We came from here: The thread "December 2013 Butterflies, Moths & Larva" in Gardening for Butterflies, Birds and Bees forum

Well, it's a new year and I have some new pictures for everyone. Tomorrow and Tuesday it's supposed to get down to 30 in Tampa, which means I should be a couple of degrees cooler (I live in the first suburb north of Tampa)! Luckily, Mom likes to cover all my plants in blankets. I just take care of the orchids and let her do the rest of the garden.

At the museum today, we still had many Zebra Longwings. (These guys are like nearly immortal in the butterfly world. They live up to nine months!



And the Julias are still around.



I had to scoot this Buckeye out of the shade so I could get a decent picture.



Back home, a Cloudless Sulphur was enjoying my plumbago.



This unknown skipper was sunning himself on the porterweed. There were some Long-Tailed Skippers around, too but they were too fast and I was too slow today.



And finally, I caught this Monarch cat who had just finished molting. That's his skin to the left of him.

Thanks for the new thread & the fabulous photos Melanie.

Well, I took this photo on Dec. 19, 2013…



I was becoming quite anxious about the survival of this little one, with the Arctic blast approaching.
As I was out side, pulling in all of my containers into the garage in preparation for the frigid temps, I discovered...





I fear that it may not survive the next couple of frigid days.

I've read that even the Monarchs in Mexico are faced with freezing temps from time to time. The primary thing is for them not to get wet because ice crystals form in their wings. I'll think positive, although a few years ago I lost a Cloudless Sulphur due to the cold. It sucks, but it happens. In the meantime, my mom went on a search around the house and brought in all the Monarch caterpillars she could find so at least our population will continue.

That's good news Melanie! One thing that did make me feel a bit better was that it didn't emerge until after the band of rain had come through, and the clouds had started to break up. Since then we've had really good sunshine. I hope maybe it will find a good sheltered space, and some food for tonight!

Let's hope so! I see butterflies emerge after these cold spells so I figure they must have some way of coping. The only ones that really seemed hit hard were the Zebra Longwings. I went over a year without seeing one after we had some really bad (and early) freezes a few years back. They eventually worked their way back north to us but it took a while.

No pictures today, just news. I'll try to get some pics tomorrow and definitely Sunday at the museum. When Mom was rounding up the caterpillars during those cold nights, she found some Queen cats. I think it's just two; that's all I saw in the tank. (Mom and I aren't talking. Actually, I'm not talking to anyone in real life. It's kind of a long story.) So I'll try to get some pics of the Queen cats soon. Also, I was in my orchid house and saw a Monarch chrysalis way up high on the top of the screen. If you saw where the milkweed is in relation to my orchid house you would say there's no way a caterpillar crawled that far - but apparently it did! The chrysalis was kind of dark so I'll have to check it tomorrow and see if it's flying around in there. They never can seem to figure out how to get out of the orchid house so I end up waving my arms around like a crazy person with the door wide open. It usually works - if not, I have a net.

Melanie...

Thanks, Margaret. I see my therapist on Wednesday (who I do plan on talking to) and my psychiatrist on the 30th. I've been trying new drugs since July and I thought I found one that worked, but alas, it stopped. Plus, it has some side effects I don't like. So it's off to try something else! At least I have my caterpillars to cuddle and pet. And now I'm thinking I better wake up early to check on that Monarch in the orchid house because a LOT of lizards hang out in there. Uh oh!

Melanie, I'm glad that you have someone to talk to, good luck on finding a new medication that will work better for you.

Melanie, you can never go wrong loving and talking to nature.

Make that 3 of us!

Well, I'm glad you're all in agreement! I'm busy watching football today but you can expect pictures tomorrow!

And look! You're talking to us.

This is one tough Red Admiral! It survived the night it got down to 14.4° recently and now it's so warm during the day. I'm so happy...for the hummingbird, the birds....and the butterflies that survived.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. That's what my sister told me on the phone yesterday. She's walking a fine line these days, diagnosed with brain cancer last month, fighting for whatever time she can possibly have.
So what I wish for you, Melanie, would be to hopefully get stronger, and feel better soon!

Just to clarify, I am talking to some people in real life, just not my family. Which is sort of awkward because I live with them (parents and older brother). I did talk to one of the volunteers at the museum today and I told the guy at Subway how to make my sandwich so there is some verbal communication happening. Mostly I've been sleeping and going to the movies a lot - gotta be prepared for the Oscars!

I went to open the flight cage this morning and realized I forgot my camera! Oh no! I've been up since 3:30 this morning (bad dreams, bad allergies, couldn't sleep) so frankly, I'm amazed I even made it to the museum. But I did promise you guys a picture so here's a picture of one of the two Queen caterpillars. The other one made her J so I couldn't take her photo!



In bad news, my Monarch cats got parasitized! I threw the chrysalises away. At first I thought it was OE, but then I saw the pupa of those evil little flies on the bottom of the container so I knew it was parasites. I squished the pupa and threw them away. I hope they didn't get the Queens but I'm not feeling so lucky today. I guess I'll find out soon. Cold weather (for us anyway) on tap for next week (plus some rain which is good for this dry season) so I don't expect too many butterflies to be out and about. But sometimes they surprise me.

Linda, I'm so sorry to hear about your sister. All positive thoughts & white light headed her way.