Well, I have a lot of pictures to post. I would have posted them earlier but I've kind of been in a bad mood. Probably need to pet my caterpillars more. I do see my therapist today at 3pm so that should help. Although, he has me worried because he emailed me late Tuesday night to reschedule my usual Wednesday 11am appointment. And since I have anxiety, my mind automatically goes to the worst places so now I hope his kids and family are okay. In the meantime, I've been feeding caterpillars and had one release.
The release was a Pipevine ST who apparently thought coming out at 8pm was a good idea. I kept it overnight because I didn't like the looks of her (I think it was a her, but I'm not positive). She stayed wrinkled for far too long and had these weird white streaks in her wings. Also, her abdomen was somewhat flattened. Let me show you. Here she is just emerged pretty much (at least, as soon as I noticed).
And here she was the next morning. Not as wrinkly, but look at her abdomen. Doesn't it look weird? Her chrysalis was a little bent at the position where it normally has that "hinge" but I've seen that happen before and still have a normal butterfly.
She wasn't quite ready to fly so I put her on some Spanish Needles and she eventually climbed to the top of my shepherd's hook (I have bromeliads that hang off it). See that weird white streak in her upper wing? I don't know what that is. But shortly after I took the picture she took off flying and flew for a couple minutes until she disappeared over into the neighbor's yard (Dale, this time, not Jim's as usual, LOL). So as long as she can fly I guess she stands a chance.
Okay, you know how I talk about caterpillars doing yoga? I think we can market this, folks. I have an entrepreneurial idea to start a new method of yoga based on caterpillar movements. Those neo-hippies will eat it up. But to demonstrate what I mean, first here's an older picture I have of a Palamedes Swallowtail (not a Spicebush, but like a cousin to it). The Palamedes and the Spicebush are snake mimics and that's what he's actually doing. He'll even sway back and forth like a cobra; it's too funny! But I always say they're doing yoga.
Now, here's a photo from yesterday showing the slightly different pose of the Viceroy. For some reason, they hold their heads and butts off of the leaf and just rest in the middle. Now, in their case, I have no idea why they do this. You can see the big one on top clearly, but the little guy below him is doing it, too.
Here's a couple of Gulf Frits for you.
Here's a lot of Duskywings. They usually hold their wings open, but I found a couple who were imitating planes.
The Zebra Longwings are out and about. And collecting pollen on their proboscis as you can see in the pictures.
I actually got a Long-Tailed Skipper to hold still for more than a split second!
I found both Polydamas and Pipevine eggs on the pipevine! Remember, Polydamas are golden yellow, Pipevine are reddish-orange.
And in caterpillar news, I have more Monarchs. Luckily, my milkweed has somewhat recovered.
And my Pipevine Swallowtails molted, are growing, and are munching away.
