Lovely and more so because she's left you a gift of eggs! Congrats. Are you planning on raising the little cats?

Mary

IDK ...I usually let nature take its course with the Monarchs...but I have 3 eggs....what should I do? Raise them on Citrus leaves? How long before the eggs hatch?

Well here's my first attempt at raising a butterfly. I just used what I had...any opinions? Is it too small? A coffee filter fits perfectly over the top, and I will add a branch later. There are two in the jar....I read that one might eat the other? Wish me luck!
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Oh...this will be fun! We have little GST instars at the same stage!

SocaBeth...please email me (off forum) so that I can pick your brain without bothering the others!

Thanks,
Kristi

You're doing a wonderful thing! These cats are like filet mignon for predators at our house.

At this very tiny instar stage, one leaf should suffice for all three. I haven't taken an actual count, but they usually don't eat more than a few leaves from egg to chrysalis.

Normally I raise mine on small planters with rue so I can keep them in mesh cages for the entire cycle until they emerge.

Good luck!!

I'll need to get rue for next year!!
Thanks!
K

I saw another giant swallowtail today. I need to get a bigger home! I'm not handy at all. I guess I should get one of those hamper things. Any suggestions? There's no room to spread those huge wings!

I wonder if Rue is hardy in Madison, WI?

If you're going to keep leaves as pictured, you can start with a small pop-up. I bought some called "butterfly keepers" and they're essentially a "kit" for kids. I use them as caterpillar keepers. :) I put a melamine plate (a regular sized dinner plate fits perfectly at the bottom) and the weight of the plate keeps it steady and is also easy to clean the frass off of. I put the rue starter plants in small quart-sized pots on the plate and they're free to be predatorless cats. They go through the entire cycle in there and all I do is water the planters every 2 days or so. It's very low-maintenance. But when I have a lot of cats, I usually keep them all on a bigger plant and place a regular pop-up clothes hamper on the planter, upside down and secure it with clothespins. Nothing fancy on my end, but it all works!

Thanks , that sounds easy....I'll look for those. I made a fancy hotel for one...but its not that big and I have two more caterpillars growing!

Rue is hardy in Grand Rapids, MI, so I would think it would do fine in Madison. I have a patch of seedlings I wintersowed this spring. I'm going back to GR next weekend. I could bring back some rue for the Madison Giant Swallowtails.

Martha

My rue always finds a way to die out without ever getting too big so now I just buy mass quantity seeds on eBay and plant them over and over to keep the cats satiated. They also like ptelea trifoliata (hoptree), but nurseries here don't carry it and of the seeds I bought on eBay, only one sprouted and it's a very slow grower. Rue has the photodermatitis downside although since I know about it, I'm REALLY careful not to touch it and be in the sun at the same time. It's mostly off-limits and I just keep it covered.

So if you have hop tree in your zone, that's another host plant!

I have had one 4 in plant of rue planted for about 6 weeks, it doesn't seem to be growing much. Good to know about the photo dermatitis. Will it over winter? I planted dill and fennel too to attract the butterflies. But I have plenty of citrus to keep them fed....so far so good on the citrus. They are getting big!

Two beautiful butterfly photos.

I released a large female GST yesterday. I still have 16 GST cats that I am raising. I am able to raise butterflies year round here in south Florida.

So...Beth and I are sort of in the same boat...we discovered our little GSTs about the same time. I raised 1, then 2, then 7. Once they enclose I should be done for the year! I had some disappointments that had nothing to do with chrysalises laying on the ground. I had 2 enclose with crumpled wings.

I have a hypothesis....the Rue must have had some chemical (spray or systemic) that caused them to be rumpled. So far, all of the others that have been feeding only on orange leaves (chemical-free) for the majority of their days have been OK. While a few of the caterpillars fed on Rue for a very limited time, I switched them over the orange leaves. So far, the orange-fed have been healthy.

Escapees #1 and #2 both enclosed perfectly, although #1 did not want to leave the warmth of the house. Thankfully it will be 70+ degrees here after tomorrow and any of the remaining 4 that enclose now will be good to fly off!

New life coming tomorrow!!!
K

I LOVE that last photo of the butterfly! I hope I get eggs next year. I want another chance since the two that lived were raised by the teacher I gave them to. My rue is blooming now! But at least next year I'll know what to look for. Or maybe I'll get some eggs in the mail from you! :)

#6 waiting for me when I got home...orange tree leaf-fed and very healthy. Temps in high 60s this evening. It flew away strong and fast!!
K