I have always wondered which moth those wooly worm turned into! Thanks to Judy for posting the photo and Cheryl for answering!

2 week update on my Tiger Swallowtail cat. Have been checking on it periodically. And it seemed to just be chilling but this morning it had definitely had done some growing. What I find so fascinating with this one is that it has been sitting in the same spot for 2 weeks!

First photo on 9/9/16


Todays.....9/20/16

Here's more photos of the temporary captives in my climate controlled room(the only room that has had continual air-conditioning running to keep humidity low, poor critters )
I don't enjoy caging a wild thing either, but like I said, it's only temporary and preferable to being eaten alive by a bird or other animal before it even has a chance at survival. The Monarchs I keep are even crawling fairly free-- on branches of food b/c I want to keep it as close to their original environment as possible. Pics from this morning:



If you look closely at the last two pictures you can see all the silk they are capable of producing- It's very strong and secure! When I've removed the old chrysalis casings, about a one inch area of silk came loose. If any other chrysalises are close by, I wait until removal. There were 14 in the hamper this morning, I caught two loose hatchers and when I got home last night and they went inside the hamper until daytime release. They all had nice dry firm wings already.

<--Silver-spotted Skipper from Sunday afternoon, they're really much bigger than other skippers.

Claudia- That's so neat. I have never ever found one of them, it's on a Cherry right? Don't you see any chewed up leaves?

Mellie,

Thanks for explaining to us how you got started and interested in raising butterflies and helping them to survive. Many gardeners are unaware of what it takes to
create a haven for wildlife in their own yards. Planting native plants that insects can eat is a great first start! Next, creating habitat they can use to hide from predators and makes homes in: rocks walls, piles of bark, and leaves in crevices etc. makes wonderful hidey holes. Water sources are needed too. Last of all, cutting back or even eliminating the use of pesticides and herbicides does wonders for making your property usable to wildlife!!


The Midwest is the "Corn Belt" of the US. It's also a major migration route for our Monarchs and Roundup kills off the Milkweed plants they need for survival. Using products containing corn syrup(and there are many, many of them, just look at your labels) helps to perpetuate the growing of corn in this fashion. I had Coca-Cola bottles to keep my Milkweed in that I had gotten from the neighborhood recycle bin(with permission) ----but I don't buy it myself!

In case anybody is reading and wondering: Roundup is used against weeds between corn rows--- It has been for many years, although most of us were unaware of this development. The corn is genetically bred to accept the spraying of that same Roundup along with the weeds!! Not good! So that's what "GMO" means in this particular instance-- (G.enetically M.odified O.rganism)

hey hey hey , don't be picking on my cokes
there are a lot of uses for gmo corn including ethanol in your gasoline powered vehicles

Some soybeans are also Round-Up resistant.

krobra said:hey hey hey , don't be picking on my cokes
there are a lot of uses for gmo corn including ethanol in your gasoline powered vehicles

Sorry man
Right about the ethanol that's another biggie use. I can't avoid that, but I can live without Coke. There's a kind made in Mexico that still uses cane sugar. I realize too that everything is interconnected, and as long as humans are on this planet we consume resources, belch pollution, and have practices that eat up land etc etc. We need to have balance. My point is that there's always better alternatives in consumption and practice to scout for.

nativeplantlover said:Claudia- That's so neat. I have never ever found one of them, it's on a Cherry right? Don't you see any chewed up leaves?

I really can not determine if it is on a cherry tree or not. Whatever it is on is really more shrub looking than tree at this point and just about my height, 5 feet. It is on low branch barely foot above ground. The bark does not look like what Ann described. But this would be something growing naturally not a bought & planted tree/shrub.

But yes I do see chewed leaves all over it.

Claudia, the bark on a cherry tree doesn't get that look until it's older. Also, butterflies like young plants to lay eggs on so that would make sense. If the caterpillar starts turning brown, don't freak out. That means it's about to pupate. Spicebushies turn from green to orange, and Tigers turn from green to brown. It's a thing.

Pics later. I still have to pack! Yikes!

Thanks for the heads up on the color change Melanie! To be honest I thought it was dead last week until I moved the leave just a bit and it moved.

The Tigers act a lot like Spicebushes. They build a home, and they stay there. Granted, Spicebushes build bigger homes as they grow, but once they get to a certain size, they tend to stay there.

I dropped off my caterpillars at MOSI today but it was raining. There was a Malachite waiting to be released in the lab. You can see it's sharing space with another Malachite chrysalis.

That is beautiful Melanie, they are so different and chrysalis as well.

mellielong said:

I dropped off my caterpillars at MOSI today but it was raining. There was a Malachite waiting to be released in the lab. You can see it's sharing space with another Malachite chrysalis.


What beauty..... Thanks for sharing Mellie Those colors: muted, soft, natural. The chrysalis has the characters of a frit's, a monarch's and a swallowtail's combined. Have a wonderful trip!

Thanks, guys! My boss tipped me off to another one of the springs that's a good place to visit up in the Ocala National Forest. The parks page even said it's a good trail for those with "limited mobility". And it's less than a mile long and in the shade! So I think we're going to check that out, too.

I'll be taking notes during all the talks and I'm sure I'll gain knowledge on the walks, as well. They are having a talk about "Monarchs and Milkweed" so I want to check that out. We'll be talking a lot about wildflowers and pollinators so hopefully I can learn a lot for the forum. I'll have my laptop so I'll try to check in with the highlights!

Be good and post lots of pics!

Also, late congratulations to the following folks for getting noteworthy acorn tips in the newsletter this week:

@jmorth for http://garden.org/thread/view_...

@flaflwrgrl for http://garden.org/thread/view_...

We know you'll have fun Melanie.

I always have fun! And I swear I'm going to bed but I was checking Facebook and I noticed Monarch Watch is selling their milkweed flats. I bought two flats (each flat is 32 plugs) for $76 each which includes shipping. I got one flat of A. tuberosa and one flat of A. verticillata.

Check out their shop at: https://shop.milkweedmarket.or... First, they only sell plants grown from seed collected in your eco-region so you might be limited as to species. There were four available for my area, but two grow in wetlands so I went with the ones that needed full sun. I have just the spot! You know the plants are never treated with pesticides and it supports Monarch Watch (at the Univ. of Kansas). Some of the species are going dormant now, so they might not look the best, but everyone in Florida knows fall is the time for planting! I suppose that's true in other areas, too. Check them out if you need a milkweed hookup!

Now, I'm really going to bed!

YAY! The babysitter went to bed and will be away for a few days so now we can play Just teasing ya again Mellie!

nativeplantlover said:YAY! The babysitter went to bed and will be away for a few days so now we can play rough Just teasing ya again Mellie!

Here's what I found today in and along my driveway gardens:


Fritillary on Brazilian Verbena .............Black Swallowtail cat on Fennel.........Hairstreak on Tall Coreopsis( C. Tripteris)



I noticed this monarch caterpillar that I missed to bring indoors somehow on the Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias Tuberosa) on Sunday. Since it appeared to be making its "J" shape. I left it alone. Well, this is what it looked like today The tail end was turning a horrid black and it was dehydrated looking and stretched out straight. I euthanized it since it might be carrying a wasp parasite or other

Ok this is duplicated in the bee forum since it's pics of both butterfly and bee:I was lucky enough to witness this little native Small Carpenter bee(Ceratina spp. there's just too many to sort out right now!) deliberately crashing into this Pearl Crescent.
It happened that I was just lucky that the camera was in focus, and I was already there. First the PC butterfly was nectaring, it bops her hard, then settles in for the rewards of aggression!