Monarch update

The Monarch caterpillars are growing like crazy!! This is what Chunker looked like Thursday evening.

You can see the difference between a younger one and Chunker, who is just about full size here.




And this photo shows the Spicebush caterpillar still growing slowly but surely to a larger size. He has a buddy I found the other day.



On Saturday the Spicebush caterpillar started to change its coloring to a greenish tone,




with a tinge of yellow at the head.





They have been joined by another milkweed feeding caterpillar.



This critter is a beautiful specimen. What a contrast with the smooth Monarch Caterpillar. It is hairy with tufts, or "pencils" of hair that stand out.




This is a Milkweed Tiger Moth caterpillar which eats Milkweed the same as the Monarchs caterpillars, but their eggs are all laid on the same leaf. They stay colonized and go from leaf to leaf, skeletonizing it. It turns into a moth. Here is Naomi, a new garden visitor, holding the Milkweed Tiger Moth in her hand.




Many caterpillars will roll into a ball when threatened, as can be seen by this one in Naomi's hand.



After seeing the nice hand made box Sue showed us for her caterpillars, I decided to make one for us. I used a cat food plastic bucket with a lid. I cut out the top and sides all around.



I then covered the holes with screening, fit to size. I taped them securely with - what else - the ever versatile duct tape!



I put a 2" thick piece of Styrofoam at the bottom, then cut holes into that and place small containers to hold water and support the stems.



This is what the finished container looks like.



Unfortunately we developed an audience in the final stage when we were putting the caterpillars in their new home.




We have to keep all caterpillars and butterflies in a locked room so the cats do not get at them.
One morning I had gotten up early to find the cats had ripped the screening to get at a butterfly that had hatched outside of its container. They kind of made mince meat out of it. Not a pretty sight. So they have since been banned from the sunroom!




Friday the two largest caterpillars stopped eating and attached to the side of the container.

Now you need to know here that a caterpillar will stop eating and cling to the side or top of container when it needs to molt its skin. This is how it grows, similar to a snake. So it will do this throughout the growing process. You will know it is getting ready to change to the chrysalis when it is two inches long and does this.




Then last night they started to hang in a circular shape.







Early this morning they were in a J shape, and when I went in to give a new gardener some seeds, we found this.



One had already changed into the chrysalis. When it forms the chrysalis, it starts out yellowish, then turns to lime green, developing a black line and gold spots as it gets set.






This is the molted skin left behind after the chrysalis has been formed.



And this is the process as I got photos of it happening right in front of Sheryl, her granddaughter, Naomi, and me. How exciting to be able to share this experience with a new gardener. Sheryl and Naomi brought their own Monarch caterpillar home to enjoy the process in their own home.
If you scroll down quickly you can get an idea of what it was like. Such an awe inspiring process.






































I used to have a time lapse video camera and had taped this whole process. It is an incredible thing to watch.

Now you can go to the following links to watch the process on Youtube!! I haven't figured out how to get the direct link on the blog for you to just click and watch, but it it worth the effort to take a look at these, or just google Monarch from egg to butterfly and go to the Youtube links that come up on the search. (I just copied the link and pasted it into the google search bar and it got me right to the link)

Egg hatching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgwkWYFdGqg&feature=related

Caterpillar eating

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7dts4JbnU0&feature=related

Caterpillar to chrysalis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPk1SRk0UOs&feature=related

Chrysalis to butterfly

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMPhL3lJaxY&feature=related


I know you are now totally astonished at the beauty of nature. Isn't is just miraculous? I still have caterpillars if anyone else wants to experience this awe inspiring event in their own home.

For me, it makes me want to go on a caterpillar hunt and round up and watch all different species develop. And that is exactly what I did many years ago as I began to explore the wonderful world of nature!!