The Butterfly House is Back in Business!!!

Hey ya'll!!!

So I know this blog started out as a sort of field journal to my butterfly breeding habits but then those sort of posts sort of died out to my butterfly collecting past time (and other matters) but that was mainly because - following the large and untimely demise of a huge batch of swallowtail butterflies I had been raising (Papilio demoleus, Papilio polytes and Papilio Memnon) at the hands of the dreaded parasitic wasps, I've never quite had the mood nor time to raise anymore. However, closing the completion date of my thesis and my timely departure from the University for (hopefully) more blossoming fields, I have manage to kick start the Butterfly House again - this time housing pupa of various kinds of local species.

Live butterfly and moth pupae in the hatching chamber (I put them in here because the transparent walls make for easier observation!)

Some of the pride and joy of the butterfly house currently are (including, of course, the one I received from my anonymous benefactor some days back) a handful of large papilionidae pupae which I believe may either birth a Common (Troides helena) or Rajah Brooke's (Trogonoptera brookiana albescens) birdwing butterfly. Here they are, of the green variety. I've actually got for but one of them now hangs from a little basket in Ray's bedroom so that he, too, may witness the miracle of Birth.

Other butterfly pupae include those of the striped crow (Euploea mulciber) which are colored a most brilliant shade of gold and silver (possibly to deter predators by reflecting lights harshly into their eyes or by passing off as large dewdrops *indeed that was what first came to his mind when Ray spotted them*)

(latest update, 12.51am) These actually hatched, just now and I have two crow butterflies hanging from their branches, drying their wings in my tank. It's strange, really, because butterflies do not normally hatch out at night... or is this a possible exception to the species? I do not know... I believe one may be crippled, however because unlike the other butterfly (whose wings have fully spread) one still remains shriveled and decrepit on one side.

The other lepidopteran pupa I got were two atlas moth pupae I found dangling of rambutan trees. Perhaps I shall be able to mate them and produce more? Speaking of production, I've got several larvae on the way too, two, in particular who seem on verge of forming their chrysalids. They are of papillionidae and I believe may either be the great mormon (Papilio Memnon) or red helen (Papilio Helenus)