Lost 5 of the 6 Space Cats

[texas butterfly]

We've lost 5 of the 6 space cats. The last one is not doing good.

They seemed to be growing slowly.

t. butterfly

[M_ and_ M]

I have lost 3 of the 12 we received, two just never even got started, and just yesterday lost one that only reached about a half inch and then just puttered around the place. I have 2 more that are still on food, growing but very slow. All the rest have formed their chrysalis starting 5 days ago. Really the odds seem good since it is off season!! It really is a great trial for the food, which is still the best I have used in package form.
Really want to thank all the schools posting info, it is great to see the kids expressions and see that some interests is being bred for the monarchs.

[nelsondr]

Wow- I am SORRY to hear that. We lost three of our six even before we had a food 'issue.' It is part of life and science, I know, but I think it's especially difficult when you're working with kids. I know they're 'just caterpillars,' but I lost hours of sleep literally worrying about whether mine would survive with little to no food. I guess I was a bit more frantic, as I was 'causing' their demise. I'm happy to report that a wonderful stranger (soon to be friend) sent us the miracle we needed - some still green pods she had taken earlier this year from her garden. I have to go back through to read what you've said in the past few days, but do you have/have you tried fresh plants? It's no guarantee that my three will make it from here, but I can say I haven't seen them off the pods since I put them in there. Do you have someone who can mail you some? The pods I have are small, but I would be willing to share if you thought it might help.

[texas butterfly]

Our 6th one is not looking too good.
We still have plenty of the artificial diet.

In a separate habitat we are raising 3 home-grown caterpillars and they are feeding on milkweed from my backyard. They are doing good.

One became a butterfly yesterday. The other 2 seem to be wanting to PUPA soon.

Seems the Kansas space butterflies won't make it.

The Texas butterflies seem to be healthy and will make it. At least with the Texas butterflies the students are seeing the process as it should work.

They are seeing the other experiments but at least being able to see comparisons between the space cats and the Texas cats. I think they are still excited and learning lots.

t. butterfly

[Jim]

Difficult to say what's going on...if you can provide details of your rearing chamber and environment we might be able to venture a guess.

We sent out nearly 600 of these kits and the vast majority of comments we've received thus far have been that the cats are doing great.

We will be sending out an exit survey of sorts, requesting chamber details and overall experiences to review feedback and possibly make modifications for future projects.

Stay tuned!

[texas butterfly]

The habitat we are using is a deli container for sandwich. Obtained from Walmart deli.

Here is link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39431349@N ... 799721851/

[icanwingit]

I have 5 of the 6 in crysalis now. The last caterpillar isn't moving much. Some are not hanging vertically so I am not sure if that effects their development. When we came back from Thanksgiving on Monday, 3 were in crysalis and then two more on Tuesday and Wednesday. I don't remember how long before they come out. I am trying to take pictures each day. Students are anxious to see them as butterflies. Mine seem to have developed more slowly than the space ones. Could it be that we had a warmer temperature? We had one set on a 12 hour day/12 hour night cycle and the other set had a 6 hour day/night cycle. It seemed that the 6 hour cycle group developed faster. Seems unusual.