Käyttäjän vladimirr99 päiväkirja

Well, it's day 33 since hatching, and we've managed to get 11 beautiful, perfect adult Atalas.

They've all been released. Hopefully some will return and lay eggs.

The Atala caterpillars completely shredded the new potted plant (with ~4 fronds, it was small). We've had a couple more pesky wasps around - I moved the Atalas to the habitat so that they don't get stung and killed out in the yard.

I'm using the tubes and holder that we use to rear Monarchs, and cutting fronds from our much larger outdoor plants. As of last night the Atalas are completely taking the leaves and stem down to nothing; two full fronds a day. I'm keeping the habitat stocked 3x a day now just to feed their insatiable little appetites.

It can't be much longer until they pupate, right? :)

Hi!

A few years ago, my wife learned of the Atala butterfly and its plight in South Florida. As part of the effort to bring the Atala to Martin County, we purchased three Coontie cycads and planted them.

Fast forward to August 19th, 2023 - she saw what she thought was an Atala female flying around the yard. We checked the plant, and lo and behold there were Atala eggs!

I bought another potted Coontie and brought that in to one of our screened butterfly habitats. As soon as the caterpillars were large enough to move (out ahead of Hurricane Idalia), we relocated them and began raising them in earnest.

The caterpillars are up to Day 11 of their life, and have almost completely defoliated the small potted plant.

I'm trying the technique we use with monarchs - clipping fronds off of the mature Coonties in the yard, and setting them in lidded tubes with water. I'm not sure how easily the Atalas will drown, so I've sealed the tube holes airtight around the Coontie stems.

I really want to raise these little bugger to adulthood, so I hate to leave them in the yard; we've had a pretty significant issue with wasps getting to our other caterpillars out there.