Here Come the Monarchs!

We have 11 Monarchs.....4 boys and 7 girls. It must be this house.  There's always more girls....more girl cats, more girl bunnies, more girl butterflies, more granddaughters, and only daughters. The grandchildren are enjoying them as much as I am. We had one little chysalis that I was worried about because I squished the caterpillar a little bit, but that particular chrysalis eclosed perfectly and all the butterflies are fine and eating.

I have never had a chrysalis look like this, so I was worried it wouldn't be ok. Even the grandchilren noticed that something was wrong with it. Many times each and every day I told it how beautiful it was.  Well, it opened and it is perfect! 

Lily very carefully enjoying the beautiful little creature.

They don't seem to eat very much unless coaxed, but I have help with that.  You can see their proboscis coming down from their heads which they use like a straw to drink. 

Conversations with Lily about the butterflies

Lily does a good job at getting them to eat and she is very gentle with them. 

Two tables of 4. They do love the honeydew better than watermelon. They also like water with a little bit of organic honey mixed in.  We've got to get them to eat before we release them into this heat. 

There are still more chrysalises left to open. Another Lady Monarch graced us with a few eggs the other day. According to an article I read a few days ago, a surge in Monarchs is expected in August. We will be ready!

Monarch Moments

Lots of action going on today in the butterfly house

Cuddling

Playing hide and seek on the lattice ~ Peek a boo!

Put your head on my shoulder.

Found a spot on a stem to get ready to form his chrysalis 

Hanging in "J"s to get ready for the last molt

It sheds its skin for the last time

Added Chrysalises!

New Chrysalises

Find the 4 Caterpillars

I talked about kind of squishing a little caterpillar against the lattice by mistake when I was changing the leaves several days ago. I have a chrysalis that looks strange and I am watching it to see how it will develop. This one may be from the caterpillar that got squished. Eeeek. So sorry!  Even my little granddaughters notice the difference and asked what was wrong with it. 

Final count today. 

Butterflies Released   5

Chrysalises 18

Caterpillars 5

Three Little Ladies and One Man

Today I released 4 beautiful healthy butterflies, 3 females and one male. They left today about noon: Blue-eyes, Charlie, Darling, and Elizabeth.

This female returned all afternoon taking nectar from the milkweed plants. Maybe she will come back some day and leave her eggs here.

There are 11 Chrysalises, 5 big caterpillars, 6 medium caterpillars, 5 butterflies released. 

Butterfly Wild Wings

Update for the Butterflies.

Yesterday we decided to name the butterflies differently this year.  No more Mickey Mantle, Peyton Manning, Joe DiMaggio, Aaron Rogers, Pope Francis, Hillary, Billary, Bernie, Trump, Humpty Dumpty, Michael Jordan, and the like.  After naming over 500 butterflies last year, I think we used up the names of all our relatives, favorite Disney Characters, baseball players, football players, politicians, etc. Since this year seems to be a slower year, we decided to name them as the weathermen name the hurricanes. We would start with a letter "A"name, then a "B" name, and so on. Today we let go our first girl butterfly. And as fate would have it, a dear friend of ours passed away this morning. Her name was Arlene.

She was full of fun, sweet, silly, caring, and just an all around most wonderful person.  So, the first little butterfly we released today was named Arlene. She stayed on my finger for a long time.....didn't want to leave.....but she finally took off towards the "heavens".

We also have 4 more that we will release tomorrow. They are eating and full of energy for their journey. As a matter of fact, they have had quite a party in the butterfly cage.

Today there are 11 Chrysalises, 5 medium-sized caterpillars and  4 tiny ones, 4 butterflies and 1 released

.  All is well.

A Few Good Monarchs

Update on the Butterflies.

We have 4 girl butterflies today and 1 boy. All seem to be healthy and are eating. They are sipping honeydew melon nectar through their proboscis.

The clip above shows one of the girls enjoying her breakfast.  If the weather is a little nicer tomorrow, we will release them all. 

