Painted Ladies
Linda & Jeff Ives
skytuc at mindspring.com
Sat May 5 00:18:15 EDT 2007
One of the first grade teachers in the school I work at gave me several (10-15) Painted Lady caterpillars this afternoon. They are a part of the science curriculum and apparently the company they order from sends "extras" to make up for those that die in transit. However, they don't send a rearing cup or artificial food for the extras and the teacher didn't know what to do with them. She knew they needed proper host plants, so she contacted me.
I know that Painted Ladies have several host plants, but the only plants I can easily recognize are plantain and nettle. I haven't seen any sprouted in my yard and I usually have plenty of both. Another host plant is the mallow and hollyhock family. Are they growing and identifiable yet?
I'd appreciate any advice I can get as what to do with these caterpillars. I have a meadow near me, but feel I should identify a host plant nearby before letting them go.
I saw 2 spring azures and 1 mourning cloak this week in Marlborough and Colchester. And a tiger swallowtail this morning in Marlborough.
Linda
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