Awww the caterpillars. Thanks alot for sharing. Lol At your comments.

I'm so proud of you for sharing with the teacher! It is so important for kids to be exposed to nature from as many different directions as possible. And it is hard to part with those babies once you've invested energy and emotion in their success. Keep up the good work.

Martha

She was very excited to get them but I feel overprotective!!! Its her first year teaching and its 2nd grade. I bet those kids will love it! I want to know she knows how to take care of them though! I guess its not that difficult lol! I wonder if they will wait until spring or" hatch" (whatever you call it) sooner.

so pretty!! I am so jealous. I do get Giant Swallowtail coming to visit but no eggs :( I have Rue plants but she isn't laying there. I guess in the spring, I will have to get a citrus tree? My husband would kill me haha :O)

Beth, I am so glad yours are doing great. Even though I set mine up with an orange branch and florist pick, they never really started eating. I bought rue for next year and I may just bring one or two in. I'm thrilled at your success! (and disappointed in my failure...)
Kristi

Oh, I understand the attachment. Enjoy the caterpillar stage while you can! Seriously, all the pics of cats make me realize how much I miss those little ones I brought in just a couple of months ago! One is in the chrysalis stage, and another eclosed and flew off earlier this summer, and sometimes I wish I had my little cats back, and I am just realizing how much I sound like some matronly old woman.

I hope this is healthy. :)

Ok I see I'm not alone in this! Angel you need a citrus, your husband would get over it!:) Kristi - what happened? You had soooo many eggs! Can't you try again? You must have some caterpillars out there. I put Rue in with the citrus, but they just munch on the citrus so stick with that. And Alex you cracked me up! I'm already thinking ahead about having no more caterpillars and then what will I do? LOL
Matronly? Nah.....just a little bit crazy and doing a good thing! (Unless you ask John on the citrus forum...yikes! )

I take it he's not a fan of the Giant cats? Well, fortunately for him mine were black swallowtails, so he should probably be OK with that, unless he doesn't like parsley or dill being eaten either. :)

This post was edited by alex928 on Thu, Sep 11, 14 at 0:44

The Giant swallowtail and the orange dog caterpillars are a major pest to the citrus industry according to John and silly me happily posts a picture of the swallowtail laying eggs on my citrus. Oops... No he didn't like that as everyone was telling me to raise them!

HAHA Beth, do you leave the TV on to keep them company?
K

Hmmm, thats an idea Kristi, but they better like baseball or football...thats all our TV gets! (which is why I'm raising butterflies)

This post was edited by socabeth on Thu, Sep 11, 14 at 18:18

We'll, I'm getting a second chance. I'm guess some eggs hatched from the same batch I brought in. I brought 2 cats in happily munching away. The branch is in a floral pick and their in a vase topped with fine netting. I'm not going to fuss with them and just add new leaves every few days. I think I fussed too much with the others, but I was desperate for them to eat.
They never really did...

I have orange leaves and can offer them rue too!

Fingers crossed!
K

Good luck! Sounds like a good setup , similar to what I did....The citrus stays pretty good in the little floral tubes so I only get new leaves every few days.

They are happy and growing fast!!
K

Never miss a 2nd chance, Kristi, looking good. Mine are about to form the chrysalis I think, they are pretty huge!

Thanks Beth! These 2 are doing great and now 5 tiny ones in the hamper!
Can't wait to see your chrysalises(i?)!
K

I called the TX Dept of Ag about a license renewal issue, and got a really nice, patient man on the other end of the phone. Since I am new at Ag stuff (amaryllis), I had some questions. When we were done talking, I asked, "So...is the GST really a threat to the citrus industry in TX?". He passed along the question to a colleague who is a pro. The "pro" called me back and assured me that my raising and releasing a few caterpillars wouldn't bring down the sour orange industry! YAY...he said as long as I wasn't releasing 1000s at a time, I was ok. Well that is good to know!! (hehe).

K

Good to know....can I copy and paste this on the citrus forum??? LOL there is a curmudgeon over there that wasn't happy with me!

Sure Beth.. Your comment previously was why I asked. I don't recall his name; I believe he was Indian and his name was beautiful, unusual, and long!

He asked me why I was asking and I told him that I had brought a few caterpillars into the house to watch. He said releasing a few back outside was fine...he just cautioned me not to release 1000s!
K