Cat girl did I read your post to mean you stored living pupa in

A cold refrigerator(turned on)? I always stored pupa in a outdoor

Shed screen container or a screen topped aquarium on my potting

Shed to get thru winter,with some of them in substrate. I live in the South

Close to the Florida state line.

Sherry those are great picts,thanks so much for posting them. The

Color phase differences are startling! I walked out on my front deck

Abt two hours ago,and there was a fine Red Admiral sitting on the

Railing. They sure do like to poke abt and inspect nooks and crannies.

I also saw a Zebra Swallowtail today,just one,it was at the Lantana

Around the pool. It's wings looked really good. I don't think it has been out

Long. Also,more Buckeyes are in the back yard. The others I saw I have

Already posted abt hanging around. I am so proud of my Purple Coneflowers.

They are the first I ever grew from seed. It is HOT here,lol.

DD

Cat Girl - thanks, they're both eating false nettles, the only thing I've ever raised RAs on. I think it would be better to keep your pupae out of the refrigerator. Outside is best.

Dee - I live in southeastern Mississippi, the part that historically was a part of old west Florida, when Florida was just the existing northern part, no peninsula. We have the same weather conditions as north Florida. I haven't seen any adult buckeyes lately, but they must have been here, because I found a caterpillar nearly ready to pupate a few days ago, brought it in to finish up, and it has made its chrysalis. Congrats on seeing the zebra swallowtail! I can only hope to see one, have only seen them a few times here. I've never grown coneflowers from seed, but I'm collecting seed to sow along my roadside, hoping some will come up on their own with no effort on my part! :)

Sherry

All my current RA cats are dark ones. The light ones have been few and far between this year. Figure I'll be done with the cats within a week. That's a good thing since there are very few leaves left on my plants. The plants usually put out new leaves but few of them are doing it this year.

DD,

Yes, I did store my pupae in the refrigerator turned on in a container of peat. Periodically I dampened it slightly. I read about doing this online and was also told by a man I met last summer (who is really into raising moths and has been doing so for probably 50 years) that it is how he stores his. The trick is to not let them dry out, but not get moldy either. It worked well too. All the pupae were alive in the spring, I had him check them. What went wrong was a. I Did not bring them out soon enough, b. I Kept them under the porch roof and do not mist/spray them (total inexperience).

I'm off to see if I can find false nettle, must be around somewhere. Because there are plenty of RSPs.

Cat Girl, did you mean RAs? RSPs are red-spotted purples, which use mainly cherry and willow.

Red admirals also use regular stinging nettles. I use false nettles, because that's what grows around here (I've found it in very wet areas) and I can handle it without getting stung! On the FYI we have a good list of host plants for any butterfly you're likely to raise - check it out!

All the RA cats are in the "J" now, so I'll be watching the nettles closely where I saw the female laying those eggs - I enjoy raising RAs!

Sherry

Turns out I lied. My last RA of the year was not a dark one.
My nettles are picked over. I have a few that are 4' tall stems. Been an excellent RA year. I think I raised just one QM and no commas.

'Love that picture, KC!

Sherry

Turns out I did not lie. I was wrong. That cat is a question mark. Chrysalis tells the story. Last RA is the chrysalis in the background. So, I raised two QMs this year. Very weird that I had only two and they were far apart in time. QMs usually don't lay just one egg.

That's the QM's old skin dangling by a thread.

Yes, I thought that cat looked like a QM, but then summer RAs look similar. They both use false nettles down here, although the QMs prefer hops vines.

'Know what you mean about QMs never laying just a few eggs. Maybe she laid a lot, but only a few survived before you found them. I raised a group of 12 QMs this spring, but haven't gotten any more eggs or cats - 'hope this fall they'll show up again. Here's one of those QMs -

Sherry

Oh, they are fascinating and beautiful--I don't think we have those around here.

What a gorgeous butterfly! I've never even heard of them before. Yes, to the above mistake, I did mean RA when I wrote RSP, and yet it is the RSP that I've seen a lot of. Boy I must have been tired when I read and responded to that post :)