Released Monarch #11 tagged and logged as UPL602 male
-- no pictures since he took off without pausing to sip from the mint blossoms. He had eclosed during the night and was restless all day while it rained for the first time in ages outside.
I did see a tagged male flying around in the garden earlier and took a picture.
...@BirdLover, we could name UPL602 Rosco or the one that came back -- UPL600.
Okay, Applestar, you choose which butterfly gets to be named Rosco. Nothing wrong with a little bit of fun.
There is a nice butterfly exhibit at the Science Center in Seattle WA, just north of where I am. They do what you do. They have a large variety of butterflies from around the world.
Our last Monarch Butterfly -- #12 -- eclosed sometime during Thursday night.
This was Swampy II, brought inside as a 5th instar caterpillar and raised in isolation from the others in case of possible tachnid fly infestation due to belated rescue.
We tagged and logged him as UPL 603 (male) and released him late In the afternoon. He spent some time on a runty volunteer sunflower that grew under the birdfeeder before taking off, so DD2 and I were able to take several pictures.
I want to say approximately 2 weeks, longer as temperatures get lower. But I can review my notes.
You saw in the beginning of this thread that my predicted time from chrysalis to eclosure was longer compared to actual. -- I'm thinking in addition to the higher temperature in the house due to energy saving thermostat settings, another possible reason is that my DD's (who are older now) had been staying up longer with lights on so their "daylight" hours were longer.
I started cleaning out the front bed today, and found two cats! (this is why I asked) I moved them to the tropical s, cause the swamp weed was taking over the entire bed. Now that I know they will come, I have to re-think my entire plantings. Below is a pic of how thick things got.
I might have shown this before as I am on a few different garden sites, if that is the case, my apologies. The heart of the bed is all Incarnata, while the outside edges are Curassavica, and Tuberosa. Neither of the latter are shown just to give you an idea how thick things got in a very short period of time. This photo was actually taken in late July, early August.
I C 2! I've noticed a couple of monarchs hanging close, getting up close and personal with some milkweeds. With older eyes, and older glasses, think there are eggs, and been too (lazy, forgetful) to carry out a hand lense. I figured if eggs, cat would soon be there! Anyway, just walked around and saw 2 cats, less than 1". I usually look for noshings on leaves for clues.
There are plenty of milkweeds, in small and large pots, both rose/swamp -incarnata and tropical -A. curassavica, spread about. There's butterfly weed out there, but I've never seen egg/cat activity on it. There must be 10 -12 tropicals still in 4" pots, left from not selling at market, and not up potting now and some in large containers.
If I enclose a couple in the pop-up hamper, will just put a whole (4") pot in there, and may need to cut of the lanky top.
I am thrilled for the monarchs, for me, and the other bottom line. This season pushing milkweeds for monarchs, and we haven't had any to speak of! Oopsies!
I took an AM walk about. There are more cats, and some eggs. A question for Apple on a couple. I checked a large container, has 4 tropicals in it, so real full. I saw at least 2 blackened (and dead) cats, shriveled. What's up with that? If something is attacking them, perhaps need to bring a few into a 'cage' aka hamper in sheltered outside. I don't have to pick leaves for them, just put in whole plants that are still in small pots.
A note on logistics for us, is noting that the flurry of activity may be September. A friend in Nashville, middle TN said he has lots of activity now, didn't see any earlier. The adults that make it now should be on the last cycle and born to fly. They don't mate, but go on to Mexico. They mate late winter as they are packing up to fly north. As they fly north, their first stop (egg laying and dying) is TX.
Hi Susan, I'm not Apple but one possibility is that your cats were attacked by Stink bugs. Do you see any of those around? Stink bugs attack by sucking all the inside juices out of the caterpillar, leaving an empty shell. I also have tropical mw in containers because I find it easier to control predators that way. Here is a photo of some vegetation I leave at the base of the plants where the caterpillars can hide while they are resting. As soon as the vegetation goes down, the caterpillars resting low on the plant immediately head for their hiding places. I've had good luck, or rather the caterpillars have had good luck with this. Now let's see what Apple has to say.
Thanks for the heads up on possible afflictions. If bacterial, not much I can do. I hadn't noticed stink bugs. Then today looking at another container with several plants and a couple of cats, spotted a stink bug, or something similar. I hope I eliminated it from this earthly existence. There are several noshing on the milkweeds now. I need to put little flags up so I remember where and which plant!
Found this chrysalis last Tuesday. It is attached to one of the trash pails I was taking to the road. Dumped the trash into another pail, and put that one in the garage for safe keeping. This photo was taken yesterday. In the second photo you can see the wings forming.
I now have 2 chrysalis in the mesh hamper. I had noticed more cats out on the plants a few weeks ago, but some taken by predators, disease or something.
