?" I felt like telling her I was magic, but I explained about how they can't fly too well when it's cold and that's why the butterflies in the flight cage press themselves up against the screen to absorb the UV rays. I can usually sneak up on a basking butterfly and get better photos when it's cooler outside, too!

Melanie

Thanks SusanLouise, it was a treat to get a chance to see anything this time of year! Nice photo of your Monarch. Can you tell me what the black thread looking thing around it was? Do you know if the Monarch actually emerged?

So Martha, maybe you can just put her under a light to warm up.

Sheila,

Well, at least you didn't say I drew that on...lol
I love that pic...what are the odds that it happens...when a cat goes into chrysalis stage and doesn't quite shed it's skin/wrapper from being a cat? That black thread-like "thing" is one of it's (antennae?...it has a pair on either end when it's a cat). Initially, I got a toothpick to see if it would just "pop off"...but the entire ("mustache"...lol) became "glued" on the entire length...or maybe a better way of putting it...it became a part of the chrysalis!

I'll post a few pics in order of the Monarch emerging. You will notice that the leaf the chrysalis is on had been moved. I taped it up to the top of the bamboo trellis because we had a wind storm that bent the leaf and the chrysalis was against one of the bamboo poles. I taped the leaf up to allow the Monarch to be able to have room to emerge...

Anyhoo, here's the series of a few pics (too bad I couldn't post them on the same post)...
This pic shows the antennae is still there...

Here's when the monarch was emerging...
You can still see the left side with the antennae there...and the indentation on the right side of where that part was...

Here's a pic from a distance...

How lovely this pic is...the Coral Honeysuckle blooms were completely open the day the Monarch emerged...Beautiful!

It was a male!!!! How fitting considering it had a mustache...LOL
I enjoyed holding it on my finger before it flew off. I'm sure he's in Mexico right now :)
Hope you enjoyed the series of pics...and all turned out fine in the end :)


This message was edited Jan 27, 2009 12:09 PM

Super!!! I was hoping you got to see it emerge. You should post that first picture on bugfiles and note what it was and that it sucessfully emerged. Great set of shots!

Sheila,

Thanks :)
But I thought only certain people (Admin) add to the Bug Files...?

Boo hoo, SusanLouise. Your Monarch is so very beautiful, and the wonderful series of photos makes me sad. Here is my lamentable story posted moments ago in the Mid-South forum:

I feel terrible -- awful. I went to the GH a moment ago and called out for Patricia (I call her Patty). She was no where to be found until I looked toward the visqueen on one side of the GH. There she was, stuck on a fly trap sheet I had hung to catch gnats and fruit flies. All of her legs and both wings were stuck in the glue. She was wiggling to free herself, which made the situation even worse. I can't describe the horror. I clutched her thorax and slowly pulled outward. She finally came free, but with one part of her leg and a print of her beautiful wings left on the sheet. She looks as though she had gone to battle (and she had). The fine little hairs torn from her wings make her look faded and tattered. I don't know what kind of pain neurons BFs have, but she didn't seem to react to the missing part of one leg when I set her on the Kolanchoe flowers. She was ravenous. She drank and drank the nectar and moved all over the flowers, falling once or twice. I stayed with her to catch her in my hand and place her back on the flowers til she became still. Then I left the GH, but not before pealing off that nasty fly trap sheet.

Shame on Martha. I was aware of the danger of a fly trap. I didn't think she could get up that high in the GH. I feel like a tormenter, a murderer. If I hadn't found her today, she would have died there. This has been a miserable experience, and I think Patty might have been better off if I'd left her outside on the parsley when she was a first instar.

Martha

Anyone can add images to the plant and bug files. Just go to the page of the insect and scroll down to where it says "add a picture of this bug".

Oh Martha, it's ok. I've actually had butterflies (I think it was a Gulf Frit) born with part of a leg missing and they seemed fine. Butterflies are used to losing parts of themselves; I can't tell you how many I've seen that had nearly all of one wing detached. The important thing is that you got to her in time. I'm sure it was still far better than being hit by a car or eaten by a bird. We've all made mistakes in raising bfs. I once shut the lid of my critter keeper on a Zebra ST cat and smushed him to death. He still had his little stinkhorns out in protest (sniff, sniff). So don't think you're the only one that's messed up. The important thing is that I've never done it again, just as you will never make this mistake again.

Melanie

Martha, you are probably suffering more than the butterfly, but I'm sorry you had the whole experience. I tried to rescue a dog from the freeway one time and it saw me park my car on the feeder road and took off into traffic. It was killed instantly by an 18 wheeler. I still feel horrible about it. I would have felt horrible if I'd left it there trying to cross the freeway too. No people were hurt and the truck that hit the dog didn't even slow down. Oh well. Can't blame yourself for trying to do the right thing.

I went for a walk at the arboretum yesterday and saw this Red Admiral.