Charlie Murphy & Rick James: The Final Chapter.

Rick James emerged from his chrysalis yesterday morning.

I was so happy to have another healthy butterfly, but admittedly I was a bit sad, too. I had expected Rick and Charlie to emerge at almost the same time (given their past), but Charlie's chrysalis was still quite green and had at least another day to go.

I waited for Rick James' wings to unfold fully, and even though he wasn't flapping around with the same anxious flutter as Eddie Murphy, I figured I had better get him outside so he could start eating right away. I kept him fed as a caterpillar- and certainly didn't want to starve him as a butterfly!

Besides making friends with this bee, Rick James didn't... do much. He had a double-proboscis going, which worried me a little, until I read that that's normal until the two tubes fuse together.

It was a nice, sunny day, so I left him to feed on the milkweed and figured I'd come back and check on him later.

About half an hour passed, and he was still there, in the same place.

I waited another hour- same thing.

He stayed on the plant for about 4 hours, and it started looking stormy outside... so back in he came.
I set up some flowers in a vase, hoping if he needed to eat, they would suffice.

It occurred to me that maybe... possibly?... could he be waiting for Charlie Murphy?

He spent the rest of the night in the screened cage hanging on one of the walls. Not flying around. Not even so much as attempting to fly around.

This morning, Charlie Murphy's chrysalis was very, very transparent. I knew he would be coming out today!
Rick James was still just sitting there, hanging on the wall.

After a trip down to Maryland and into the office for work, I returned home and when I went upstairs, I heard the sound of wings flapping!

There they were! Both flapping, fluttering around, seeming very ready to go!

And guess what?.... Charlie Murphy is a female!
They were alone in that cage all day, unsupervised... Charlie could be pregnant by now. My oh my. What will the media say when they find out Rick James has knocked up Charlie Murphy???

I transferred them both into the transportation plastic container and the three of us went outside.

And out to the milkweed we went.
I placed Rick James on a flower... and he did the same thing as yesterday: Just sat there.

Yes, Rick. You're glorious. BUT CAN YOU FLY!?

I reached into the container to let Charlie Murphy climb on to my finger, and just as I took my hand out of the container, Charlie Murphy took off to go and roost way up high in our Redbud tree!

I was a little sad that she didn't want to sip some nectar with Rick James before she left.

I was also concerned that Rick James still hadn't made any attempt whatsoever to fly.
I held my finger out to him and he climbed on. I walked him over to Charlie Murphy and he just sat there. Then he peed on my hand. I walked him around some more, hoping to let him feel the breeze? Look around? See something he liked? I don't know.

Eventually I placed him back on the milkweed and went inside to wash my hand.

When I came back out, he was still there on the milkweed. I figured I'd give it one last go to try and get him airborne and gently moved my finger underneath him.... and he immediately took off, up, over and past a neighbor's house, far away into the woods!
I was kind of sad I didn't get to have one last look at him roosting in a tree, like I did with Eddie and Charlie. I was also kind of sad that he didn't fly into the Redbud to join Charlie again.
I went to the Redbud to check on Charlie... and she was gone.

They could have both gone their separate ways, but who knows... maybe she flew off to a tree behind the neighbor's house and Rick James went to join her.

Codependent Caterpillars

Or, "BFF's for Life" (which is all of 2 weeks, for the caterpillar.)

This is a somewhat silly post I meant to write last week, but I'm glad I didn't since today there was something significant to add.

Two of my caterpillars, Charlie Murphy and Rick James, have been inseparable almost from birth. They were the 2nd and 3rd caterpillars born from about 12 eggs I collected 2 weekends ago.

Charlie Murphy & Rick James, their first day of life.

Charlie Murphy & Rick James, day two.

I kept big (and a few small) leaves in the container to be sure everyone was well fed (I ended up with 7 or 8 baby caterpillars in all), and as the caterpillars grew bigger, I added enough leaves so that everyone could each have their own.

But for these two, the number of leaves was irrelevant. No matter how many leaves were in the container, or how much exploring they did of said leaves, they always ended up eating on the same one.

Day 4, sharing another leaf.

Eventually I put all of the little caterpillars into a bigger container- I was down to 6 of them at that point. I knew they would need more room as they got bigger. However, Charlie Murphy and Rick James- true to form- remained constantly close, even after being given more space.

This didn't always seem like a good thing though, because as with all siblings, sometimes there were fights:


Charlie Murphy is the bigger one- and it looks like he's telling Rick James that he needs some space! (I put a small leaf in between them after recording this... sometimes siblings just need to be separated for a bit.)

I had never seen caterpillars act like this before, and thought maybe I had the wrong impression of these two. Maybe they weren't best friends... but more like mutual bullies- rivals, even- who enjoy a good territorial battle and wouldn't leave each other alone no matter how many leaves I added. 

