Seeding a butterfly garden with caterpillars

[alvinsclee]

Hi,
My colleague and I are in the process of setting up a butterfly garden in a school (I'm a primary school teacher... now you understand why I wrote in my newbie self-intro (http://b-pals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3790&p=42066) I'm in a profession 'hazardous to mental health'... :bsmile: :bsmile:).

Where can I find a good supply of different types of caterpillars to do the initial seeding of the garden? We will be getting caterpillar food plants and butterfly nectar plants soon.

Thanks!

[Sky Blue]

where is your school? In fact you don't need any caterpillars but the butterflies mum will come & lay their eggs if you get the host plant right.

[alvinsclee]

Hi SC,
School is in West coast, near Ginza Plaza.

We have planned for the plants. But my colleague and I know that our boss wants to see the effects as soon as possible so that it will be easy to justify the funds used. Thus, we thought that maybe we can ask around if gardeners or plant lovers have caterpillars on their plants... give the caterpillars to us instead of killing them with insecticides.

[alvinsclee]

Here's an update... most of the plants are in place now.

Managed to get 3 caterpillars... looked like that of Papilio polytes romulus (Common Mormon)... and I'm rearing them at home. Fed them with limau purut leaves. They are really voracious. They are healthy and 2 of them are turning to pupa stage.

Also requested my neighbours not to kill caterpillars, if they spot any on their plants, but to give them to me.

[Commander]

Good luck with your school's butterfly garden, Alvin. :cheers: If the premises have to be sprayed to keep the dengue mossies in check, make sure you protect the cats first, otherwise all your efforts will be in vain.

[Common Mime]

All the best to you, Alvin!

If you have enough species to patrol your garden, let me know. I go shoot there. :)

[Commander]

Wah... you very on leh! You stay in Hougang/Serangoon area and you wanna go all the way to Jin Tai Primary School in the west coast to shoot butts? ;P

[Common Mime]

It won't be further than the entrance to NTU. Will it?

Amended from farer to further. Hope it is correct this time.

[Silverstreak]

YL,

England teacher please "chor kang"....:bsmile:

Farer??

[Common Rose]

CM, another word that u can use is farther; u add 'ther' rather than 'er' only.

[Common Mime]

Yes Sir!

Already checked with my Mini Collins Dictionary and it says ok to use either one just do not use farer... hahaha

[alvinsclee]

Reminds me of another common 'er' suffix joke I often share with pupils:-

One who teaches is a teacher
One who draws is a drawer
(One who cooks is a cooker?)

[Common Rose]

and one who computes is a computer...

[Silverstreak]

Aiyoh! Like that how can??!!

Anyhow add er :what:

it will follow that one who make screw is a screwer,

and one who work in office become officer

and

we are butterfliers!!!



:bsmile: :bsmile: :bsmile: :bsmile:

[husky]

Aww, you chaps are such humouringers.

[alvinsclee]

... Managed to get 3 caterpillars... looked like that of Papilio polytes romulus (Common Mormon)... and I'm rearing them at home. Fed them with limau purut leaves. They are really voracious. They are healthy and 2 of them are turning to pupa stage...

I was obviously wrong on the ID based on how the caterpillars looked like... the butterflies have just emerged from the pupa hours ago:-

[Common Mime]

Hi Alvin,

Common Mormon & Lime Butterfly carterpillar is very similiar looking. No wory about the wrong ID. ;-)

[alvinsclee]

Update on my school's butterfly garden:

Crown flower just came in and planted today. Other plants were added too.

Butterflies are coming very slowly. We introduced Lime Butterflies after rearing them from caterpillars that pupils found for us (Flight LB-004 just took off the garden runway this morning).

Other commonly spotted butterflies include numerous Cycad Blues. There is a faithful pair of Lemon Emigrants and a pair of Palmflies. I am waiting for the Leopard to come for the willow plant... so far, it is quiet. And I am unable to ID this butterfly which visited the Lantana in our garden:-

[Sky Blue]

a Great Eggfly (http://www.b-pals.com/butts/spc_photo.php?spc_id=80&img_list_id=37) ;-)

[alvinsclee]

Saw these animals at the school butterfly garden... what are they?
(that caterpillar is huge... about 15cm long and as fat as my thumb!)

[Rustic]

Hawk moth caterpilla & Chestnut bob.