We also have a "unicorn". I was informed that it will be fine after it develops. This little caterpillar has only one tentacle....at this point they are not called antennae. 

No new eggs. Still looking.
Last year at at this time, I had over 300 eggs and cats and butterflies, in comparison to my 28 little guys as of today.
Well, we are still in July. There's hope for more. 

Our First Two Butterflies of the Season Eclose (Hatch) - Both Girls

Two butterflies eclosed today exactly one month and one day from their start as an egg dropped off in my butterfly garden by a Lady Monarch

Take a look at last years video of a Monarch eclosing

Here's the first one of the day drying her wings 

Both Girls 

Both perfect! They have been eating honeydew melon nectar and will be kept a day or two before I let them go.

If you look closely in the picture you can see their two antennae with a thicker curl on the end and their thicker legs. You can also see the proboscis, which is a thin straw-like appendage coming out of the head and going right into the honeydew like a straw from which they sip the nectar.

I hope to have better pictures tomorrow. They could only eat so much while I was trying to photograph at the right angle to allow it to be seen. The proboscis unrolls out and then rolls back in when it is going to be in use.  

Three more chrysalises are dark blue tonight and I will probably wake up to three more butterflies tomorrow morning.

I had one new chrysalis formed during the day today. The caterpillar crawled up to the top of the butterfly house and looked for a spot to make the silk to adhere itself to. It then hung inself in a "J" and waited until it was ready to make the chrysalis.  The caterpillar actually splits its skin for its final molt before it forms the chrysalis. 

Fat and ready cat hanging in the "J"

When it is ready to begin the next process the antennae droop as in the second "J" picture and the magic begins.

Tonight there are a few more cats hanging in a "J" and one cat searching for its spot. The rest of the cats are resting. Here is one day of Frass (poop) from only 8 cats. Imagine my cages last year when I had 10 times the amount of cats as I have this year.  They had to be cleaned twice a day.

Final count today
3 in a "J"
2 chrysalises
21 caterpillars small, medium, and large
2 beautiful female Monarch Butterflies

Kissing Cousins or Fighting like Cats and Dogs?

All ten Caterpillars are getting fat in the butterfly cage getting ready to find a spot to make their silk buttons and start the next process of their journey to being a butterfly.  It seems that all caterpillars have different personalities just like people. Some just lie around in the shade like the one below and are contented to watch the world go by. Others have to be bugging each other and causing trouble. It's as if there are 10 siblings in that cage.  The rest of the tiny caterpillars in the plastic tupperware containers are about one eighth to one quarter inch long. Four little eggs opened today and are just starting to eat.

Two of the chrysalises that have been resting for several days are turning blue and will be eclosing (hatching) soon.....tomorrow or the next day. Here is one below on the left getting darker.

A message for Monarch Lovers......... This is simple, yet important!  For all of you fellow Monarch lovers, please sign your name to the petition to help save the Monarchs: Tell EPA: Drop Dow's Toxic Herbicide and Save Monarchs Tell EPA to take Dow's next-gen herbicide — Enlist Duo — off the market immediately and help bring monarch butterflies back from the brink. TAKE ACTION Monarch butterflies are in trouble — their population has plunged from over 1 billion butterflies 20 years ago to just 150 million this past winter. The culprit? In large part, it's the skyrocketing overuse of toxic herbicides that is wiping out milkweed plants monarchs need to survive. EPA has the power to help reverse this alarming decline and save monarchs by canceling its approval of Dow's new and extremely potent herbicide, Enlist Duo. But the agency is dragging its feet — and monarchs can't wait. We need your help to turn up the heat and compel EPA to take immediate action for monarch survival! Urge EPA to take Enlist Duo off the market and help bring monarchs back from the brink. Todays count...still the same. Just waiting for the 2 who may eclose (hatch) tomorrow or the next day. And still waiting for more Monarchs!