But the fighting phase lasted only a short time. (Well, everything with caterpillars only lasts a short time, but that's beside the point.) As the caterpillars got older (and more mature), Charlie Murphy and Rick James' bond seemed to grow stronger.

10 days old.

Eventually I transferred the caterpillars into another new container- a big screened in cage. The new cage would give them plenty of air circulation and lots of climbing space to use when they decided to wander around in search of just the right space to form a chrysalis.

I added a shallow plastic dish with holes punched in the lid, filled the dish with water, and stuck big common milkweed leaves (and a couple small swamp milkweed branches) through the holes of the lid, hoping to keep them fresh for as long as possible. Once again, enough leaves for everyone.... I think this picture speaks for itself:

It reached a point where I no longer thought it was just my imagination.

Later this same day, I was working late in our home office, where the caterpillar cage is located- on the desk, next to the computer. I finished up with work around 1 in the morning and decided to peek over at the caterpillars to see what was going on.

Oh no! Charlie Murphy and Rick James are surely about to fight again!
I watched them and waited, hoping I wouldn't have to intervene.
I waited...
And waited....
And... nothing.
They stayed in this position- not moving at all, and I realized they weren't going to fight. It seemed like they might have even been sleeping, they were so still.
It was sweet.

As you can probably tell from the above picture, the caterpillars are really huge now- about 2 inches long.

Yesterday I came home from running some errands. Eddie Murphy, the eldest caterpillar, had formed a chrysalis- which was very exciting! And Charlie Murphy and Rick James had both started wandering, climbing around, looking for a place to make their chrysalis as well.

Charlie Murphy in the foreground; Rick James in the back.

I am amazed at how in tune the two of them are.
Even at this late, late stage in their lives, when it seems like the amount of time that it takes to do what they have left to do can vary greatly (9 hours? 15 hours? 20 hours?)- they both began to spin silk on the top of the cage at the same time. And- I can't make this up, I was sitting in the room with them when it happened- they both dropped down into their hanging "J" position within about 10 minutes of each other.

Sorry for the poor quality of this photo. I took this picture through the screen- not wanting to open the door and shake the cage too much while they were in this fragile position.

When I woke up this morning, I was anxious to see what Charlie and Rick had done during the night. Had they already shed their skins one last time? Would one be a chrysalis, the other still in a "J"?

When I walked in and saw them, my heart immediately sunk. For they were both hanging straight down, no longer in the "J" shape.

Last night, I had to dispose of a sick caterpillar I had had in isolation. (He was isolated because I had collected him at a later time than the others, and since he had spent more time outside, he had been more exposed to parasites, etc. I didn't want him infecting the others that I had collected almost immediately after seeing the eggs being laid outside.) He had gone into a "J" yesterday morning, but throughout the day he lost his "J" position and eventually hung straight down... That didn't seem right to me. Later that night came the tell-tale white string hanging from his body and I knew he had been infected with the Tachinid Fly. :(

So you can imagine my sadness to see these two, both hanging there, straight down.
But I got closer, and realized they were still green and swollen looking- not rust-colored and shrunken, like the infected caterpillar.

I took a look at them from another angle and couldn't believe what I was seeing- so, of course, I grabbed my camera.


Yes... that's 17 seconds of Charlie Murphy and Rick James, simultaneously shedding their skins for the last time. (Eddie Murphy's chrysalis hangs in the background.)

This is the rest of the process. I decided to take video from a different angle. I apologize in advance for all of the movement in the middle of this video- I could tell my camera lost focus and I was moving around, trying to get it to re-focus on the pupating caterpillar in the foreground.


I feel like I was witnessing one of those old Disney movies, where it's created from actual films of animals rather than animation. "Charlie Murphy and Rick James: A Tale of Friendship, Eating, and Pooping."

Of course, I'm curious to see if the two eclose (emerge) as simultaneously as this. Only time will tell- and I've got about 10 days of waiting until I find out :)

(See the follow up here!
http://pollinatorplates.blogspot.com/2012/08/rick-james-charlie-murphy-final-chapter.html )

Beez In The Trap (or... in a sweater)

It was bound to happen sooner or later: I got stung by one of our sweet little native bees this morning!

But let me put the incident into context:

I had been outside tending to some caterpillars and apparently she landed on my sweater. I didn't notice her, and I went back indoors while she hitched a ride. I felt a little chilly, so I folded my arms- and felt a sharp pain on the back of my hand! (Which, admittedly, is a very sensitive place.) The bee, being stuck between the crook of my sleeved arm and bare hand, must have felt trapped/threatened, because from what I've heard, that's the only time the natives will sting. My knee-jerk reaction was to fling the offender off myself, and that's when I saw it was one of these beautiful coppery-green bees.

