Moths and butterflies

[Crystal5937]

Though our season is coming to a swift end here in Michigan, I have had a great year. In order to raise these species, I garden. So much gardening, adding host plant species to attract females to egg lay, and safely extract the eggs to hatch and raise in captivity. Had some hiccups with tachid flies and brachoid wasps on caterpillars, not eggs. Parasitic monsters, though cool, still cause a headache. Just adding a few photos of some fun cats and butterflies...

This year we successfully released 112 monarch butterflies, hoping to double that number next year. We raise other species as well, but being part of monarch watch, and registered waystation #11105, monarchs matter the most. Though, I think the cecropia were possibly my favorite. Sorry so many pics, hard to pick just a few.

 

[happy1892]

They are pretty. Thank you for sharing. I raised Imperial moth caterpillars last year. I loved handling them. By the way, those are not too many pictures.

 

[CosbyArt]

Nice photos, thanks for sharing. Never enough photos - even if you reach your limit with a post, just respond to it with more photos (a trick to get around the limit).

Looks like you have a great camera too with good macro capability, which will be handy for taking photos of mantids.

 

[Salmonsaladsandwich]

Aren't polyphemus caterpillars great when they stand up like that? Those are my favorite species, unfortunately this summer I lost my last female cocoon to a Calasoma grub that chewed its way into their cage.

 

[Crystal5937]

Aren't polyphemus caterpillars great when they stand up like that? Those are my favorite species, unfortunately this summer I lost my last female cocoon to a Calasoma grub that chewed its way into their cage.

Ugh, that stinks! A friend bred both the poly and cecropia and offered me eggs. They live such a short time, it's really a speed breeding when they Eclose. I'm hoping for a successful breeding in spring, with 30 cocoons of poly and 45 cecropia to diapause, I'm hopeful. Adding more species next season, and have been collecting and planting every host that will live in my zone. We were surprised to have 2 breeding cycles of poly this year. Late summer Eclose of early season cocoons we expected to diapause, emerged and bred. The issue of late season caterpillars in Michigan is the inability to feed them properly, as they do not handle a diet change well. So, late cats are forced to host on the latest leaf droppers possible. My early season did not Eclose and will diapause, it was just a few in the group I belong to, that had some Eclose. Very cool, and I was more than a little jealous.

 

[Brunneria]

Awesome work! Hope you have a successful year next year too!