yay! :) Love it, love it, LOVE IT!

Not only a good caterpillar day but a busy day too.

When I went out to the garden to get some more orange and ptelea trifoliata leaves for the GST cats, I found another smallish cat! I brought it into the cage with the small cats - I don't know how I missed him, he's not that small!
MissSherry

Woo-hoo!

You know, our eyes do get tired, MissSherry. :)

Yesterday, Bobbi (new member here) came to my classroom with her little boy. It was exciting to meet another forum member in person! She was coming to pick up a little Monarch caterpillar. She had bought some Milkweed recently and was interested in raising a Monarch. She had also found some mystery eggs on her MW so I told her to bring the leaves with her. They did end up being Monarch eggs (yay !). I had brought a few of each instar Monarch cat for her to look at and had put them out on a paper towel. One was a baby that had just eclosed earlier in the morning. I told her I knew there was a new baby in there somewhere. I almost missed it! Good thing she saw it...whew! :P

That's great to hear MissSherry.

Weather has been crappy here for over a week. Still have standing water in the yard from the 2+ inches of rain 2 days ago. The ground was already saturated before that rain.

I haven't found any monarch cats in 4 days and have seen very few eggs. The weather is supposed to turn to the better tomorrow though. :-)

randy

Yes, my old eyes are weak these days, CalSherry! I wore the same glasses for 10 years, but had to get a new pair to increase the strength in the reading part!
I'm sorry you haven't found any more monarch cats, Randy. I hear on the news that the weather that's leaving you is heading this way - we need the rain, so I'm not griping.
I got a picture of the leaf roll with the big green spicebush cat in it -
{{gwi:470306}}
I saw an old, ragged looking RSP laying more eggs on some cherry in my yard. It's probably the same one, since she's obviously aged - the old girl has left me a lot of cats!
MissSherry

I found another eight-spotted forester cat this morning, but decided to leave it on the VC. I have the one I am raising, but just in case something goes wrong, I'll let the other one do its own thing.

I did see a black swallowtail yesterday, nectaring on a bearded IRIS of all things!

Congrats on all your cats, MissSherry!

Susan

My milkweed is starting to show little gnawed spots...gosh, tdogmom, I wonder why! :) :) I'm thrilled!

Been seeing some monstrously huge cats that I think might be buckeye cats...got some hungy, hungry birds out there that are making some dents in the oak caterpillars, whatever they are....

Whee! It's SPRING!

MissSherry do you leave your cats outside to fend for themselfs or do you pretect them.I dont know what to do this year last year I keep them pretected mostly but Im thinking I should maybe let nature do its thing it just seem so be so unfair to the butterfly they have so many enemeys.

I do a variety of things, Angie. I rarely bring in eggs or hatchlings to raise myself in a cage, because the leaf they're on tends to wilt and/or dry up before they can eat it all - trying to move a hatchling onto a fresh leaf is practically impossible and dangerous to the cat. When I put a fresh leaf in the water pick or whatever I'm using next to the old leaf, they usually just stay on the old leaf, which drives me crazy! Also, I don't have a problem with hatchlings or eggs getting eaten by wasps or other predators, and, for whatever reason, my cats don't get parasitzed too often. The only cats I can think of off the top of my head that get parasitized often are tobacco hornworms and cherry dagger moths - I don't raise those myself. The age/instar that I bring them in depends on the type of cat it is. I bring giant swallowtails in early, because they get preyed on while they're still pretty little - I'd guess they're ?second instar cats when I put them in the cage. One thing about GST host plant leaves - they all last a good while in a water pick or other container with water in it.
Most of the red-spotted purples outside are getting to the size where I'll be bringing them in to raise myself, about second? or ?third instar. They're getting to the size where predators find them tasty.
I leave spicebush swallowtails outside until they're practically ready to pupate. Since they stay in their leaf roll during their whole caterpillar life, only coming out to eat and scurrying back in, they're well protected in the leaf - since chrysalids are in danger, too, from various critters, including ants, it helps to have the chrysalid protected, plus I get to see the new butterflies and have the pleasure of releasing them!
I leave palamedes swallowtails out until about the ?third instar, then bring them in, which reminds me, I need to get one on a redbay by the front porch tomorrow.
How many sulphurs I bring in to raise myself just depends on the amount of cage space I've got left. Since sleepy oranges, little yellows and cloudless sulphurs are so abundant, if I never protected any, they'd do alright, but I enjoy raising some myself.
It's totally variable with pipevine swallowtails, since they're the one caterpillar/chrysalid that predators seem to hate, at least around here. I never bring them in before about the second instar, if I bring them in at all. I find lots of PVS chrysalids in odd places all around my house, plus every spring when I cut back dead vine growth in my garden, I find lots of empty chrysalids, where they went through all their life stages outside successfully. Same way with gulf frits. GFs occasionally get eaten by predators, but not too often, and, since they're so common, I just bring them in when I have the space. I always find space for a good many, because I love raising them - same with variegated frits.
With American ladies, if the cudweed they're on might get mowed, I bring them in early, if not, I wait until late, like the third or fourth instar. I bring tiger swallowtails - those I'm lucky enough to find - in immediately, probably because I'm so excited to find them, and red cherry stays fresh a long time in a water pick.
Now if I ever get zebra swallowtails, I'll probably build them their own castle! :)
MissSherry

Just came inside after a glorious day, and my aristolochia is being MUNCHED! There must be at least a dozen cats of various sizes and stages out there, eating away.

