creeper

well... look who i found creeping around my backyard this morning  :)

as a caterpillar grows, it molts it's skin 5 times before it becomes a chrysalis. each stage of growth is called an 'instar' -  1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th instar.

this guy seems to already be in his 5th instar - he must be pretty stealth to go unnoticed for so long.

day two

 ... eating and pooping. i can already see the stripes.

the two horns on the top of his head, and near his end, are the beginning growth of the tentacles.

just born

the eggs are ready to hatch. when she first lays them, they are pale yellow. in about 4 days, they get a small black dot on the top of them - this is the caterpillars head. the little caterpillar will eat a hole through its egg shell and crawl out.

when they are born, they are less than 1/8" long. their first meal will be their egg shell.

you can see the how small they are when born in this picture

egg hunt

i found six eggs yesterday. they are so small - and she hides them really well !

i cut off the leaf the egg is on and place it on a moist paper towel. this is to avoid potential predators, such as ants, wasps or spiders, from eating the eggs.

in about 4-5 days they will hatch.

today, there were two more females out there laying eggs.

in the meantime... i'll go out in the garden and look for more eggs.

future babies

all was quiet for a month. i saw a few monarchs passing through. but today this lady fluttered around for about an hour. i sat quietly and watched her as she drank nectar and went from leaf to leaf laying eggs. it was the first time i got to see this happening. first, i identified her as a female. then i could see her land on a leaf, and tuck her abdomen on the underside of the leaf as she deposited her eggs. she will deposit about one hundred eggs.

monarch butterflies use a combination of visual and chemical cues to find milkweed. once they land on a plant, they use sensory organs on their feet and heads to tell them if it is a milkweed, and the quality of the milkweed. she must have liked my milkweed.

i will now go out and go on a monarch egg hunt  :)

empty nest

i just watched my last girl fly away.

on may 26th - i had 7 girls, 2 boys, and 2 unknown

on june 9th - i had 10 girls and 3 boys

on july 3rd - i had (again) 10 girls and 3 boys

so as of today, i have raised and released:



27 girls
8 boys
2 unknown

37 beautiful monarch butterflies

interesting that there are so many more girls than boys. i wonder if this is common ?

i also had 5 deaths (sad)... and 3 escapees :)

beautiful boy

this beautiful boy is ready for his first flight.