Saturday, August 22, 2020

A Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar for Saturday Critters.

On August 17th. we found two Monarch Butterfly Caterpillars! We collected them both and placed them in a plastic cage for our purpose of observation of them throughout their completion stages to reach the final stage of an becoming adult Monarch Butterflys! This morning they  have both achieved the pupa or chrysalis stage. I am assuming that

they shall both be adult Monarch butterflies by or around September the first!
These caterpillars have been great eaters and every morning I removed the remnants of chewed   and eaten leaves as the caterpillars grew rapidly. on August the 21 I posted this update of their development.
Monarch butterfly caterpillar update:
Our two caterpillars ,which we have been observing are now preparing to enter the last stage of stage of their being caterpillars Overnight they have attached their bodies to the cage with a glue like substance that they have secreted from their bodies. They are now both hanging in a ‘J’
shape. One caterpillar is attached to the top of the cage, The and the other caterpillar-has attached itself to
the side of the cage Probably by
tomorrow these caterpillars will have left their caterpillar stage and will be in their pupa (chrysalis) stage. To exit the caterpillar stage, the caterpillar will make its body move
very rapidly in a motion until it’s skin falls off. Underneath the skin is a soft green body. This soft green body when exposed to the air will harden and it becomes the hard green outer covering of the chrysalis. Within 10 to 14days a adult Monarch butterfly will emerge from the green shell of the chrysalis.



This morning when I checked on the caterpillars, they were no more. Overnight they had entered their green chrysalis stage! If all goes well they will next be adult Monarch butterflies.


I am posting this morning to Eileen's Saturday Critters which can be found at viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.com
Have a wonderful weekend everyone and stay safe and healthy!

6 comments:

eileeninmd said...

Hello,

It is great you are able to raise the Monarch butterflies. I think the caterpillars are cute. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Enjoy your day, have a great weekend.

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

How amazing! I would love to try to do this. It's so interesting. Right now we are seeing big webs filled with caterpillars along the trails. Hope they are all good butterflies!

RedPat said...

It is like a miracle!

Anu said...

It is interesting and amazing.

Irma said...

This is truly a miracle of nature.

Rain said...

That's really awesome to see! Great photos! :)