Hope the birds leave them alone....there's not a whole lot of foliage to keep them covered and it's disappearing fast...

I hope you've got enough aristolochia to keep them covered AND fed! :)
I went to the Gulfport Lowe's to get some more chicken manure today and saw some blue/purple porterweed for sale - couldn't pass it up, I'm such a plantaholic! I need a 12 step program!
I got a little, inexpensive lawn mower at Walmart to mow the grasses that pop up inside my fence, which is my yard, and also the various weeds and grasses between the beds in my garden - before I mowed, I scoured the cudweed for AL cats and found 4 of them. I brought all 4 into a cage on the front porch to raise myself. I also brought in 4 RSP cats that are big enough now that they're straying from the leaf they hatched on, 'branching out' so to speak. I also brought in the palamedes swallowtail, so now I've got quite a few cats to raise. Two of my GST cats have pupated successfully, and by the size of the other big ones, they'll be doing the same thing soon. I can't believe I got GST chrysalids before I had any AL cats to bring in - quite a switch!
MissSherry

Are you still raising the RA cats, MissSherry? Sometimes, I think the ones that roll themselves up in leaves or make nests are safer, too, than the exposed cats. I wonder if the predators leave the PVS and GFs alone because of their spines? If I was a predator, I wouldn't want to mess with them! LOL!

Guess I best get busy today and clean my cages for the sulphur cats (if they aren't duds like last year). I would like to see their process.

I am beginning to think my false nettle is dead-o. Nothing is up so far from the roots, and I would think it might be showing growth by now.

Susan

Yes, I'm still raising the RA cats, Susan. I peeked inside one of the leaf nests and saw a cat that has grown quite a bit beyond the hatchling stage. I don't know how many cats I have - there are about 5 leaf rolls, but some of them may be empty, the cat having moved to another leaf. After they've grown some more, if I get the opportunity I may take a picture of one of them and post it.
Pipevine swallowtails are reported to be extremely foul tasting and toxic, so much so that a predator will vomit if it eats a PVS cat - aristolochic acid taken in large enough quantities can be fatal to humans, or so I've read. GFs are reportedly bad tasting/toxic also, but I don't think to the same degree as PVS cats.
I'm still not giving up on your false nettles - they're very strange plants, Susan!
MissSherry

12 steps for plantaholics:

1. Acknowledge you have a problem.
2. Budget with scrupulous care.
3. Practice enjoying your yard 'as is' by spending maximum time outdoors.
4. Remind yourself that paths truly are a necessary evil in some places.
5. Chart out your garden 'as is' and then practice filling in the blank spots by researching as many different plants as you might need.
6. Remind yourself of your budget and put the finished plan on a shelf.
7. Avoid nursery portions of stores if at all possible. When purchasing supplies, you can look all you want but you cannot buy even ONE.
8. Remember that excuses come in many forms and stand strong! Forgive yourself past transgressions and prepare to be free.
9. To heck with the other four steps--go buy the darn plants before you go insane, stick 'em in somewhere and ENJOY!

(evilly grinning)

Hehehehe!!
I had to go to Walmart again today to get my husband some medicine, and I needed some potting soil, so I just HAD to go through the plant dept. Well, a couple of red verbenas just GLOWED, and I thought about how great they'd look with the blue porterweed, and, well, you know the rest of the story.
The worrisome thing is I stopped the car and put the plants by my garden before I got to the garage to park, so my husband wouldn't know I had bought some more plants - it's like an alcoholic hiding liquor!
You know how AA members call themselves friends of Bill? I guess he must be the founder of AA. I could start a chapter and y'all could be the friends of MissSherry! :)
MissSherry

Misssherry, you are not alone...When I worked in the nursery, we had some customers who would come in EVERY day.
Especially here in NE where the winters are so long and the summers so short..People go crazy on the first few warm days of spring..

My dream job would be where I could mix them a Martini, and sell them butterfly plants on the side. It's funny how many people come into the restaurant and still ask me planting questions!

I had a guy last week, sitting at the end of the bar, asking me when he should expect to see Cecropias...hehehe.

There is also another saying, "one is too many, and a thousand is never enough". I always go to the nursery with the intention of buying one particular plant. Like the other day, I went to just get a passiflora. I ended up with the Pearly Everlasting and Goldenrod, too. I need to wear blinders, so I can't see anything but the plant I "intend" to get, and won't look at the other ones on the shelves.

Yeah, right! Now, two more plants is not that many, but if I go and get 3 plants every time I visit the nurseries (which is a LOT), I am going to have tons of plants. If I plan to buy 50 plants during the summer, I will end up with 150!

I'm sick, so sick! I am powerless over buying plants and my life is unmanageable!

Maryann, you must talk a lot about butterflies and moths to your customers, no?

Susan