First Butterfly Eclosed.

The first butterfly eclosed yesterday evening. She's so pretty! (Assuming female, since it wass one of the larger caterpillars/chrysalis, and females are larger). I believe I will end up with three males and three females, when the other five eclose. I put her in a screen enclosure and will be feeding her Gatorade and fruit until the weather permits release. Hopefully the others eclose soon, so they can be released together.

Gulf fritillarys and a new year

I found 7 tiny gulf fritillary caterpillars on my passion vine last December, when I brought it in the house for the winter. One caterpillar died, but the other 6 have successfully made it to the chrysalis stage. Three of them grew fast and got really big, while the other 3 grew a bit slower and stayed smaller. I am looking forward to watching them elcose. They will be a beautiful introduction to a new year. I am hoping to do a lot more gardening and create a better backyard habitat for butterflies and other creatures this year.

Starch experiment conclusion

Well, the starch accidentally got dumped, because we forgot what it was. It worked fine for the smaller snowflakes, but did not get the larger ones stiff enough. I think I will do glue next time.