[alvinsclee]

Thanks Rustic for the id.

I searched the internet for more info on hawkmoths. I believe that the caterpillar belongs to the Lime Hawkmoth, as we have plenty of lime plants in the school. However, this caterpillar was not found on a lime plant... so, that's interesting! Will post more pictures about it and hopefully get to photograph the moth soon.

[alvinsclee]

Update:
That hawkmoth caterpillar in my school was doing very well happily eating the crossandra leaves... but after I came back from medical leave yesterday, it was gone!!! We are still unable to locate the fellow... someone told us that it could have gone hiding into leaf litter on the ground to pupate.

Good news too... we spotted common grass yellow caterpillars on our peacock flower plants... and common leopard caterpillars on our willow plants.

I am excited by the diversity.

[Common Mime]

Alvin, good luck and well done!

[alvinsclee]

More... quite recently, I spotted a lone Common Bluebottle flying among the lantana in the garden... it is a very fast flier, very difficult for me to capture a satisfactory photo!

And this fella was found by one of the pupils... what is it?

[Commander]

That's another moth caterpillar. Make sure your kids don't touch any of these cats that they find. Some of these critters can give you a bad itch. :sweat:

[Cigaritis wong]

More... quite recently, I spotted a lone Common Bluebottle flying among the lantana in the garden... it is a very fast flier, very difficult for me to capture a satisfactory photo!

And this fella was found by one of the pupils... what is it?

Wow..I didn't know c. bluebottle can still be found in an urban setting. Is ur sch by chance near the nature reserves?

[alvinsclee]

The school is just opposite Clementi Woods Park :)

[alvinsclee]

That hairy moth caterpillar has begun its pupa stage... interesting to note how it uses its own hairs to weave the cocoon!

[alvinsclee]

Finally managed to photograph that fast flier (common bluebottle). And there was this unidentified yellow pupa found. Any idea what it is? My colleague and I were unable to come to a conclusion whether that greenish-white butterfly is a lemon emigrant or a cabbage white... so I have to get help from you gurus :)

PS: Pardon me if my pictures are not up to standard again. I need time to be a good photographer. Fortunately, this is not an elitist photo-critique site otherwise I will have to go to where I fit better (beginners' photography sites).

[Commander]

Don't worry about the quality of your shots, Alvin. As you already know many of us here, the passion is about photography and learning about butterflies. :) With lots of practice, I'm sure you will improve, like many of us when we first started out.

The pupa is one of the Painted Jezebel. There should be some mistletoe plants nearby. You can compare with the life history section in an older part of my website here (http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vines/2382/LifeHistory/hyparete/jezhis1.htm).

The last one is a Lemon Emigrant. Cabbage Whites (http://www.geocities.com/hexaglider/pieridae/canidia.html) are much smaller, whiter and fly very differently from the turbo-charged flight of the Lemon Emigrant. More photos of the Cabbage White can be found here (http://b-pals.com/butts/spc_photo.php?spc_id=17&img_list_id=97).

:cheers:

[alvinsclee]

Thanks for the encouragement and the id, Khew.

Yes, I saw mistletoes high up on the trees near the school assembly area. Yet to id the mistletoes... I have no binoculars kept in school at the moment.

The diversity noted is a good sign for our butterfly garden :) The care of host plants and caterpillars gave my colleague and me therapeutic value, especially after being mentally exhausted by our work.

[Common Mime]

Hi Alvin,

As mentioned by Khew, no worries about the quality of your shots. Just post!

Cheers!

CM

[alvinsclee]

That hairy caterpillar which used its own hair as strengthening material for it cocoon has finally turned into a beautiful moth today. Look at the wonderful patterns on the wings!

[alvinsclee]

Our first non-lime-butterfly breed from the hatchery :)

Flight CM-001 took off the garden runway at 1710h yesterday evening. It was fed on a mixture of curry leaves and lime leaves for its fuel source!

[Peacock Royal]

Well done Alvin.
A good shot.

[Sky Blue]

Congraturation ;-)

[alvinsclee]

Thanks Federick and SC.

I am now known for lavishing great care on cats of various butts (and moths) in school such that one of my close colleagues jokingly nicknamed me as "the butterfly pimp" (I know he did not mean it as a derogatory term)... :bsmile:

"Alvin's Angels" (akin to "Charlie's Angels") would have been a better reference for those flying jewels ;-)