Melanie has emerged from her chrysalis and become a beautiful butterfly! Well, not really. But I have been sleeping like I'm in a cocoon - or a coma. Seriously, the caterpillars are lucky I remembered to feed them. Fortunately, most everyone has pupated and the rest are little guys so it hasn't been too bad. But let's catch up!
Let's see. Mom caught me in a rare wakeful moment to tell me there was a White Peacock out front. She even took a picture for me with her camera.
When I went outside, it was still there, so I showed her what a good picture looks like.
Mom isn't as experienced at stalking as I am. I also don't think she's as willing to walk into a patch of Spanish Needles going to seed, either. Can't blame her on that one.
The Tersa Sphinx moths are all currently pupa, but I took some pictures before they did that. On the right is a pupa, on the left is one that's almost a pupa. Greenie on top is starting to darken and the bottom one is "Chocolate", the brown form cat that is turning the normal pupating color. As an FYI, if you ever raise Sphinx Moths, here's some info. I can't speak for all of them, but Tersas will generally have watery frass right before they start to pupate. It's not a full-on gut purge like the Swallowtails. Thank God, given the size that would be! Of course, they also change color and shrink so you can tell they're pupating. But watery frass can sometimes be a warning of disease so I wanted to let you know it's normal for them, but only when they're about to pupate.
Let's zoom in on each! You can see Greenie isn't the bright green he was earlier.
Chocolate is also changing color.
This was a green form caterpillar that has changed color, and has also shrunk and changed shape.
This is a finished pupa. You can see they still have eyespots down the side. Not sure if that's defensive or not. By the way, Sphinx Moths tend to pupate in the leaf litter or under the soil. They don't really make a cocoon as we tend to think of them. They will silk together some leaves loosely around them, but it's not the tight ball we think of when we hear the word "cocoon". Oh, that's the shed skin hanging on in the picture.
So everyone was done eating and in the pupation process. (I just had to add pupation to my spellcheck dictionary because it is so a word!) Tersas like to pupate under things, but that can get a little messy in captivity. I've never had a problem with them not under something, but since some of them were still losing moisture (it looks like they're "sweating"), I decided to lay them on a paper towel and then place one over them. I wanted something to absorb the moisture to keep it clean. As you can see in this picture, one of the Tersas decided that was cool and silked the paper towel to the container. Now that they've all pupated, I need to move them to a different container where they'll have enough room to emerge. I hate ruining their architecture, though.
The Pipevine STs have been so messy. So messy! And so stinky just because Pipevine smells bad. One of them gut purged on one who had pupated and one who was in the sling and I had to clean the whole mess out. Pro tip - do that before you eat breakfast! Here's a guy who built his sling on a stem. You know they love to eat stem, and sure enough, another caterpillar ate right through the stem. The chrysalis was fine, though.
Outside, Gulf Frits are still everywhere because this is Florida.
Some of you may remember I replanted the front area along with Dad's help. And I transplanted three Senna ligustrina for the Sulphurs. Plus, the old plants were dying and I think they needed more sun, anyway. Well, they all lost their leaves when I transplanted them, but one came back pretty fast. The other two were lagging, so I took my pruners and trimmed a couple inches off the top of the stem. And they leafed out! Now, they don't have many leaves on them, yet. Also, they're only about 3 to 4 feet high, each. The second photo is the one that leafed out first and you can still see it's a small plant. Photos for proof...
I thought it would be a while before I had Sulphur cats again. I was wrong. Even with the little growth they had, I got egg-bombed! That means it's time for another episode of "Caterpillar Hunting With Melanie"! There aren't many leaves on these plants, so it's not hard to see where someone has been eating. Also, the black specks are frass.
When they're small, Sulphurs tend to lay right down the middle of the leaf.
Or on new growth.
Or they sit in a pile of their own frass.
I think I found six, but I can't remember. Sulphurs die a lot and I only have two left. I think they're going to be Orange-Barred Sulphurs. Anyway, I'm walking around with a handful of caterpillars, trying to take photos. They're usually pretty good about staying on the plant, but naturally, one decides to go rogue all over my hand.
Speaking of going rogue...you know how I found those Black ST eggs on the rue and I thought it was weird I only found five? Well, she came back and made up for it. FYI, the original five are all alive in a critter keeper and munching away and growing big.
So I'm walking around with a handful of Sulphurs and the Giant ST that's been teasing me for days stops by.
And the Zebra Longwing was out, too.
So a few days later, I see my first Sleepy Orange of the year.
And that reminds me that I still haven't planted my Partridge Pea seeds (their favored host plant around these parts). I tend to see Sleepy Oranges in the summer and fall and every year it seems like it's early and then I remind myself it's June. Oh, and I think that's some kind of spider at the top of the Salvia.
Gulf Frit again because...Florida.
A surprise Monarch visitor. I'm not growing any milkweed right now because I hear I'm supposed to plant the native seeds in the fall. So I'm hanging on to them.
A Zebra Longwing on Porterweed. This shocks no one.
Sleepy Orange came down for a close-up.
I was picking (and rechecking) Senna when I saw this cool Looper caterpillar. It was on one of the small plants, so I moved it to the one with more leaves.
A Dainty Sulphur was also hanging out.
I was checking the other plants out front and considering the weeding I'm going to have to do.
Now, I keep seeing that Giant ST but haven't seen any eggs on the Rue, although the Black ST might have got to them first. But I planted that Wild Lime out front specifically for the Giants. Granted, it's like two feet tall, but that didn't stop someone from laying an egg! I only found this one caterpillar, but Giants are better about not laying too many eggs on any one plant, so it could just be that I only have this one. I've been checking, though.
The Gulf Frit cats come in multiples, though.
I can't swear this is the same Giant ST, but let's just say it is. You can see the Magic Red Pentas are hard at work again this year.
Meanwhile, the Black ST eggs hatched. I told myself I was going to leave them out there and not get suckered into feeding mass quantities of them again, but even I knew I was lying to myself. I haven't counted them, but there's more than five this time. Here's two.
