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Post by bluemoth on Jun 8, 2011 13:30:15 GMT -8
In a few weeks here in California the California Sisters will be hatching. Would like to try bait to attract them. I know these butterflies like fermented grapes. Is this a good bait to try? Has any one ever attracted Sisters with bait?
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Post by bluemoth on May 24, 2011 16:12:24 GMT -8
They should hatch by 14 days at max time. I think yours are not alive.
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Post by bluemoth on May 21, 2011 14:08:04 GMT -8
Went to a new spot in the Santa Cruz Mountains on 5/20/2011 in California. This is right at the edge of the sand hills area. Dozens of Variable Checkerspots, Euphydryas chalcedona, were there flying. They liked nectauring at a tall flowering plant with pale violet/pink flowers. There could be as many butterflies as 3 on one flower clump. There were plenty of nice near fresh condition butterflies to be found. Some were slightly warn , faded, or had nicked wings. The host plant of this butterfly was near by under an oak tree - Monkey Flower. To get there take rout 9 out of Felton going into the mountains. At the first signal take Glen Arbor road to the right. Then take Hihn road to the right. Then take Clement Road to the left Then take Larita Road to the right. Then take Morningside drive to the left (sign missing). Then at tee with Eleana Drive there is a small sandy field with a few bushes and trees. Park here then walk back to wire fence that was put up ten years ago. Flowering plants that attract butterflies are next to fence. Other side of fence if Fish and Game Preserve set aside to protect 6 endangered species. Used to be a Quarry but was sold to FW. Some residents do cross the fence and walk in the area. Cross fence at your own risk. Local land owner dos not mind if butterflies are caught on his property ( the small field ). In April many Checkerspot larva can be found wondering around the area.
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Post by bluemoth on May 2, 2011 14:04:29 GMT -8
Finally the warm days of spring are here in Santa Cruz County. At De Lavaga Park 5-1-2011 I saw an Umber Skipper by the parking lot. At the summit of the to the top of the world trail I caught a Spring Azure, missed a Swallowtail - saw a second one and saw two Dusky Wings chasing each other. Two small day flying moths caught on the creek trail. A few Common Ringlets also seen in sunny spots along the trails. This is a nice park for hiking or frisbee gulf or regular gulf and a nice view to enjoy at the end of the top of the world trail. There are lots of different gnats and flies as well as some interesting wasps and dragon, damsel flies in the park. If you look under logs you can find various ground beetles.
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Post by bluemoth on Apr 28, 2011 13:23:03 GMT -8
I new Gerhard quite well. My friend Tom Rocha and I would go over and see him about once a month. He was gentle and kind. We would talk about collecting and rearing live stock. He was always excited to show us some new larva he was rearing. Eventually he would take us to an upstairs room ware we were shone some of his prize specimens and allowed to buy extras he had. His closet was full of may be 50 boxes of stock he had for sale. He had aw inspiring stuff from around the world and a lot from Costa Rica, many unnamed. I found out that some of his stuff was given to UCSC in Santa Cruz and a man purchased about 20,000 papered specimens he had.
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Post by bluemoth on Apr 21, 2011 14:32:33 GMT -8
Looks like a phasmid to me. It is very similar in shape to a few species found in Florida known for squirting noxious chemical when disturbed.
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Post by bluemoth on Apr 21, 2011 14:27:16 GMT -8
I have been rearing Buckeye butterflies and 5th instar larva of this species can be sexed. Males have a smaller head than female larva. Male larva are a little less bulky than females. This is the only butterfly I know of that this can be done with. How ever with other leps males may be noticeably smaller in size in the 5th in star than females.
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Post by bluemoth on Apr 12, 2011 13:06:07 GMT -8
Wow!! That is really neat. If I lived there I would collect the larva to get moths to sell. Any bug collectors out there must have a really good time when the moths hatch out. Love to see mass populations ware I live of nice desirable leps.
