Congrats on getting the eggs, Maryann!
The eggs usually hatch 5 days after they're laid, but they can take longer in cool weather. I've only got a few brand new a. macrophyllas, but it appears that it holds up in water like a. tomentosa, unless you cut off a single, brand new leaf - that will wilt. I cut down lower on the branch to an older area - then it will hold up.
I hope you can cobble together enough food for your babies!
Sherry

Congratulations, Mary Ann, on your PVS eggs!

I have had good luck with feeding leaves if you put the stems in a piece of wet floral foam--the kind for live flowers. MissSherry is correct that if you cut a stem, get the older part as well.

I took a half gallon milk jug with a lid and poked holes in one side. I filled it full of water, set it on its side in the raising container, and then put the stems in the holes. The pipevine lasted a long time and I didn't have to worry about frass in the water or babies falling in. The water stayed clear. When the stems were eaten down, I removed the old stems, cleaned off the milk bottle, and changed the water. This has proven to be the best system for keeping vines fresh.

Check out your resources there in Connecticut for locations of pipevine. I have located a couple of colonies of wild pipevine that I can go "trim" if I get low on food.

Good luck with your babies. And keep us posted. I'm currently raising 60+ PVSs that I retrieved as eggs. And I have over 30 more that are close to pupating.

Sandy

Hurray, I'm glad that you have some PVS babies, Maryann! It would be interesting to know if the PVS female had been visiting your friend's yard before but didn't lay eggs. I wonder if they would prefer young leaves so much that they'd wait to lay eggs. I'd probably be kicking myself if I were your friend right now, getting PVS eggs after my vine is cut down. I didn't know if you meant that he totally got rid of the plant or if he drastically trimmed it.

I have two pipevine plants that are in their second year of growth and am patiently waiting on some PVS to show up here. The butterfliesandmoths.org website doesn't show them for my county but in some surrounding counties, so I'm thinking that it's not impossible to get them here.

Best of luck with the eggs/cats!

Cathy

COngrats, Maryann! I have not seen one single PVS this year, but Sandy has. She lives further east and north of me, but for some reason, I just haven't seen any. Might have something to do with the fact that my pipevine has NOT done well this year. Both tomentosas died in the heat, the macrophylla is not growing at all, the clematitis is sporadic, and the serpentaria if limited.

The only pipevine I'm having luck with is A. fimbriata (seedlings) and A. serpentaria (seedlings). BTW, Sandy, I have another A. serpentaria coming up in the other container, and another A. fimbriata coming up in one of them, too! They are doing GREAT! Gonna have to find some seeds to winter sow this fall.

Have fun!

Susan

Susan,

It looks like I'm going to have seeds for all of them. I have fimbriata pods and little bitty pods on the bottom of the serpentaria. So, I should have some to share.

Sandy

I knew I could count on you all for advice. Hank, the guy who gave them to me, was shaking his head because he'd just pulled the vine and then the PVS showed up. (This year they've shown up in a few more places around CT than is usual.) but he must have left some roots in because there are new little shoots popping up already.

I remember someone saying about taking old growth with the cutting to prevent wilt. Just last week, I was going to experiment on keeping cuttings fresh in case I got eggs.

Now I'm afraid to waste any so thanks for the advice. I just hope they hatch! I'm going to take the dying cuttings that the eggs are on and fasten them to the new fresh cuttings that I'll put in water like Sandy does.

The only wild aristolochia that we have here is serpentaria and it's a threatened species and I guess it doesn't hold up well in water. Hank says he knows a guy with a macrophylla that could help me out.

I also know another woman who wants some about 20 miles from me. We have a pretty good network going with our CT Butterfly Association members..it's great.

But I think I hit the jackpot with this forum here...Each and every one of you has so much valuable experience to share!!!What would I do without you?

Maryann

Congrats! Congrats, Maryann!! How exciting! Can't believe that he was pulling it up by the roots. I'll bet that he was sick.

I have had some luck with Serpentaria, by watering the area well where you are going to take some cuttings. Perhaps you could take some buckets of water out to the area the evening before, unless you have had a recent rain? Soak some areas that have the most growth. Then take the cuttings very early in the morning or late in the evening, trying to get some old growth with the new,and immediately stick them in some water. It wouldn't work now for here with temps being over 100 for several days. But, you should be alot cooler there. Worth a try....

Good luck, and keep us posted. :)

Maryann,

The roots on pipevine are really long and tough. They can extend out from the plant at least 10 feet. When I dig up the little plants that pop up along the root network, they are quite a ways from the main plant. It would be pretty hard to kill an established pipevine. I bet Hank's pipevine comes back strong! He may find it popping up in new places also.

