Here is one of my little eating machines enjoying his dinner last night. Actually the caterpillars at this stage eat one meal a day......all day long. When they get a little bigger, you can hear them chomping away. It has been since June 27th, 12 days ago, that they were brought into the house as eggs tinier than a pinhead. Now they are all measuring over an inch long. I put the four cats in the "Big House" today. They were crawling around the plastic container needing much more room to roam. I use an aquarium turned into a butterfly house by turning it on it side and covering the opening with screening on a wooden frame that I made to fit snuggly.
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You can see the aquarium lined with paper towels to make changing the frass easier. |
I built a little lattice for each aquarium or "butterfly box" to allow the little cats to climb around. Some of them chose to attach themselves to the lattice when it is time to form the chrysalis. Others climb to the top of the butterfly box to attach their silk pad and begin to form the chrysalis. I use flower tubes filled with water to keep the milkweed from drying before it is eaten.
Last year at this time I had 40 eggs and caterpillars. Today I have 4. That is 10% of last years Monarchs. I did spot a Monarch in the garden late in the afternoon yesterday, but no eggs. Still hoping for more!
2016 2015
Eggs 0 Eggs 2
Caterpillars 4 Caterpillars 38
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