I have 142 chrysalises and more cats!

[BlizzardNole]

I can't believe the numbers I've gotten my little butterfly garden! To my wife's delight, the operation has moved into the garage. Over the last week, I took in numerous 4th and 5th instars that were defoliating my 50 or so tropical milkweeds down to bare stems. I found two 5th instars in a full blown fight at the top of one bare plant. Luckily the monarch person at Black Hill Regional Park pointed out a great source of common milkweed, or my cats would definitely have run out of food.

I took in any that I saw outside -- I'd like my tropical milkweeds to regenerate so I can harvest seeds. Once this huge group hatches I will have more manageable numbers...maybe a couple dozen smaller ones left for a mid-September batch. It will be interesting to see if some of the 5th instars I brought in turn out to be parasitized. I haven't had it happen yet, but most were brought in younger. I'm also amazed at how good the cats are at avoiding chrysalises or other cats hanging in their "J" given how crowded it is at the top of the cage.


One thing I might want to try next year is removing chrysalises from my cage and gluing them in some kind of display area so as to keep cats and chrysalises/butterflies separate. I tried glue on a fallen chrysalis with no cremaster and couldn't get it to work. For those that have done this, what kind of glue do you use and what kind of surface do you glue them to. Thanks folks!

Keith

[Mona Miller]

You don't have to glue them. They can emerge from a flat surface as long as they have something to climb on to. That is why I love the net cages. Those can be purchased from Insect Lore, Educational Science, etc.

http://www.butterflyfunfacts.com/gluepupae.php
Edith uses a cool hot glue gun

The butterfly exhibits use silicone.

[BlizzardNole]

So Mona, you mean I could just lay them flat in a container as long as there is say, paper towel lining the bottom and sides? Laying on their sides won't hinder development in any way?

I might do this tonight -- "Chrysalis City" is very crowded in my terrarium -- many are less than an inch from each other.

I have a plastic storage bin that a I made a screen top for -- how about I line the whole thing with more screening (or even just paper towels) and lay them in? Do I have to lay them a certain way, and how far apart from each other should they be? One last thing -- how careful do you have to be to detach them? In other words, are they sturdy enough (after a few days) that I can just carefully pull them down from the screen top? Thanks for all your help!

[Mona Miller]

Wait at least 48 hours and then spray with water. Wait at least 10 seconds, if the screen top has a ton of weaves, I'd take a stick pin and carefully pull the silk. Water loosens silk. Do not just pull them down, that could break the cremater off the pupa.

I think sides and top work better than just sides with regards to getting a foot hold. It does matter that they are spaced apart and probably matters that they don't have to climb over each other to get to a wall. They will head towards the light. Monarch Watch places each butterfly in its own cup.

Some place on the forum is a photo that Jim shared.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=648&hilit=cups#p3241

[BlizzardNole]

Great info -- thanks! I really like the plastic cup idea. That makes sense as they'll all have their own spaces. I can even set them up on a lighted shelving set that I have for starting seedlings.

[Wyvern]

I normally raise my 3rd-5th instar cats in 24 oz containers with special Poly Fabric lined lids that allow air flow, but still keep humidity up much higher than in an open air cage. Plus, they are easy to bleach/disinfect/clean so they can be safely reused. I never have to mist. Since I switched to them a few years ago and stopped misting, my cat death rates dropped by a lot.

The sturdy fabric on the tops of the lids usually provide a very secure base for the silk to hold on to. Occasionally, a cat decides to rush the chrysalis process and falls to the bottom of the container.

To rehang the chrysalis: I take cotton string and cut them into 8" long pieces. I then separate the strands of the string and tie an individual strand around the base of the cremaster. After that it's just a matter of tying the string to something to hang the chrysalis. For the containers, I tape the ends of the string to the outside of the containers and then put the lid on to hold the chrysalis in place.

At work I usually set up a temporary public display with reptile window screen cages. It's easy enough to have branches in those cages that the chrysalis' can then be tied to if needed. If I run out of space in my rearing containers, I sometimes just throw a bunch of 5th instars into the screen cages and they will make their chrysalis' on the top or on the branches. This year though I don't have a public display because the offices are being renovated and the dust/mold stirred up plus the paint fumes are nasty. Don't want to subject the babies to that so am raising them all at home in the cups.

Some pics from last year:


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[Mona Miller]

I don't mist eggs or caterpillars, just the pupae since they are in a net container in an air conditioned house. Where do you get your Poly fabric?

[BlizzardNole]

Last night I got a bunch of 18-oz clear plastic cups from Target and went to work with screen mesh and tape -- I got 30 in cups so far. I used the trays that came with my flourescent light seed starting shelf and put them on paper towels under the lights. I took the ones that looked darker and ready to hatch, but did take one that was too soft. I'm lucky I didn't harm it. From now on I'll label them so I can move them after 3-5 days when they're good and hard.

Wyvern: I really like those nice containers you got, especially how you can stack 'em. Do you have about three in each container? Where did you get the containers and that fabric?

[Wyvern]

I have found through experimentation the following housing numbers:

A large container can house a maximum of (12) 3rd instar cats, (8) 4th instar cats, or (4) 5th instar cats. I actually start out the babies in 4oz condiment cups and when they hit 3rd instar size I move them to the large containers in groups of 12. After a few days they are large enough to break down into the smaller groupings. 5th instars I have to sometimes juggle things. Occasionally one cat doesn't keep up in size with the others and can cause damage to chrysalis' if the others pupate a day or so before the last does, therefore I occasionally will move lone cats out into other containers.

The containers are sold as insect containers with the lids already having the poly fabric melded. You can also get lids with aluminum mesh too (for buggies that can chew through fabric such as crickets). I had originally purchased a bunch of the containers for rearing fruit flies and black widows. I tried the containers with the fruit flies and while they work, they are a pain for controlling the flies when you take the lid off LOL. I found I much prefer using vials for fruit flies. They are great for the black widows though. The other year I decided to try them with the monarchs and it turned out much better than expected... my death rates totally went down when compared to raising in open air cages.

I get my containers from Superior Enterprise.

I get the 24 oz with poly fabric lids. A box of 240 containers is $68, but remember they can be bleached and reused over and over (2-3 tbl. spoons of bleach in a container filled with water and allowed to soak for 20-30 min. will actually remove the silk webbing from the sides of the cup).

https://superiorenterprise.com/store/in ... &Itemid=53

[Mona Miller]

Have you tried any other butterflies in these containers? I grow swallowtails, admirals, viceroys, questions marks, etc. Wonder how they would do? Thanks. These look interesting.

[Wyvern]

I did use them last year for spicebush and black swallowtails when they were close to going into chrysalis. Those types of cats I usually raise on potted plants in open air cages because it's just easier to rotate pots out as they over eaten. I imagine, painted ladies should do wonderful in the containers. Probably even fritillaries.