Monarch Project
So a few weeks ago the girls started finding caterpillars all over the place and collecting them. A few have died, a few got away and now we have 7 that have stuck around. All are monarch caterpillars, 2 have pupated and are busy turning into butterflies within their chrysalis, one is hanging and will probably pupate tomorrow morning and 4 other of various sizes are eating away at the milkweed and will hopefully pupate near the house so we can watch them change as well.
This is the most recent caterpillar that we found, it is still in the early instar stage, probably just hatched out of it's egg in last day or 2. In the next 9-14 days it will eat and grow like crazy and shed it's skin 5 times.
These are late instar caterpillars and are only a few days from pupating.
This guy is hanging in his "J" and will probably pupate tomorrow morning...we are hoping to catch him in the act. After eating and growing, they hang themselves upside down for about 1 day and then it only takes them about 6-7 mins to pupate. Crazy!
We only missed this guy pupating by a few minutes, I couldn't believe it! The black ball on his side is his skin that he sheds as he goes through the pupation process.
This one we missed by an hour or so...it is our first and we were so amazed to know how fast they change. Stay tuned for more photos as they complete metamorphosis.
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1 comments:
this is so interesting. how many more crysallis' do you have? aren't God's creations amazing?
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