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Butterfly Garden
misssherryg

I Can't Believe It!!

7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago

I saw a medium or large, black colored butterfly flying through the kitchen window, so I looked outside the big picture window to see if the black swallowtail was back - she wasn't. Then I went outside to see if there were any red-spotted purple eggs on the small wild black cherry trees that I'm letting grow up - no eggs there. As an afterthought, I checked out the pipevines - eggs!

Here's one cluster -



I've found four clusters so far. These eggs are all red and dark, look fertile. The yellowish eggs I brought from the country have never hatched, obviously aren't fertile.

Hattiesburg has turned out to not be quite the butterfly dessert I had thought it was. There aren't as many butterflies nectaring here as I had in the country, but at least they're here, even if their numbers are smaller. I'm really looking forward to seeing if the MW assassin bugs try to get these or not - if they do, which I suspect they will, then I'll be raising a lot of PVS cats! Even if these cats aren't bothered by predators, I'll raise some myself.

Sherry

Featured Answer
  • 7 years ago

    YAY!!! Sherry, that is so exciting! And do watch out for the Milkweed Assassin bugs because I think they sucked out the pipevine eggs on one of my vines. AND 2 of the Polydamus eggs I found on that same vine. The pipevine eggs I left out on the other vine, which had no MW Assassin bugs, hatched and are hopefully about to pupate.


    See Suburbia can be nurturing place for nature, if people just tried to make it so. The butterflies of Hattiesburg lucky to have you. :)


    Anna


    Comments (15)

    • 7 years ago

      Thanks, Anna! I live a few blocks from downtown Hattiesburg in the Historic District. The bustling part of Hburg is a good bit west of here, where Hburg has grown, but here, we have lots of big trees and shrubs and not NEARLY as much traffic as they do in the new areas. There's not nearly as much concrete here, either, and there is at least one other butterfly/caterpillar enthusiast that lives one block over - he's my dentist! :)


      Sherry

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    • 7 years ago

      Wow. You really are having a fantastic year! Lucky you!

    • 7 years ago

      Yes, much better than I thought!


      Sherry

    • 7 years ago

      Don’t forget to share your luck in pictures!

    • 7 years ago

      Three pipevine swallowtail egg clusters have hatched today! I brought them onto the front (screened in) porch, and put them in a big caterpillar raising cage. I'll probably bring the rest in tomorrow. I'll post pictures soon!


      Sherry

    • 7 years ago

      That’s great! Looked at mine today. Still nothing.

    • 7 years ago

      I am down to feeding pieces of vine, no leaves left, to get the last few of the ones here to pupate. I took the late bloomers out of the original enclosures. I put them in a make shift enclosure so they would stop eating their "chrysalided" siblings.


      Have fun, Sherry! I hope you have lots of pipe vine!!!! :)


      Anna


    • 7 years ago

      I have a good bit of pipevine, Anna, here and on the country property. I'll probably wind up bringing all of them to the porch to raise myself, being such a caterpillar raising addict! If I don't have enough pipevine leaves here, I'll take some of them to finish up in the country. Even if that doesn't happen, I plan to release some adults down there.


      This is a poor picture of one of the little clusters -


      Pipevine swallowtails actually like stems, Anna. My cats used to sometimes leave good leaves to feed on the end of a vine. So, as long as you've got some type of aristolochia for them, they'll be fine.

      Sherry


    • 7 years ago

      Great photo, Sherry!! It's good you have more pipe vine on the new property. They'll be munching away soon. :)


      Anna


      MissSherry thanked annabananaflzone9b
    • 7 years ago

      I brought in two more small clusters yesterday afternoon, so I've got a good many in the big cage. I went out again and found another very small cluster that I left outside and this group of eggs, not so small -


      When you get pipevine swallowtails, you really get pipevine swallowtails!!


      Sherry

    • 7 years ago

      I think from the one Pipevine butterfly visit that I saw, she laid about 150 eggs. In just one visit of a few minutes. Amazing!!


      How long do Pipevine's stay in the chrysalis?


      Anna


    • 7 years ago

      Sherry, by "some type" (in "as long as you've got some type of aristolochia for them, they'll be fine"), you do not mean some species do you?

    • 7 years ago

      I meant even if you're down to the nubs, you'll be fine. Unless, of course, they eat the nubs, too!


      Sherry

    • 7 years ago

      They grow fast, don't they?




      Sherry

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