Thursday, August 28, 2008

Praying Mantis


And now for something completely not Monarch-related.
This spring-green Praying Mantis really stood out against the pink of the Autumn Joy sedum. And even though she was busy finishing off a Bumblebee meal, she didn't seem to mind my intrusion too much. I've seen lots of Mantids this year, and more Grasshoppers than I've ever seen...all kinds of them. I'm now wishing I'd kept track of all the kinds there are ! I wonder what set of conditions converged to give them such an advantage this year ?

Tiny Guy's 6th day as a caterpillar


While changing out the old milkweed stems for fresh ones , I had an opportunity to get a photo of Tiny Guy. 6 days out of the egg. Seriously cute at this stage.

Another caterpillar went Chrysalis yesterday afternoon. But first I rescued it from the inside of a big milk bottle that was holding the new milkweed stems....and lots of water ! The caterpillar's front antenna were dangling in the water...there it was, adhered to the damp glass sides by most of its feet...a sticky substance gluing the feet to the bottle. I ran outside and found a long twig that I slipped between its legs and applied a little bit of pressure so that it would have to push back on and hopefully cling to the twig. I waited until it had backed up a segment or two and then very gently pulled it up and away from a watery grave ! Whew ! After a brief rest the cat went on "walkabout" and found a better site on the wire of the rearing tower ( the cage ). We'll be moving the 3 chrysalids in the next day or so, and we've got two more to go !
Today it's about 65 degrees and lightly rainy...awful butterfly weather...I'm hoping we have some good, warm sunny days to release ours out into.