I had to relocate them to a neighbor’s front yard so they wouldn’t starve to death. Looking forward to having a few more monarch butterflies around even if they’re not in my yard.
Tag: #caterpillar
Monarchpocalypse in our milkweed !
So many little monarch caterpillar babies eating so much! May need to take them to a neighbor’s so they can all eat enough!
Monarch butterfly number four is off!
Our adventure of keeping the caterpillars alive is at an end and we can let our milkweed plant grow up in peace. Next year hopefully we’ll have some butterflies laying their eggs on them and we’ll have some outdoor caterpillar adventures but for now this comes to an end of our monarch butterfly cultivation…
Monarch butterfly number four coming soon to a sky near you!
Our fourth caterpillar is just about ready to come out of its chrysalis and spread its wings. It’s an amazing thing to witness but I’m glad that this chapter is coming to a close. I have other plans for that table and we’re looking forward to put the milkweed outdoors.
Monarch status update
Butterflies: 2 (gone)
Pupae: 1 (new!)
Caterpillars: 2
The bigger caterpillar is probably going to pupate in the next day or so as well
Second monarch butterfly emerges from its chrysalis!
Here is the whole saga of my second monarch butterfly coming out of his chrysalis and getting ready to take to the skies.
I brought it outside and had lunch with him (I identified the sex by looking for the spots on his wings) and did a bunch of photos and videos next to the garden where they would be plenty of flowers and lots of sun.
But it was windy and he was having trouble hanging on so I tried a few different approaches until finally settled on putting him inside a plastic storage tub and then putting that in the greenhouse. After a few hours of not much movement he suddenly moved his head back and forth and then just flew away! There will be more monarch butterfly content as I still have three caterpillars on the milkweed in my breakfast nook, plus I have lots of photos and video footage to go through.
Note: as fascinating as it is, please don’t try to raise monarch butterflies yourself; it can encourage the spread of a deadly parasite that has been ravaging them Monarchs’ population lately… I’m only doing it because there were eggs on my milkweed seedlings and I only want to make sure the caterpillars grow up successfully.
Monarch butterfly hatched when I wasn’t looking!
But I managed to carry it outside and it was able to get its wings working and fly…. I still have one chrysalis left to open and today discovered three new caterpillars!
Monarch caterpillar makes a chrysalis!
One monarch caterpillar has made a chrysalis and is starting to transform into a butterfly.
The other one is reached full size and is happily chowing down on the milkweed leaves.
We got these caterpillars by accident. We were going to grow some milkweed so that next year’s butterflies would have a place to lay their eggs. But it looks like two eggs came along with our seedlings and hatched into caterpillars. So we are looking after those caterpillars until they are ready to fly off as beautiful monarch butterflies….
That said, it is not recommended to raise monarchs indoors. It can lead to the spread of a parasite called OE that is attacking the monarch butterfly population. See this site for more info: https://monarchjointventure.org/