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bardofely
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Joined: 22 Dec 2004
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Location: Playa San Marcos, Tenerife
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 Post subject: Swan Plant being eaten by Monarch caterpillars |
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On Monday crisis point was reached here when I ran out of food for the 18 Monarch caterpillars I had here, which had eaten all the Milkweed and the large Swan Plant. They finally devoured the seed pod as well as you can see here. Luckily I was able to take half of them down to my friend Jane in Chayofa who has Milkweed plants and all the caterpillars were saved.
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Thu Aug 14, 2008 8:07 am
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jenny
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Thu Aug 14, 2008 9:10 am
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bardofely
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Joined: 22 Dec 2004
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Location: Playa San Marcos, Tenerife
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| jenny wrote: | | Phew! I see I'd better get planting those seeds! |
Please do Jenny! We need as many plants as possible and as you can see my plan for hundreds of Swan plant seeds has hit a problem - the caterpillars ate a whole pod full!
However, some news: Jane suggested that I might like to try organising a meet up for as many people interested in butterflies as possible. I mentioned Nia and Robbi's place up here in Cueva del Viento. I mentioned you being now over in Abades. Anyway, Jane has left it with me to sort a date but is offering a lift up and back for yourself and family.
At present Nia is going to let me know whether she thinks her place or in Icod (easier to find) would be best and likely date being Sat 20th Sept. Emily and Fernando are away now but will be back in plenty of time for that date. Jane is away too until September and that's the best date for Nia.
So if you want to come the lift is on offer. I thought it would be an opportunity for you to meet Nia and Robbi and see Emily and Fernando again.
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Thu Aug 14, 2008 9:22 am
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jenny
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I will be very close to my due date then and don't think travelling far will be a good idea. I would love to go to Cueva del Viento sometime though. If you have a meet up then please email me and let me know what you plan/decide.
I think that it is a good idea for someone to grow these plants without putting any caterpillars on to eat them so they get the chance to grow big and produce seeds to be distributed regularly.
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Thu Aug 14, 2008 10:06 am
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bardofely
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Joined: 22 Dec 2004
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Location: Playa San Marcos, Tenerife
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| jenny wrote: | I will be very close to my due date then and don't think travelling far will be a good idea. I would love to go to Cueva del Viento sometime though. If you have a meet up then please email me and let me know what you plan/decide.
I think that it is a good idea for someone to grow these plants without putting any caterpillars on to eat them so they get the chance to grow big and produce seeds to be distributed regularly. |
Are you volunteering to grow them, Jenny?  If so you could do well if there are no butterflies where you are.
I had one plant that grew in the months there have been no Monarchs here and it was big and wonderful and now it's a mess but there is still one pod they didn't get so I should still get some seeds. I put a bag over the pod to stop them.
I will pass some to the Mariposario people I think. Jane just mailed to say she would prefer going there so if I tell Nia we can go for the first meeting there. We can have another one at Finca Alternativa at another date and I'll keep you posted!
The Mariposario is still faced with legal problems over it staying open it seems but I hope it can! I can't understand why someone would want to close it!
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Thu Aug 14, 2008 7:35 pm
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andyfowles
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Joined: 03 Apr 2007
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Location: Woking, Home of McLaren F1 Racing. Driven by the winner of the F1 drivers championship 2008.
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Great pictures again Bard and what magnificently coloured caterpillars. Obviously nature giving them the bright colours which say 'don't eat me because I don't taste nice'
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Thu Aug 14, 2008 8:34 pm
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bardofely
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Joined: 22 Dec 2004
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Location: Playa San Marcos, Tenerife
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| andyfowles wrote: | | Great pictures again Bard and what magnificently coloured caterpillars. Obviously nature giving them the bright colours which say 'don't eat me because I don't taste nice' |
Thanks, Andy! 
And yes, the warning colours are supposed to work that way but nobody told Tiggy or the wasps in Silencio! Tiggy has caught and killed many an adult but I have managed to rescue a few, and she couldn't care less about the so-called terrible taste! She will chew them until they are dead and wingless. The wasps in Silencio didn't care about the stripes on the caterpillars either. And something has been getting caterpillars at Nia's place I am told.
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Thu Aug 14, 2008 8:40 pm
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andyfowles
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| bardofely wrote: | | ....but nobody told Tiggy or the wasps in Silencio! |
Having seen piccies of Tiggy, it figures.....she looks much too playful to worry about warning 'camouflage' Wasps, oh no! That's certainly not good news  Is it true?
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Thu Aug 14, 2008 9:54 pm
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bardofely
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Joined: 22 Dec 2004
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Location: Playa San Marcos, Tenerife
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| andyfowles wrote: | | bardofely wrote: | | ....but nobody told Tiggy or the wasps in Silencio! |
Having seen piccies of Tiggy, it figures.....she looks much too playful to worry about warning 'camouflage' Wasps, oh no! That's certainly not good news Is it true? |
Yes, there are wasps here but the ones in Silencio are harmless enough . They are solitary wasps and catch caterpillars to feed their larvae with. The ordinary wasps live here too but I have only seen a couple since I have been on the island so they are no problem as well. Mosquitos are a much worse problem and I just got bitten earlier on.
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Thu Aug 14, 2008 10:26 pm
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rob
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Location: Tenerife
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I disturbed a wasps nests recently while doing work on my house. They're quite rare here, for years I had all sorts of fruit trees and never saw a wasp.
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Fri Aug 15, 2008 7:21 am
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bardofely
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Joined: 22 Dec 2004
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Location: Playa San Marcos, Tenerife
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| rob wrote: | | I disturbed a wasps nests recently while doing work on my house. They're quite rare here, for years I had all sorts of fruit trees and never saw a wasp. |
It's a real mystery to me why some insects that are here are in such pitifully small numbers, and I can't blame pesticides. For example ladybirds, which eat aphids that are common all over the island and yet I can count the number of ladybirds I have seen on one hand and the same goes for wasps.
The Spurge Hawkmoth has a choice of foods - any of the tabaibas in the Euphorbia family - growing plentifully all over Tenerife and yet I haven't seen a single moth or its brightly coloured caterpillar apart from in books and I once met someone who asked me what a caterpillar he had found was and it was one of these.
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Fri Aug 15, 2008 2:26 pm
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