According to the internets, the process of a monarch from egg to butterfly usually takes about a month. But it has been unpleasantly hot for most of this summer and it only took 21 days.
The big change this week was buying a second habitat and separating the caterpillars from the ready to hatch chrysalises. This was important for 2 reasons. The first is that the milkweed is in large glass bottles filled with water on a mesh floor. I did not think I would be able to carry all that outdoors to let the hatched butterflies free without making a giant mess. The second is that monarchs can have parasites (luckily none of mine have, but I need to be safe) and the easiest way for them to spread is for an infected butterfly to hatch over caterpillars who have not yet formed their chrysalises.
To pick up a butterfly, the easiest way is to just put your finger in front of it and tap its chest very lightly; they just climb up on you. From my observations, the male butterflies are more sedate and the females are more eager to get going. Two of the butterflies let me pick them up and move them – both were males.
I am very excited to be able to release these butterflies into the world; hopefully they will make the journey to their winter home in Mexico safely.
-
- Aug 4, Two of the larger caterpillars eat some milkweed.
-
- Aug 4, I have kept up my collecting of eggs, and baby caterpillars continue to hatch.
-
- Aug 6, I purchased a second habitat and moved the milkweed and caterpillars into it.
-
- Aug 6, A caterpillar explores a leaf in its new habitat.
-
- Aug 6, The ceiling of the original habitat is getting covered with chrysalises. You can see another caterpillar preparing to form another in the top right corner.
-
- Aug 6, Some caterpillars attached their chrysalises directly to the habitat mesh, some to leaves of the milkweed. I have pinned those leave to the ceiling.
-
- Aug 6, This is the first chrysalis that formed. It is just stating to change color. When the butterfly is ready, the chrysalis will become completely clear and the butterfly will be visible inside.
-
- Aug 7, I woke up to four butterflies, fully emerged from their chrysalises! I completely missed the “clear” stage; when I went to bed the night before, three of them hadn’t even begun to change color.
-
- Aug 7, I brought the habitat out onto the porch and unzipped its door. One butterfly (I assume the first to form a chrysalis) was ready to go and flew right out. The other three needed more time to dry their wings.
-
- Aug 7, These two (the top is a female and the bottom a male) formed their chrysalises together and hatched together.
-
- Aug 7, This is the fourth to hatch. He spent a long time sedately flapping his wings while the others kept trying to fly around.
-
- Aug 7, The male of the pair thought he was ready to fly. He got about 3 feet to the porch rail and had to rest.
-
- Aug 7, I picked him up off the porch rail and brought him back to the habitat so he could hang upside down.
-
- Aug 7, I put him on the zipper and he stayed their for over an hour.
-
- Aug 7, The habitat on the porch, catching the morning sun.
-
- Aug 7, The last to leave the habitat needed to rest a bit after his first short flight as well. He found the evening primrose to be a good spot.
-
- Aug 7, The back of the butterfly on the evening primrose. Looking at the back of the wings is the easiest way to tell if they are male or female. You can see this one is male because of the round black spots on each lower wing. Females do not have these markings.
Recent Comments