Nice find, JoJo! You may want to do a little research on the plant, itself... I'm no expert on this plant, but if memory serves, there's a warning attached having to do with pet and human toxicity. Isn't it's common name "Dumb Cane"? Further exploration indicates that the sap of this plant is a mild irritant to skin, and can cause rather unpleasant conditions to occur in pets and children who chew or ingest any part of it. I've attached a link with more information for you. Just so you are aware... I know you have pets and children, some of your pets being rather sensitive to things like this... as in birds. Just take care with it, JoJo. It is a nice looking plant, though... and who can resist a pot like that?! :-) Here is a link that might be useful: Dieffenbachia - toxicity

Goodness!! 50??? I am having a hard time keeping up with the 18 I have, lol. (last 2 eggs hatched today) apparently, every single egg I found was also fertile, and they all seem to be thriving so far. I am so glad all of these eggs hatched at almost the same time, I think it will be easier since they will all be so close in age, and hopefully size. The other 8 cats I have, are at all different stages, and I have had to move/separate them so many times it is ridiculous, some of them seem to be bullies, lol. The largest one of the last bunch is now in a "habitat" by himself, because he would not stop picking on the smaller cats and taking their food, and they weren't that much smaller than him. I have one small one who bullies cats WAY larger than him, lol, I had to move him after I saw him slither up to one of the big cats and try to bite them, or at least that is what it looked like he was doing. I have figured out how to tell if I need to give them more food, they "wander" when they want new, or more leaves, or at least these do, because every time i have had one wander away from the food, if i put new food down, they come back. The largest one will start eating the leaves before I even set them down in his cage, lol, he bites them and starts tugging on them. I am hoping everything works out for all of them, and that they all keep eating and growing, so far so good though. And as far as the food situation, the lady who lives next door to my aunt, does have a safe host tree, yayy!! So I am going tomorrow to cut some more leaves for them, and my safe dwarf tree is getting new sprouts of leaves in several places, so they should be big enough to cut soon, so it all seems to be working out in their favor so far! I too am interested to see when these two that pupated decide to eclose. The 1st one pupated on sep 18, second one on sep 23, I was able to move them into the reptarium cage I bought without harming them or disturbing them, so I am not so worried about them eclosing when I am not home now that they are in the mesh cage. what have the temps been lately in your area? The high was 95 here today. Supposed to get cooler this weekend though. Was it you who said you had a GST chrysalis turn black before eclosing? I have been checking them for any signs of change, but they haven't changed one bit.

Hi JR, I'm a little surprised that these previously established plants haven't bloomed for you after 18 months. They prefer full sun, so hopefully you have them in a sunny spot. If they are iris, I'm sure you will enjoy them. They are pretty much no-fuss plants. We would love to see pictures of your blooming plants this spring! Janice

I know we have had some raccoon's get into our suet in the past. There's no sign of any kind of struggle, but now the female has not been sitting on the lone egg. I have seen the Male, but not Mom. I saw a female but not too sure if it's her. It sounds like a snake to me, I don't think a Raccoon would be able to climb the pole, but I slicked it up with grease until i can get a baffle up. I don't know if I should take the spooker down yet or not. I'll probably wait another day or two and if I don't see any activity then I'll take it down, or set up my other box.