She landed on my floor. I know native bees are very unlikely to sting, so I decided to give her a 2nd opportunity... sort of like a test. I do all this talking about how- under normal circumstances- native bees don't sting, so I better have some experience to back myself up, right? I held out my finger to let her climb on so I could place her back outside where she belongs. She was hesitant at first, but she climbed on, and made no indication that she felt threatened and did NOT try to sting me again. That's the thing with these bees... you *can* handle them (to a point) and they're gentle and docile 99% of the time.

The 'welt' she left on my hand is tiny and almost unnoticeable- I was going to take a picture and post it here, but honestly it is more of a small red mark than a welt, not even half the size of a mosquito bite, and is hardly worth the effort of "showing it off." I'm also quite certain had she stung me in a more fleshy area, it wouldn't have hurt very much at all. But a sting is a sting, and never a pleasant experience. After placing her back outside, I put a little ice on the back of my hand and in less than 5 minutes the pain was gone.

And now that I'm done writing this quick post, the mark is completely gone and I can't tell where she stung me to begin with. Considering that over the past few years I've done a TON of gardening outside while being surrounded by all kinds of bees and wasps, and gotten up close and personal with them to photograph them, and let many of them climb onto my hands and fingers, and this accident has been the only time I've been stung- I'd say the odds of an average gardener or bee enthusiast getting stung are pretty darn slim ;)

Moths & Fauxhawks

"Well, hi there, little moth! I'm sorry to disturb you- I wasn't expecting to find you here on this anenome leaf."

"Hey... what's up."

"Just doing a little weeding. Oh- look what you've got there! A little fauxhawk! That's quite a cute little spikey 'do!"

"Thanks, I guess. It's not really supposed to be cute."

"Oh, of course. I didn't mean to imply-- wait, is that turquoise I see in there? It IS! You've gone and dyed your hair with bright blue and orange stripes, too! Look at you, little non-conformist. Way to stick it to the man."

"I'm not trying to stick it to the man. I'm just trying to express myself. Lunas and those obnoxious butterflies get all the attention because they're big and colorful. Show-offs. 'Ooooo, look at him! He's big and green!! And here's another boring tan one.' I'm sick of being judged by my looks. Sure, some lepidopterans have bright colors, or some have a different hairstyle, or big antennae... But because they think I look 'boring', I can't find a job, and I can't pay my rent, and I got a wife and kids........they shut off my electricity.........I'm a moth... I need bright lights........"

"Wow, would you look at the time! I need to go back inside and........ um...."

"It's cool, man. Before you go, though, could you point me in the direction of the nearest Hot Topic store? I still need to update my 'look' a little. I'ma hit up a Starbucks on the way, too."

"Sure, dude."

Collecting Swallowtails

A couple of weeks ago, I was really excited to find tiny swallowtail caterpillars on my Rue for the 2nd time this year. The first time was back in April, and a couple days after I first spotted them, they all disappeared. I decided not to let the new caterpillars meet that same fate. I brought them indoors, to the caterpillar playground!

They're doing quite well, getting nice and big!

2 different instars of the black swallowtail caterpillar, chowing down on some rue.

This morning I went outside to gather some more rue for them, since they are going through lots of it.

And I finally got to see something I had never seen before- a black swallowtail egg!

Isn't it gorgeous? This tiny pale green perfect little globe. I've seen pictures of the eggs, so I immediately knew what it was. I was so excited and wondered where Momma was, and if she would be back to lay more eggs soon.

About 30 seconds later, as if to answer my question, there she was! She didn't even seem to mind that I was sitting right there.

A couple of my neighbors know that I'm raising caterpillars and when they wanted to know about finding them, they asked, "Did you just go out looking for caterpillars? Or you just happened to find them?"
"No, I found the eggs."

This always seems to blow people's minds at first- like I have some super human powers for finding butterfly eggs. Which I think is funny, since once you know what to look for- and possibly more importantly, where to look- it's very easy :)

Now I've got about 10 of the eggs and will go out later to see if there are more. I will have to do some research since it is getting late in the year- these caterpillars might want to overwinter as a chrysalis!

Sipping on Lantana

Butterflies and Moths: Not Always Glamorous

Have you ever said to someone, "I am so embarrassed for you."
It's kind of a mean thing to say, even if you're trying to be empathetic.

But yesterday around 7:30 in the morning, I had those thoughts. And instead of trying to spare further embarrassment to the subject, I grabbed my camera.


I had let my dog out early to do his business, and went out with him to dump out a container of banana peels and coffee grounds into the compost. I noticed my dog, instead of doing his business, was very interested in some bug flying around in circles, low in the yard. I watched him while several thoughts were flying through my head.... Obviously hoping he wouldn't catch and chomp down on the bug- at first, for the bug's sake, but the longer I watched, the more that bug was resembling one of those giant Japanese hornets, and I started to worry for my dog. (I don't know if we actually have Japanese hornets around here, but growing up, that's what my stepdad called them.) And if it WAS a giant hornet, I wondered if it was circling its own nest in the grass there- which would be a REALLY inconvenient place for bigass hornets to have a nest.

