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Butterfly Garden

Raising Variegated Fritillarys

16 years ago

Hello everyone! I'm new to the forum and to butterfly gardening this year and I'm having a blast! So far, I have raised Monarchs and now have BST and VF cats. I have done a search on raising both but I still have a question about the VF. What, if anything, do I need to put in the cat cage for the VF's to pupate on? I have a large tote that I raised the Monarchs in and was wondering if I could put the BST and VF cats in the same cage together. Thanks for any help and I have really enjoyed reading all the informative posts the past few weeks!

Sheila

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Comments (3)

MissSherry
16 years ago
Welcome, Sheila!
You can raise your BSTs and VFs in the same cage together with no problem. I used to put sticks in my cages for cats to pupate on, but they so rarely used them, I quit doing it. Variegated frits usually pupate on the top of my cages - occasionally, they'll go under the paper towels and pupate or do it on the side of the cage. If they pupate on the paper towels, after the chrysalids have hardened, I cut out a piece of the paper with the chrysalid on it and attach the paper towel to something in the cage with a clothes pin.
Good luck!
MissSherry
smartin1854
Original Author
16 years ago
MissSherry, it's good to be here! It sounds like the VF won't be any harder to raise than the Monarchs. It's good to know that I can put them both (VF and BST) in the same cage. Thanks so much for the information. I'm really looking forward to absorbing the knowledge this forum has!
Sheila
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Hey MissSherry, my VF lay most of their eggs on Violets, but I also found 2 on my Passionvines, those did not make it, they died in their 2nd instar..:( The others I have inside now,1 pupated already the other one is ready to.. I so miss my Butterfly-Cage I had made in Florida..it was too big and too heavy to move up here so I destroyed it. :( Guess now is the time to build me another one.. Greetings Susanne(SUE)
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So exciting to think of having Variegated Frits! Thanks Sherry for that pic. I have had adult VF butterflies here in my yard, but have never yet had eggs or cats on my Passionvine. I am in zone 7a Laura and my Passionvine is just now taking off really well. I think it just needs heat.
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Hmmm, I going to try release again tomorrow. I haven't reared butterflies in a couple of years so there's so many things I've forgotten. I remember I had some Monarchs ready and raring to go just a little while after emerging. I guarded that thing like a hawk! Lol. I don't think it'll be afraid of people if it ever flies off. There were a lot of mocking birds watching us, it made me wonder how any non-poisonous butterflies survive. I haven't seen any Monarchs yet either. I always find them at the end of summer, early fall. Even though it sounds like people in MD find them before I do. I had sooo many ants in my garden so I put down a few traps and I have to make some with the boric acid I bought. There was no way eggs would have got uneaten in there. And I couldn't even touch the milkweed with all the ants. It was pretty gross. Good news is that I found another Variegated Fritillary cat today but b/c of the drought and heat, the johnny jump ups are drying up. I'm going to have to water them and look into buying some pansies or something. I don't seem to find any eggs or cats on the sweet violet. My goal is to have some bird's foot violets in my garden by next year.
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Karyn, Thanks for the info. I thought I remembered of someone saying about not linking from a forum but couldn't remember if it was that specific one or any forum. I'll include the link below. It's a post of someone on that forum who listed a bunch of butterflies and included how they overwinter. I don't know if it's from her personal experience or where the info came from. Congrats on your new camera! We expect to see a lot of nice pictures now. ;-) Cathy Here is a link that might be useful: How Butterflies Survive the Winter
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caterwallin
16 years ago
Hi Sheila!!!!!!!!!

I thought you'd get a good answer here! I'm glad that you found your way over here. I just know you'll learn a lot here. This is where I learned almost everything I know about butterflies because the people are so helpful here and they always have good answers.

My first BST pupated yesterday! I didn't get to see it though. It sure is a lot different looking than the Monarch chrysalis. I think it will overwinter because it's brown. At least I think that's what I read on here. They seem to grow much slower than Monarchs unless it's my imagination. They don't eat nearly as much either. I think if you raise the VF's and the BST's, they won't be much of a problem for you at all.

I'm so glad you're here and welcome to the forum! I was getting kind of bored with the other one. Besides, I learn a lot more here.

Cathy

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