Also - we were out for a walk and found a corky stemmed passion vine growing in a landscaped common area of our association. I think it is our native passion vine, but not sure, and wonder how it got there. It seems to be growing very haphazardly in this particular area. We found lots and lots and lots of zebra longwing caterpillars and gulf fritallary caterpillars at many different instars. We've collected a few already. I've been looking for zebra longwing caterpillars for a long time.
 |
| This is our yard - Natalie is examining the milkweed. |
 |
| Monarch - I think this is the one we put in the cage a day or so later. That one is "making a J" tonight. |
 |
| C & A and the vine we found. We would not have found it except there is a piece sticking up - not sure how our indiscriminate landscapers missed it, but glad they did! |
 |
| Gulf Fritillary - We have 3 in the cage - one is already a chrysalis. |
 |
| Zebra Longwing!!! We have one in the cage, they are supposed to be about 4 cm to be 5th instar, they seem to be a little behind the Gulf Fritillaries. |
 |
| Buncha babies! |
 |
| We wore out our first butterfly cage and found this extra large one at a garage sale. |
 |
| Despite the threatening looking spikes, neither of these caterpillars sting. |
 |
| Gulf Fritillary |
 |
| Gulf Fritillary and Zebra Longwing destined for our cage! |
How fun! Neat that you found so many! We have the big cage, but found that those mesh hampers from the dollar store work well, too. I like to keep milkweed in a pot so I don't have to pick leaves that quickly wilt. The hamper is easier to put the plant in. I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of the longwing! We saw one when we were in Florida the last time. So pretty!
ReplyDeleteThat is a good idea about keeping some in a pot. Hopefully I'll have some seeds to plant soon :)
Delete