As of today, we have 3 chrysalis. That's 3 out of the 15 caterpillars we originally spotted in the very beginning. Yikes, no wonder these Monarch butterflies are going extinct! Those odds are not very good and even so, there is still no guarantee that these chrysalis will form butterflies. It's really quite amazing how fragile these butterflies are.
And speaking of fragile, I got so upset when this caterpillar ended up being a spider's dinner. Nooo..!!!
That's when I finally decided to buy a couple of caterpillar/butterfly nets:
I thought this one was dead. I'm glad I didn't move it:
... because in the next day or so after looking dead, it started to form the "J"!!!
In another day or so, the chrysalis formed! Too bad we didn't catch the transformation:
In the meantime, our milkweed was starting to look quite "skinny" and we only have 5 caterpillars left in this cage:
We didn't get a chance to get more milkweed, but I read online that the caterpillars don't mind butternut squash. I hope they are right! I'm just glad I didn't accidentally zip up this one caterpillar that was on the mesh!
Looks like they do like butternut squash!
I decided to set the one cage under the back patio. Supposedly the chrysalis should not be out in the sun. I really wonder how these caterpillars survive in the wild - I suppose maybe that's why their numbers are plummeting. Everything seems to be working against them!
Finally got the family out to buy some more milkweed... along with some other plants. We've planning on repairing our front stoop too so got some sample tiles. More projects!!!
It's been soooo windy lately that I've had to protect the caterpillar cage!
As of last week, we have 2 new chrysalis. And the caterpillar hanging to the left does not look promising:
There's another caterpillar that decided to hang on the plastic part of the caterpillar cage instead of the mesh. I may have accidentally bumped it around during its pupating stage. It fell off the spot where it's suppose to hang from:
Yup, definitely dead :-(
Those white strings are actually from the caterpillars. That's probably the webbing they use to hang themselves when pupating. I wonder why these two caterpillars didn't make it.
And just this past Monday, the one chrysalis was falling!!! You can somewhat see how the webbing is stretch:
I ended up having to re-tie it back up with some dental floss. Thank goodness for the internet as I didn't know what to do!
And then I had to re-hook the chrysalis up to the mesh with a safety pin. Hope that will keep it up. I'm not sure if spraying it with water made that webbing stretch. I read online that you had to mist the chrysalis so they don't dry up. I just makes me wonder even more how these butterflies even exist! There seems to be so much going on against them:
The chrysalis are suppose to change to a darker color once the butterfly forms within it. Fingers crossed we have 3 new butterflies. We will most likely find out next week or so:
More wind predicted for this Friday. I hope these chrysalis survive this next bout! At least it's sunny here and not freezing with snow and ice like 3/4 of the country! Check out this photo that was posted on social media by an aunt:
Just unbelievable!!!
The lake in the photo above is totally frozen. Brrr... I definitely don't miss the cold if it's going to be like this! Some friends in Texas have lost power as well. We are definitely lucky to be where we are, in the mid 60s and sunny. Okay, I will stop rubbing it in now :-)
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