Congrats, congrats - those butterflies are a sight for sore eyes this time of year!
I don't know how long it takes for them to lay their eggs. Do you have passionvines now? Mine are all dead, at least on top.
ZLW males are known for mating with females immediately upon emergence, sometimes even forcing a chrysalis open to mate!
Horny little buggers, huh? :)
Sherry

Hi Miss Sherry- Funny yes I have seen them trying to mate with a chrysalis, in pictures anyway. I had wondered if they would since I held them for a couple days awaiting nicer weather. Anyway have lots of passionvine and you can bet I'll be out there looking for eggs. Ive been taking cuttings to feed these guys and there are lots of spots of new growth too now for ovipositing. Warmer weather would sure be nice though!!
kelly

Glad to know that they are busy this early in the season. I am surprised with this cold weather we are having. I guess you are south enough and close enough to the water to keep it warmer. Do you normally have them year round?

Last year I had only a few ZLWs, down from hundreds a couple years ago. Do you have Passiflora Incarnata or Maypops? I am looking for cuttings to root for it.

Hi Mary,
This is only my second year of this BF farming, but last year seemed we had more ZLW in Dec/Jan than any other time. Which is not saying alot, as I did not find very many eggs/cats, compared with other species last year. But we are off to a roaring start with 11 ZLW released since 1/1/10. Yeah a little warmer here which is not saying much the way things have been going.

I have corkystem passionvine (passiflora suberosa, I believe), and a red one that I don't know the name of, that they have done well on. Mostly use the corkystem though. Hope to see lots more, they are so beautiful! But I don't need to tell you.
Hope we get some normal weather soon!
kelly

I have the Suberosa but they didn't seem to like it. I have Careula, Incense which they did use, Amethyst which nothing laid on. Gulf Frits LOVED the Suberosa but not my ZLWs. Year before last I had Black Death with so many ZLWs. Made me think my vine was infected. Got rid of all of it but the little vine I had last year didn't thrive.

Does your Suberosa grow on a fence or on the ground?

One reason I am so excited with this group is that I had the same problem (I believe we discussed on here) with so many ZLW cats dying or chrysalis never hatching.
Also out walking this morning I got to thinking about this one house which seems to be abandoned, where there are some passiflora springing up near the street. If memory serves, there used to be a passionvine growing in a hedge that got chopped. Arent maypops the one that is known for sending up shoots all over? Wonder if thats what it is. Might grab one one of these times...
I have suberosa all over, growing on scrub palms, in with some jasmine on a fence, in with some bougainvillea, and in pots growing on shelves in the pool cage, all over the place!

Maypops does send up runners and will appear the next year where it wasn't the past year. Incense is very similiar, even the flowers are similiar but Maypops has 5 leaflets and Incense has 3. I guess you would call them lobes rather than leaflets. The flowers are similar in color but the center is different. I will have to pull some pics to make sure. My friend has Incense but I prefer Maypops.

I haven't seen a butterfly in a couple of weeks and that was just a poor frit that must have froze or starved. The only things blooming are salvias and some tithonia and some cleome that I have in pots. Unfortunately they are inside on my porch so that I don't lose them. Guess I should drag them out for some sunshine at least.

I'm starting to actually believe spring might actually come this year. (Even though now they are saying cold again the end of the week. sigh.)

{{gwi:453128}}

Yes, we're supposed to have another freeze, this one light - gross! I'm SO tired of cold weather!
The picture is beautiful!!!
Sherry

Update - the girl above started laying eggs the next day (after the photo was taken), they started hatching a couple of days ago!
I usually release them right away, but the BAD weather prompted me to hold on, and let them fly around in the pool cage for a few days (bringing them in at night). And they mated and left eggs!

Oh how funny!! Thanks for the giggle. :o) I have read about how the males will pounce upon the poor females, even before their wings have dried. I raised Monarchs in a Butterfly Farm Terrarium on my porch last year. It now sits in my garage and contains 9 Black SWT chrysalides. Those crazy cats pupated last July. I am expecting them to wait until April to eclose. I hope that a warm spell doesn't coax them out before there is any food around.

Hi bandjzmom! I am in SWFlorida and we have not had anything close to a warm spell, so if you are in Z7 you probably are safe for awhile.
I have several giant swallowtails who have not dared eclose during this cold winter (in "normal" winter weather they will come out any ol' time here.) Some polydamus swallowtails too, which pupated maybe in October or November. I didn't even know they knew about "overwintering!"
I guess the zebras and julias are not familiar with the overwintering concept either but at least there are plenty of nectar sources, although not many other butterflies, and not the best weather. Oh well all we can do is send them on their way and wish them well. Looking forward to April and hope those black swallowtails hold out for you!
Kelly