First Batch of Butterflies! 2012

I haven't forgotten about my butterfly rearing!

Well, that last brood that I kept in the winter did not survive, though I believe it's because the air doesn't circulate very well in my fridge.  It made me sad, I should have kept them outside, but this winter was so warm, I didn't want them to get confused and come out early.  I felt very guilty to say the least .

So I thought I was being punished for being a bad butterfly keeper .  I planted parsley and flowers in my garden, but they haven't done well, mostly because of the heat and poor soil.  So no black swallowtail butterflies came to lay eggs .  I had totally given up on raising any pretty bugs this year.  But yesterday as I was perusing what was left of my poor little veggie garden, guess what I found?!

CATERPILLARS!!! 

I found three on my pathetic looking parsley, but eight on my carrots, two of which were in their final instar!  WOOT!!!! So I dug out my twenty gallon tank and cleaned it up, then harvested my caterpillars!

If you'll notice, I have forgone the duct tape this year, don't want a repeat of that fiasco.  I put the big ones (fifth instars) on one side and the smaller ones (late second to early third instars) on the other.  One of the big ones was already settled to pupate and has already spun his support thread!  So I got it just in time!

 The other big one is still chowing down though ...

I have nine little ones on the other side, looks like they are molting to third instar.  They have probably another week or so of growing and eating like tiny pigs before they will be ready to pupate ...

Meanwhile, they have been spotted by my bearded dragon, Grimlock....

Me Grimlock want worms for snacking!

He is beside himself wanting to have a black swallowtail lunch !  Too bad for him though, he can stick with crickets...

I will keep you updated on this brood's progress, as well as a tally of girls and boys!  (I haven't a clue how to tell a caterpillar's gender...I have to wait to see when they emerge as butterflies ).  This will probably be the last one of the summer; I think the next will be the overwintering generation.  Better late than never I suppose!

Last Batch of Butterflies, 2011

I was cleaning out my refrigerator yesterday when I found my container of butterfly chrysalises, and realized that I haven't really given much of an update to the last hoard of butterflies I raised before the end of summer!  This must change!

For those who don't know, I raise butterflies every summer.  I only deal with two species for now:  Monarchs and Eastern Black Swallowtails.  Maybe someday I'll branch out to more, but for now, two is enough ^^.  I didn't have any luck with Monarchs this year, probably due to it being so hot and dry this summer, but I had TONS of Black Swallowtails!

I had so many in my last brood that I ran out of potted parsley (their host plant) and had to resort to store-bought.  I think I counted about forty caterpillars in all.  I lost a couple due to not being careful with how I set up my tank (I use a twenty gallon long fish tank with tree branches held steady with duct tape for the caterpillars to pupate on, annnd, well, I had some exposed duct tape... ).

It took about a week for all of them to morph to the next stage of life so I could "harvest" them for spring.  For some reason unknown to me, the caterpillars seemed to like a certain corner of the tank....

Seriously?!  There is an entire twenty gallons of space, with tons of other sticks and walls to attach to, and thirteen of them decided to settle on just four inches of stick.  THIRTEEN!!! 

Insects...  

Well the seasons were changing so after they all pupated, I took them off their sticks, put them in a plastic container, and into the fridge they went for the winter.  I'll glue them back on more sticks when spring arrives, then put them outside so they can emerge, fly away, and be free!  

Come spring, I shall go into detail about how to raise your own butterflies; trust me, it's not as hard as you think, and is totally fascinating!