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Post by bluemoth on Apr 11, 2011 13:07:56 GMT -8
I agree with you Jeff. We the people need to fight for what is fair and right here in the US. Stop that law that gets rid of the old bulbs!! There needs to be uproar over the hole US over this!! I found out other countries are having a hard time tying to figure out how to recycle those new bulbs. Using these bulbs is not good for our county or any other county. Congress and gov. are messing up big time!! I bought a bunch of extra light bulbs, the old kind that will be out lawed, for my lamp that I do my painting and insect spreading by because they have better light.
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Post by bluemoth on Mar 30, 2011 14:36:33 GMT -8
Possibly the most private club in the world is the Bohemian Grove Club in Mote Rio CA. So Private is this club I never herd about it till I saw it on a TV show to day and I am about half way through a normal human life span. Well the folks in the show try to sneak in by kayak on the Russian River. They were not well trained like army folks so soon got caught by the private guards and sent to jail over night. All They wanted was to see the 40 foot owl statue made of concrete and metal supports. Earlier they had asked nicely to see it but were not let in. Of coarse it is fair for this club to have secrecy but I think it would be fair of the club to let the public in at least once a rear to see the statue. This is now area 51 of the state of California. High ranking Military folks, the CIA, past/new presidents and I would not be surprised if some FBI, and Fish and Game members were also having secrete talks about how to run our country at this club. Very scary to me that things are talked about here about the running of the country that are kept secret. That is right, no spoken topics in side the club can be spoken of out side the club. Dos this scare any one else that this is happening? Has any one seen the inside of the club, the cremation of care ceremony and wants to share info here with all of us? By the way I did find out members can pee any ware they wish like on the trails in public. Pretty rude!!
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Post by bluemoth on Mar 30, 2011 13:56:39 GMT -8
I also do a little shell collecting. For a while I was in a rock club and collected rocks to cut into slabs and make cabochons to put in to Jewry to sell. The most famous rock I found was Poppy Jasper at an old mine in Morgan Hill, CA that is now part of an undeveloped park who's name was changed. Basically Morgan Hill gov. dos not want you to know about it. I make butterfly note cards and paint photo realistic paintings of birds, pets, wildlife to sell.
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Post by bluemoth on Mar 30, 2011 13:36:55 GMT -8
I have trouble rearing butterflies who's larva go dormant during winter half grown. Checkerspots to be specific. Others with this situation are California Sister, and Lorquins Admiral that I have not gotten eggs of yet to rear.
Some silk moth larva I reared in the past suddenly die with out showing illness between third and fourth instars. They were not crowded but kept in separate cages.
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Post by bluemoth on Mar 21, 2011 14:57:50 GMT -8
Just letting you know I injected only small tiny amount of Potassium salt in to a small silk moth (Io) at rear part of thorax. It immediately did not move but stayed a bit ridged for about a half hour then slowly relaxed. I have not attempted to spread it but my friend who uses this tekneak has not had any problems. Sense only a very tiny bit need be injected to be effective it did not discolor the scales of my moth. You need a lot more ammonia to kill a similar sized moth. Now if you do not want to pinch your large butterfly or put a big catocala moth into a killing jar ware it will thrash about this is a perfect way to put an insect to sleep. It would work wonderfully on a trip ware there may not be a freezer.
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Post by bluemoth on Mar 12, 2011 13:17:33 GMT -8
Some of you may know about potassium salt already in regards to killing insects. It is some thing new to me that my friend told me about. Three tablespoons potassium salt mixed with 50ML of water will knock insects out very quickly. It works better than ammonia. Just inject a tiny bit of this mixture into the insect with a syringe. My friend said it first makes the insect sleep then when it reaches the hart the hart stops.
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Post by bluemoth on Feb 22, 2011 14:24:57 GMT -8
indeed a fascinating article. It is now cold again here and on more silk moths have been seen.
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