My Palamedes has picked a spot and turned yellow! And that spot is next to, but not on top of the Sulphur so we're good there. That thumping was getting annoying. Now, most of us are more familiar with the Spicebush. And most of the books I read say the Spicebush caterpillars turn a golden color when they're about to pupate. But here in Florida, they turn orange. I wondered if my idea of gold was different than the authors I've read. So I raised a West Virginian Spicebush and sure enough, they are lighter when they turn color. They do look gold. I don't know know why the caterpillars change color in the first place, but the Florida ones definitely turn orange. Although, I was just reading that some people think we have a subspecies of Spicebush down here so maybe that's part of the variation? Anyway, I knew Palamedes changed but it's been so long I couldn't remember if they were gold or orange or somewhere in between. So far, this guy looks yellow. Sorry about the bad lighting. My room is on the north side so it's dark. Oh, and I forgot to say that when I took pictures of him this morning, my camera thought the eyespots were actual eyes and the facial recognition box popped up around him! I thought that was pretty cool.
In caterpillar news, one of the four Spicebush STs I found on my plant died. It looks like he didn't molt properly.
I also found some more Sulphur cats while picking food this morning. They're tiny so I put them in a small container. If I put them in the big one, I'd never find them and end up accidentally throwing them away when I cleaned the cage. And my largest American Lady made his (her?) J today.
Well, my camera is charged up for my trip to Selby but I'm going to take an extra battery just in case. And I'm going to clean out my tote bag now and put said camera in it so I can't forget it. I'm totally the type of person that would be halfway to Sarasota and realize I forgot my camera. I already printed out directions and put them in my car. At least I have a smartphone now so I guess that could always help in an emergency. Now I just have to resist the urge to buy anything in their plant shop! The books in the gift shop are fair game, though!
