This past month has been extremely busy for me, but I was happy that I was still able to go and wander among the milkweeds, stand on my head and search for Monarch caterpillars on what is left of the end-of-summer plants. In the last 2 weeks, I've found 27 caterpillars so far. One disappeared, apparently, becoming an appetizer for an older caterpillar (or as my husband calls them, "worms") that I had in the same container. Another lesson learned - put the teeny, tiny fellers in their own containers! One died while trying to shed his skin, so I currently have a crop of 25.
After losing 6 out the first 9 that I found much earlier this year, I learned another lesson; separate them into smaller groups, just in case you do develop a case of "Black Death". This disease is rather nasty and can spread quickly, killing most of your cats if you're not careful. So, while I do have one of these Monarch enclosures (
http://www.livemonarch.com/store_enclosures.php) (the ones showing as "sold out" are listed as $1000 - this is incorrect and I've let the webmasters know that price will scare the highlights out of some people's hair!), I am still using containers to group them into small groups, by age, so that my first instar cats don't become an appetizer for a fourth instar.
With plenty of fresh food that I'm supplying them with (sometimes twice a day!), they are growing quickly. I am so excited!
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| My only one in pupa stage right now. |
I am fascinated by the little gold flecks on the chrysalis. A very appropriate color for what's inside though - pure gold.
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| 8/13/2015-Guy/Gal #1 |
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| 8/15/2014 - Guy/Gal #1, 2 days later with his new suit and definitely having a bad hair day. |
See the little legs in the skin he shed (pic above)?
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| 8/13/2015 - Guy/Gal #2 - shed his skin a day earlier (on side of tissue). |
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| 8/15/2015 - Guy/Gal #2 - ready to do it again, and he did 2 hours later. |
With every 'shed' / instar their antennae are definitely growing too!
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| 8/13/2015 - 6 Guys/Gals - 2nd Instar aren't those little trails so cute?!? |
I love the adorable little trails that they leave as they munch, and
munch, and munch their way through each leaf. Even their frass is cute
at this stage!
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| 8/13/2015 - 6 Guys/Gals- 2nd Instar - different view. |
I think the 6 Guys/Gals are writing hieroglyphs in their leaves. Maybe it spells, "more fresh leaves, please!"?
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| 8/15/2015 - 6 Guys/Gals - taking much bigger bites now. Num, num, num! |
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| 8/15/2015 - 6 Guys/Gals - the rest of the gang (Mr. Bashful is on the back of the leaf). |
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| 8/15/2015 - These guys are new additions. One is guilty of eating a first instar and won't fess up. |
One of the new additions above ate a first instar and won't fess up. My fault, lesson learned.
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| 8/15/2015 - Bright & shiny after adorning his new coat this morning. |
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| 8/15/2015 - Found this guy yesterday on a plant that I had missed in my previous searches |
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| 8/15/2015 - I have 12 of these little first Instar guys now. |
It's difficult keeping track of the first instars. I thought it would be easy to put them in a Tupperware container and they would stay put. Last night when I did my last check, there were 2 missing. I looked under the paper towels and under the container. Finally, I saw one of them climbing the house wall and fetched him up with a small paintbrush and put him back on his leaf. I found the second one this morning in a container with another single cat. Guess he decided to go keep his neighbor company?
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| 8/15/2015 - A couple more of the 12 little guys (2 more on the back). |
Each day, I get up, fetch new leaves, wash them, then check my guests' health as I replace their leaves and their bedding.