My dog decided to leave the thing alone- quite unlike him, actually- so I went inside to grab my camera, thinking from far away this bug looked interesting.

When I arrived back on the scene, I was simultaneously thrilled and disgusted. Right before my very eyes was a beautiful Nessus Sphinx moth! I see them every now and then (a couple times a year), but never when I have my camera with me, and they never hang around long enough for me to run all the way inside and get it.

The moth had been flying around in little circles, just above the grass, right over....

A fresh pile of my dog's poop.
And feeding on it.

Disgusting.

I actually feel sort of bad for uploading these photos because, obviously to zoom in close and get good photos of this cool moth, I also had to zoom in on the poop. No one needs to see that. I debated whether or not to just color over it in Photoshop, or use the clone tool to copy the grass over top of the poop, but as of this morning, ain't nobody got time for that.

There are just.... so many jokes I could make right now.

Necessary things for your butterfly garden include:

• Host plants for caterpillars
• Nectar plants for butterflies
• A puddling area
• Fresh dog turds

Ugh!
Gross!

NESSUS STINX MOTH

LOL

But if you can get past the poop (and if you can't, I understand), the moth itself really is a beauty. And from far away, totally looks like a big hornet.

Caterpillar Time!

Saturday (the 28th), before my race, I was out doing some gardening for a few hours. (Maybe not the best way to spend pre-race time, but oh well.) I was DELIGHTED when a Monarch butterfly fluttered into the garden amongst my milkweed!! I hurried into the house to get my camera, then came back out in hopes that she would lay some eggs.

Just hangin' out...

It didn't take long- almost immediately I saw the tell-tale reverse abdominal crunch move that indicates that a butterfly is laying an egg!

"UUUNNNnnnnnnnngh!"
Tucking her abdomen under the leaf to deposit an egg

I followed her around for a while until I no longer saw her in the garden. I have milkweed plants in 4 different places in our yard and found eggs on most of the plants.

Egg!

I prepared an empty plastic cookie container (reduce, reuse, recycle, right??) for the eggs by washing it thoroughly and putting a paper towel in the bottom. I punched holes in the lid from the inside out (so the jagged edges are pointing up and out of the container, and the caterpillars won't rub on those sharp edges if they climb up!) with a wine bottle opener. Then I went outside and collected the eggs (10 total) by pinching off the entire leaf, but you can also just tear off a piece of the leaf with the egg attached.

Lastly I took an old knee-high pantyhose and cut off the top, then cut a slit down the side so I could stretch it out into a square shape. I laid this on top of the open container and stretched it out, then closed the lid over it, securing it in place.
Those caterpillar babies are going to be about the size of a small ant, and can easily fit through the holes in the container!

Then I waited.
I didn't have to wait long.

On day 3 (July 30th), TWO eggs hatched!

The first hatchling caterpillar baby! Meet Eddie Murphy.

A little video I made of the first few moments of Eddie Murphy's life...


Eddie hatched first, in the afternoon, and Charlie hatched later in the evening. For the rest of the night I was pretty excited.

The 2nd hatchling caterpillar baby! Meet Charlie Murphy.

I recently watched Eddie Murphy on "Inside the Actor's Studio" (he is GREAT by the way) and the names just sort of... happened.

When I woke up this morning (day 4), I couldn't wait to check on them!

You can imagine how happy I was this afternoon when I looked in the container and saw......

FOUR CATERPILLAR BABIES!!! The two born today don't have names yet.

Check out the little holes in the leaves, and all of that poop. They are already eating and pooping lots. After I took this photo, I cleaned out the poop. Kind of glad I didn't clean it before the photo was taken though, just because it is amazing how much they can poop in just a couple of hours!

Next I plan to separate these four into a different container and wait for the rest of the eggs to hatch. I don't think I'll be waiting long, cause.......

See how dark that egg is? That means it's almost ready to hatch. A couple of the eggs look like this now, so they will probably hatch some time this evening!

(You can click on any pictures in this post to enlarge them.)

This is a wonderful website that I keep going back to visit- tons of useful information if you're curious about raising caterpillars, too!!
http://www.mymonarchguide.com/2007/05/raising-caterpillars.html

Random notes:
I have since read that for the first few days, you don't actually need air holes in the container. Can anyone confirm this?
I've also seen pictures where people have taken thumbtacks (or other objects that make a very tiny hole) and poked airholes in the container with that. Are holes that tiny sufficient to get the caterpillars enough air? You'd need a lot of holes, but then you probably wouldn't need the stocking or other barrier.

Any questions or advice for me? Please leave a comment and let me know!