DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 57

Zebra Longwing resting for a moment.

Melanie and Elphaba, you are a comfort. Thank you for your own stories. It helps.

Beautiful Red Admiral. Beautiful Zebra Longwing, as well. I've never seen either of those bf's in my zone.

Martha

Martha,
Well, I'm joining you in the feeling bad dept. I've got the 3 Monarchs left in their chrysalids, but the last two cat's died yesterday. It was weird cause unlike the other 3 who died overnight, these acted weird for a few days. They only ate a little and didn't seem to grow by leaps and bounds like the others. This was my first try at bringing them in and I feel terrible that I lost so many. All my milkweed outside is froze back, so I'm keeping the 4 new potted plants I bought to feed them on the screened porch so they can't lay any more eggs till I get my seedlings up and going. I've got 12 seedlings and so should have enough come warm weather. I've also got Passionflower seeds going, Dill, Fennel, 3 Spice Bush about 6 inches tall so they should take off when the weather warms up..2 cassia trees, and Pipevines going.
I hope the ones in their chrysalids are going to be ok...so far I haven't seen anything that looks weird on them.

Sorry that happened Martha, but you DID find her in time. I too have made a few bad judgement calls with my cats and bfs. It is sad when it happens, but as Melanie says, you will never forget the lesson.

mjs....It may be that the nursery plants had been sprayed with pesticide. I didn't think about that until you said they were lethargic acting. I had the same thing happen before I got my own plants going. You can't fault them though because they are in the plant business and they couldn't sell chewed up plants. I forget who it was that was telling that they went to the nursery and someone was pulling off cats from plants and stepping on them. Others have said they go around looking at plants and collecting the cats and putting them on the plant they are buying. So we do what we can and try to educate as many people as we can. You know even though some "organic" nurseries don't spray, their growers may. Hopefully your others will emerge without problems and you will have a good memory to share with us soon.

Nice RA and ZLW pics, Elphaba and Gardenpom.

I've had Polydamas cats act like that, too and it turned out it was parasitized. This nasty wasp came out of the chrysalis. I've seen the wasps in the yard but I never realized they were the ones that would attack my caterpillar friends. Now that they've been IDed, I've got my wasp spray and my shoe ready.

Melanie

I've only tried to bring in two Monarch cats and both of them died. So much for them being easy to raise!

Don't be discouraged. Sometimes you just get a bad batch. Either they've been parasitized or picked up the OE disease. Sometimes we lose entire groups of cats at the museum. Like when they Monarch cats all had this weird fungus growing on them. Sometimes these things just happen. It is better if you can get them as eggs or when they're still very small; there seems to be less chance of something going wrong then.

Melanie

The earlier you get them the better the chance for a successful turnout. I raised 46 cats last year, and only lost two. I kept track of how many I took in as eggs or first instars and how many were larger cats. The success rate was 95.6% for small ones and only 84% for the larger cats. But even then in natural circumstances the articles tell us only 2% of them make it. So I have to try, and it is so rewarding when you have a sucessful release.

Hello Martha,

Oh my...But you were still able to rescue it!!! You will have many more but with happy memories to help you forget about this one. The other ladies here have said so many helpful things here, I'm at a loss for what to add...
Spring is a coming! Hugs! :)
Susan

I was wondering today if I should cut back the Incense vines, since almost all the foliage is gone. So I was looking at this little sprig of foliage which for some reason was still there. And found little 1st instar GF cats on it. Last night was yet another mild freeze here. I wondered, why the mama butterfly laid eggs on that little piece of Incense foliage instead of the more abundant P. caerulea? Go figure! And I released a small GF butterfly that emerged yesterday.

Gulf Frit from today.

Beautiful Monarch came to eat and lay eggs.

I think my motherhood is over for the winter. I could not find Patty anywhere in the GH today. She needed to be lifted up daily and placed on her flowers to sup. I spent an hour searching the GH, even looked inside all my containers and pot plants. I am sad about this, but all of you have been so supportive and comforting, maybe I'm not the devil after all. Needless to say, the experience I gained is irreplaceable. Thank you to everyone.

Sheila, I thought about the possibiliity of pesticides on the pot plants I bought for Patty. I told myself I had no choice and I must dismiss that thought because there were no other flowers available in the dead of winter. This is one more advantage of belonging to Daves. We can grow everything from our own seeds and feel safe that our plants are chemical-free.

Mjs, I do hope your seedlings bear fruit as soon as possible. I completely understand your dilemma.

Sheila, you achieved an outstanding success rate . Interesting fact from you and Melanie regarding the better ratio in raising eggs/first instars vs. older cats. Somebody ought to write a book recording our successes and failures. Marna? LOL

Right, SusanLouise, spring is coming soon! I don't think I ever want to parent eggs, cats, or bf's here again after late October. I'll wait til summertime to do my good deeds.

Gardenpom, nothing like beautiful photographs of beautiful butterflies to do good to the soul. Isn't it amazing the inspiration we get from a single butterfly. I always feel honored when one chooses to come to my garden.

Martha

MW,
Could Patty be under one of the benches? Your experience reminds me of what I discovered one day under one of my barn eves. I found a Giant Yellow Swallowtail stuck in some cobwebs. I guess it had gone up there to roust overnight. So I got the ladder out and cleaned all those cobwebs out so that couldn't happen again, and I try to stay on top of it now.
I also became concerned about using Nicotana (sp?) plants after I read that gnats stick to them...that's good, but would the BF's stick to them too?????

As for pesticides do you think they can be washed off? I did wash the plants, (unfortunately after the fact), but wondering if they may be systemic. For now those plants are staying on the screened porch till I feel they are safe. My seedlings are growing fast and hopefully we won't have too many more cold snaps .

While out cleaning the horse stalls yesterday I saw 4 Sulpurs, a Zebra LW and and briefly a BST..., didn't have the camera out side...80+ degree temp so they ( and I) were really enjoying the day...course we have 30's coming again for the next few nights.

So far the 3 in their chrysalis look ok from what I can tell...how long before they emerge (eclose?)

mj

If they are Monarchs it only takes 10 days, isn't that what you have? On the swallowtails it is a crap shoot, during normal season it would be two weeks but it could be months in the cold because they overwinter.

The first one formed it's "J" on the 21st...so a few days I guess..

Got some work for me there, do ya Martha!?

Actually, I'll be doing a spring article… stay tuned!

Hey guys, this thread is getting long and I have a new picture so let's keep this up over here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/947471/

Melanie