Six Chrysalises, 11 big cats in the butterfly house, 6 teeny cats and 5 eggs just popping into little cats.  Today when I was feeding the big cats, I felt something squish a little bit as I moved the milkweed stalk. Aghhhhh! I didn't see one of the caterpillars behind the lattice climbing around and smashed it a little. I thought I killed the caterpillar.  It seems to be ok for now, but it let out a little dark liquid like I have never seen before.  This is this first time I have done something like this and will watch how it develops....if it does. Feeling pretty terrible right now.

I have seen a Monarch flying around in the yard the past couple of days, but no new eggs. I'm thinking maybe it was a male. Hopefully another little lady Monarch will come through here soon.

Just Another Monarch Monday Update

Today we have 11 good-sized caterpillars, some getting ready to spin the silk and get ready to make their chrysalis. This little guy was  bugging another chrysalis.  You can see it through the glass top of the butterfly house in the upper right hand corner.  I had to separate the two by taping a leaf between him and the chrysalis because I have heard of caterpillars really doing damage to a resting chrysalis. 

He seems to be looking around for a place to spin.

Here's two guys out to lunch together, just about meeting nose to nose. 

Now I have 5 chrysalises that will be opening in about 5-7 days,  6 tiny cats about 1/4 inch long, and five eggs ready to pop. That's a far cry from last years count at 282 eggs, cats, and chrysalises.  I'm kind of a little disappointed, but it will be a lot less work this year. Everyone in the area has the same story. 

Raiders of the Lost Monarch

Besides the weather and insecticides that have brought the Monarch numbers down on the charts in the last few years, the Monarch also has it's place in the food chain. There are some birds, mice, several insects, and some parasites that eat monarchs. 

It isn't known much about the insect predators, but the birds have evolved their own ways of handling the toxins in monarchs. The monarch is pretty much protected by the toxins in the food it eats.....it makes them poisonous. 

It stores the poison called cardenolides, that it gets from the plants it eats.  

How potent the monarch is depends on the potency of the plants it ate when it was a caterpillar.

However, there are some birds that still can tolerate the toxins.

My numbers from this year compared to last years have really dwindled. At this time I had 84 eggs, caterpillars and chrysalises. But even though I have only twenty this year so far, I am only behind in the number of chrysalises by 2. Wondering where the ancestors of all those little butterflies are who visited here last year and left all those eggs.

 Still waiting for more.

Just Another Monarch Monday

The Butterflies are slowly finding their way to my butterfly garden.

Today there are 5 Chrysalises in the big butterfly house. They will take about 2 weeks or so to turn into a butterfly

10 little cats getting bigger 

5 eggs waiting to hatch in the nursery. 

Last year at this time on the very same day, I had

1 egg, 57 chrysalises and 25 cats. Quite a difference. Everyone seems to have the same story. 

We Have Two Chrysalises!

Today one of my little cats got loose from the butterfly house. I don't know how, but he was walking on top of it and must have slipped thru the screen somehow. I put him back and no sooner did he start spinning a little web of silk to attach himself to. It was time to make his chrysalis. In the picture below, you can see the caterpillar attached to a little button of silk that he spun.

He then hangs himself in a "J" to prepare himself for the next part of his journey. When his tentacles go limp as in the above picture , his skin splits and he stars to spin the chrysalis molting for the last time. 

You can see the web of silk on the glass in the picture above.

Here is a sped up clip of one of my caterpillars spinning and molting his skin last year. 

Below is an up close picture of the "cremaster" which is the black little stalk that connects the chrysalis to the spun silk pad. It acts like velcro to keep the chrysalis attached.

Two spun their chrysalises today....one on the glass top and one on the lattice. 

 Three cats are left 

getting big and fat and roaming around together,

Climbing and checking out the lattice, possibly thinking about spinning the silk button there.

This one liked the lattice and made itself at home.

There are still 9 in the nursery container all just having popped out of their shell into little tiny caterpillars.  When the frass (poop) appears, you know they are no longer eggs.