Very interesting. Have never known how long the entire process takes but it would be fascinating to watch it up close
And we have liftoff!!!! Came downstairs to find this Paige got the kids involved in setting the little girl free (we think this one's a girl) and if I can figure out how to take the video off Facebook and post it here, I'll show that to you too. After Paige and the kids helped the butterfly get free from the jar, they let her crawl on them a while to help her finish getting ready to launch. And then she did!!! Flying around the yard..... And as an extra bonus for the day, one of the outside cocoons has matured. See that transparent cocoon casing behind this little dude? Isn't that so cool? And of the few still left in the jar inside, there are now two more, last time I looked, whose cocoons are darkening and it won't be long before they emerge. Saving the Monarchs....check!!!
Actually cocoons are spun by Moths, Butterflies make a chrysalis and the stage of being in the chrysalis is called pupation (pupating).... http://www.learnaboutbutterflies.com/Lifecycle 7 - chrysalis.htm And yes they emerge from the chrysalis. They need to be outside as soon after emerging as possible since they need to sit in the sun and let their wings dry. If you want to totally gross out the kiddos explain the metamorphosis process to them
Nice to see the entire process in pictures from your garden,..well done,..its a beautiful Butterfly,..all of them.
What a wonderful series Ronni! I myself have raised 13 (that I know of) Monarchs this year. I have four types of milkweed in one bed. What I have noticed is the monarch will lay eggs on all of them, but after the second instar they all congregated on the common milkweed. "Asclepias syriaca" So next year's goal is to build an outside nursery above a 2' x 8' raised bed I have in my backyard. I should be able to fit four common milkweeds there, and then build a screened in enclosure over the plants. By doing this I should be able to take the cats from the front bed, and transfer them to their new nursery ensuring a greater success rate. If anyone is interested here is a link to native milkweeds in the US. Just click on the 'Locate milkweeds' tab. Then search for your state. Again, wonderful series!
Welcome to the Forum Llcenter,..great link,..great to see you are also saving the Monarchs and going big time next year with the outside nursery.
The following is from Paige, her last post about her Monarch Adventure: We released the last monarch yesterday! That concludes our Save The Monarchs series of 2016 Now that we've doubled our milkweed supply, I can't wait to see how many we meet next year! I strongly urge anyone that has any kind of garden area to throw down some milkweed seeds. You'll be doing so much for the monarch population. The plants grow and spread easily and require basically no maintenance. And of course you don't have to bring the caterpillars inside like we did, they do just fine on their own. It's completely fascinating to watch everything unfold! Life is amazing. Nature rocks.
That is beautiful. Our Monarch's need help. So glad one more child has learned so much about them at a good age.
