Butterfly Pics of the Day

Yes, we are hatching butterflies again this summer! Here are a couple recent photos of different stages.
Cute, fat caterpillar. "J" stage. New in chrysalis.


The chrysalis photo--this was an interesting process. When it is ready, it goes from the "J" on the left, to the chrysalis on the right. The yellow parts of the caterpillar stripes slowly morph into green and then merge together. On the right, you can still kind of see the stripe markings of the caterpillar. The process takes oh about a 1/2 hour. It was pretty cool to watch.

We now have 3 in chrysalis, 5 caterpillars or various sizes, and one teeny one that just hatched. We should have a couple new butterflies in the next few days!

Butterfly #1

She's beautiful and perfectly formed. Yes, she is a she. Dang, so much for the Jonas Brothers naming convention! I am a bit confused, as I thought this one was JOE, so perhaps a name like Josie would suffice.

But I am told this one is Nicolette! Alright. Fine.





She hasn't really eaten yet.

I think we will get some watermelon to supplement the sugar water-soaked tissue and peeled grape.

Tyler the Caterpillar

Butterfly #4-Release

Today we released Butterfly #4. His wings are a little rumpled, so we weren't sure what would happen. First he just fluttered in the grass...
After I dropped off 2 girls to the Y, he was still there, so I nudged him a bit, hoping to get him into the flower bed, which seemed to me to be a much safer place. He started flying! Circling, smaller circles, then bigger, first about 1-2 feet off the ground, then gradually higher. He landed on the maple tree branch. Now is resting there. He's close to the flowers, so that is good.

Butterfly #2

Bad news-despite what the little booklet that came with the butterfly house said-it is not a good idea to have the butterfly hatch from a chrysalis that is not hanging. This guy has crushed wings. :(

I was out doing errands, and when I got back he was laying on his back and had been for maybe about 1/2 hour. I quick grabbed a stick and he crawled right up to hang. Not looking good though, as the wings are quite mangled.
I also hung the other chrysalis with duct tape. It should hatch any time...

Two More Butterflies

Looks like we will have 2 more butterflies hatch today. Here's the chrysalises. Since we didn't have the butterfly house yet when the caterpillars went into chrysalis, the chrysalises are laying at the bottom of of the butterfly house (vs. hanging). It should work out OK, and hopefully they didn't get jostled with feeding the first butterfly etc. etc.

One chrysalis is very translucent!!

Hoping to be able to observe the actual hatching today. After I drive a friend to the airport, have a few errands to do...so hoping that I do not miss it.

I laid the first butterfly in the flower bed in the front yard. Since the others look ready to hatch, I figured we should put her out into nature. She's hanging out and not flying. Ah well...

Butterfly on Watermelon

Hanging out on a piece of watermelon at the base of the butterfly house...

Butterfly-Girl

She's a girl...we named her Lily. Today she is eating watermelon at the bottom of the butterfly house. Maybe will be ready for release tomorrow.

Isn't she beautiful?

Butterfly!

This new butterfly hatched in about 40 minutes while I was downstairs working-yes really. It is fully formed and beautiful. The wings are wet. I can't tell gender yet until I see open wings (males have an extra set of black spots at the bottom of each wing).

Welcome to the world -- again!!

Chrysalis-Final Stage

Chrysalis #1 (of 4) turned black overnight. With the illumination of the camera with flash, you can see the wing pattern! I am really getting a kick out of this. Won't be long before the butterfly hatches.

I am shooting photos through the clear plastic top of the butterfly house so as not to disturb the little guy, so there's a bit of a reflection and it's hard to get a clear photo. This one we attached to the top of the house with duct tape. :)Here you can see the top of the house with 2 chrysalises (and duct tape)-fuzzy, but there you have it.

Caterpillars in Chrysalis

Ah, these are a bit blurry, but here is one caterpillar in "J" and a chrysalis.



Now they are both in chrysalis...

Caterpillars-More

Wow, these things grow fast! Last night the first one went into "J" mode, in the little bug house we bought, which isn't particularly suited for this. I ordered a nicer house on eBay, hope it comes soon!!

Last Tuesday...
Saturday...








Sunday...

Caterpillars-Progress

The caterpillars are getting bigger. We have 4 caterpillars, from Monarch eggs. My finger shown for reference...

Butterfly Farm!

Our neighbor from down the street, a very nice boy we know mainly from the bus stop, showed us through example how to raise butterflies.

-- Find Monarch eggs on milkweed leaves (usually the underside). They are quite small, a little bit smaller than a pinhead.
-- In anywhere from 1-5 days, a caterpillar will hatch. So far ours are little, maybe 1/4", and gray with black heads.
-- Give them fresh milkweed leaves every day to eat.
-- After a while they will find a nice spot to hang and make a "J", then a chrysalis.
-- Then the butterfly hatches. Feed it fresh fruit (like oranges, even watermelon).
-- Once the wings are formed, set it free!

Repeat...

We have currently I think 2 caterpillars and 1-2 eggs in one container, and 2 caterpillars and 1 egg in another container.

I don't know who is having more fun so far with this process, me or the girls (mostly G-6 years old)!!!

Here's a teeny baby caterpillar (about 1 day old) and an egg in the same shot, and then another caterpillar. Just click on the photos to see a closer view.