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8/15/10 Max turns 17, Shane turns 9, Butterfly & Bug Update Max was deathly sick over our July vacation and we came close to adopting the little black feral kitten, which my Dad still has not caught (the other 2 kittens have found homes). Max had been sneezing for a few weeks and developed a nasty snotty nose on the left side. So we went to the vet. He was so sick, he let the vet give him a nasal irrigation! He did refuse the 2nd irragation in true Max Snappy Turtle fashion, but quickly settled down to allow a shot of antibiotics and an immune system booster. Oh yes, Max was quite ill. Most of the week he did not get worse or better. We cancelled our day trip to the shore. By Saturday the 24th, his 17th birthday, he started to perk up a bit. We are not sure what he had. Zoe and Titan never became ill. Max has returned to his normal talkative self.
On July 19th, Shane turned 9. One of the things he got was a mountain bike. His previous bike was bmx style. He took to his new one like a duck to water. It has 7 speeds and hand brakes. We are proud of how well he is doing. The most he has ridden is 15 miles, which was on his old one. Most of our rides with Shane are 7-12 miles in length and we let him set the pace. We have been riding rail trails (paved and stones) and a little road. Soon we may try some easy cross-country mountain bike trails.
We had our first black swallowtail butterfly (shown in photo) eclose a few days ago and another yesterday. Our oldest spicebush caterpillars are at the cool looking stage. For several days they are green (my favorite stage), then just before they pupate they turn yellow-orange as shown. The last time I checked, the orange caterpillar was spinning tons of silk on the side of his container, but had not formed a chrysalis. I have added a bunch of butterfly and moth photos to the Other Butterflies & Bugs page. In the house we have 7 black swallowtail larvae, 7 black swallowtail eggs, 1 black swallowtail chrysalis, 5 spicebush swallowtail larvae, 1 trumpet vine sphinx cocoon, 1 mystery cocoon (probably a tiger moth), 1 milkweed caterpillar, 2 IO moth larvae, and 1 saddleback larvae.
I found the saddleback quite by accident. I was monitoring monarchs near the front porch. I did not see it and brushed against it and was stung! It felt like stinging nettles x3. I have read that the saddleback’s sting is the worst of any North American caterpillar. It caused welts and a rash on my wrist. I immediately washed my wrist, applied antihistamine cream and took an antihistimine pill. The pain lasted for about an hour. Several hours later my wrist has returned to normal. The most painful sting I have ever had was a wasp and this was nowhere near that pain. I think even the yellow jacket sting was worse -- that one made my knee swell and the doctor put me on steriods. I will eventually add photos of the saddleback to the garden page mentioned above.
In monarch news, we have 50-60 chrysalises that are due to eclose this coming week. Due to the fungal/disease isses we have had, I am not sure how healthy these guys are going to be. I do not think we are looking at an Oe issue, but something else. In glancing over the new insect books that I bought, I saw some sections that might be helpful in this regard, but I have not had time to check them out indepth. We have had several monarchs laying eggs in the yard this week and I was able to tag 2 of them. For the most part, I am leaving the eggs and larvae in the gardens. Once they become 4th or 5th instars, then I will bring the into the house as originally planned at the beginning of the summer.
7/10/10 Feral Kittens, Insect Nursery Update, Audubon Magazine We spent the 4th of July at my parents’ house. Their AC was dead, but it was ok because we spent most of the time coaxing the 3 feral kittens out from under their shed. Although we were unable to catch them, we did play with them. Moma cat made a hissy appearance. The other two kittens are white with black patches. The neighbor is trying to find homes for them. Since we already have 3 cats, we did not offer to take one.
The IO moth eggs hatched this week. These poisonous little babies like to stay in a clump or form a train. Shane and I decided to keep 4 and release the rest. They like redbud leaves and we have one of those trees, so feeding them will be easy. As for the ones we released, I decided they should be released in the woods at Pickering, where no one will be walking. I did not want to release them at Charlestown, because it is also the home of a huge soccer park and tons of kids run all over the park. I would not want anyone to get stung.
Our sulphur caterpillar (1 of 5 survived) is doing well and is just over 1/2 an inch long -- so the photo is way larger than life. I have no idea how close he is to forming a chrysalis. Our salt marsh caterpillar formed a cocoon (see photo), as did the Virginia tiger caterpillars (not shown).
I had a truckload of compost delivered from the township. Although they don’t screen it, it is great dirt for starting or adding to a flower bed. I am making a raised bed in the front yard where the sun hits the most. It will be the new Milkweed Garden. Yesterday, as I was hauling dirt and creating the outline for the garden, I noticed a black swallowtail flitting about the spicebush. Then I realized she was laying eggs. A spicebush swallowtail at last! No more searching through sassafras at the park! After she left, I checked the plant and found 4 eggs, which are now in the guestroom with the other insects. The egg photo is one of them. We are very excited about these eggs, because the larvae are super cool-looking.
Our trumpet vine horn worm has shed to a 5th instar and changed colors from green to the yellow-red color you see in the photo.
Newsflash: my tagged monarch photo has been published on page 20 of the July/August 2010 Audubon magazine with a short article on tagging. In other monarch news, we currently have 18 monarch caterpillars. When I monitored on Thursday, I could not find all of the eggs and larvae that I had seen earlier in the week. I panicked and decided to collect everything I found. I am sure there are still more caterpillars as I see some munching, but sometimes they are hard to find on the butterfly and swamp milkweeds. Also, they tend to wander when they are molting.
7/3/10 Chasing Butterflies, Salt Marsh Moth Caterpillar, IO Moth Eggs, Trumpet Vine Horn Worm The past few days have been gorgeous. Shane and I have gone to the local parks several times. While I was trying to photograph the butterflies, Shane was trying to catch them by hand (we left the net at home) and he finally got one of the tiger swallowtails. In addition to the tigers, Valley Forge has been teaming with monarch butterflies. More than I can remember seeing in past years. Considering the bad winter that they had in Mexico, I am surprised by this. When I was there this morning I came across the yellow-orange fuzzy caterpillar eating some milkweed, which is a salt marsh moth larva. I bought him home for Shane. (Note: we later released the salt marsh moth near where I found the caterpillar).
Shane and I went to Charlestown park one day because it has sassafras and we were hoping to find spicebush caterpillars, but instead we found these interesting eggs that look like eyes. Thanks to Leecy who figured out that they are automeris io moth eggs! Should we decide to raise the caterpillars, we will have to be very careful because they have poisonous barbs. At any rate, they make an interesting photo.
Although I didn’t want to raise moths, I have given in on this. We also have a trumpet vine horn worm (the green caterpillar in the photo). Thinking he was a tomato horn worm, we offered him tomatoes and various weeds, but he did not want any of those things. We keep trying different plants and finally found out that this picky larva prefers trumpet vine, which I have plenty of. Then later we found out that he is a trumpet vine horn worm.
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