As to the serpentaria, I have had luck with putting it in water or the wet foam as long as I keep the container fairly tight. If the container is large, you can keep it tighter than a small container. The serpentaria is usually eaten down so quickly that there isn't any waste. Like Linda, I cut down below the old growth when I cut the stems. I trim all the pipevines as it seems to encourage new growth.

I am so excited for you! It is so much fun to get a new species to raise.

Sandy

Too bad you are multiple states away, Mary Ann -- I have some lonely pipevine here in MD.

Jeff

Woo-hoo! Love these babies, for sure! :) Have fun...they are so gorgeous.

Pipevines are tough, but the heat beat mine this summer! I was really surprised to see how quickly the A. fimbriata grows, Sandy. I remember when High Country Gardens first introduced it in their catalog, they said it was a very slow growing aristolochia. But these seedlings are growing in leaps and bounds!

Thanks - would love to have some seed. I'm also going to order some passiflora incarnata seeds to see if I can get some started.

Susan

Don't order any passi seeds, Susan. I have scads of seed pods and will give you a whole pod or more if you want.

Sandy

You guys are great...keep the advice coming.

Hank says he has had a second hit from the PVS Momma and has about 13 new eggs....Poor guy...But he also said another guy in our area has a pipevine to the top of his flag pole and we can have all the cuttings we want. Excellent..

Jeff...It's too bad your pipevine is PVSless, but never give up hope...and never pull it out because those sneaky little butterflies will wait until you do and guess what..?

I hope they hatch..especially now because I feel confident of a food source.

Maryann

Congrats! We haven't seen any PVSs around here this year. I just keep looking at the underside of my pipevine leaves and hoping.

Crittergirl..be sure to check the stems also..many eggs are layed on the stems and petioles of the leaves.

Maryann

The eggs are hatching right now. The little caterpillars are so cute and eating their eggshells. Do the little ones prefer the new, tender growth? I have the eggs fastened to older leaves right now and I'm wondering if they are too tough.

Haha, I'm an over protective mother already!

It looks like all are hatching.

Maryann

Yes, they MUCH prefer tender, new growth as hatchlings, Maryann. Actually, they prefer it for their whole caterpillar life, but they can eat older, tougher leaves as they mature.
Sherry

Thanks, Sherry, I can already see that they like the tender growth better.

They didn't touch to older leaf, but have half devoured the younger, more tender leaf. It's cute how they've lined up side by side, in three bunches, on the same leaf and are devouring the leaf in unison. One day old and already eating machines. It's kinda scary....How much pipevine will 43 PVS cats eat?

Maryann

Mary Ann,

A lot! I just gave away 55 of my cats as I'm running out of PV. I still have a dozen or so cats and I don't know how many chrysalides. And yesterday, I found more eggs.

I know with your sources of PV you'll do fine. As the cats get older they will eat the tougher leaves if necessary. One of our lep people here soaked the tough leaves until they softened up and he's using them to feed his cats. After the treatment, they started eating!

Good luck with your babies. They are soooo cute when they are little. They grow quickly and turn into major eating machines! chomp-chomp : )

Sandy

Sandy, I thought I noticed today that some slipped their skins and molted already...At two days old? It seems early, but since I'm so infatuated, I check them like every two hours to see what they are up to.

I love raising new species. I have another aquaintance who'd like to raise a few. Between the adoption and the new PV source I think I'll be ok.

Do you think this brood will overwinter?

Maryann

Maryann,

I haven't paid much attention to molting behaviors except to note that a BF seems to be molting and not to bother it when I'm cleaning out the container. I do know that PVs grow very rapidly. It seems they double in size with in hours of hatching from the eggs. If you looked at the photos I posted on the thread, "Itty bitty PVs," the third photo was of cats that were just hours old. You can see that they had already changed considerably after hatching. The last part of the larval stage seems to last the longest as they eat and eat some more in preparation for pupating. I will think a caterpillar is huge and ready to pupate, but I may need to continue to supply food for several more days.

This last brood I've been raising have really grown large. The pupas are about 25% larger than my earlier broods.

Whether any of this brood will overwinter or not would be speculation on my part. You'll just have to wait and see. If I remember correctly, the last brood of the season all seem to pupate over the winter. Which means, you have PVs next year!!!

Sandy

Sandy, I'm thinking they'll overwinter. I can't imagine they'll be enough time for these babies to grow, pupate, eclose and mate again before frost. I think we only have two broods this far north.

If I keep them well-fed, how long do you think between hatching and pupation in general?

Next year my pipevine should be large enough to support a breeding population (albeit small) if I can get them to stick around.

If all goes well, I'd like to return a few of the chrysalises to Hank to perhaps work towards repopulating his area.

Maryann