My Monarch Kingdom

The little cats are now big cats 

in just about two weeks

 from the time they were brought inside as eggs. They are approaching the 2 inch mark.

Enjoying climbing around the cage 

This caterpillar just molted again.....shedd it's skin. You can see it as a black clump above the caterpillar's head. Each time the cat molts, it begins a new "instar" phase. Its skeleton is on the outside of its body, like clothes. So, as it grows, it can no longer fits in its skin and it molts.

Enjoying eating, this cat is in it's 5th instar. Pretty soon it will be looking for a spot to hang upside down in a "j" and molt for the last time. It will then begin preparing to make the chrysalis.

The nursery has the same number of eggs as yesterday. There were 5 found on July 11th and 4 found on July 10th. All look healthy!

We have one little cat that is behind the other 4 cats in their 5th instar phase. It is in it's third instar developing more color and the two pairs of tentacles are getting longer.

All are doing well!

2016                                                                        2015

Eggs              9                                                     Eggs              7

Caterpillars    5                                                       Caterpillars    40

The Tail of the Wasp

Things are picking up. I didn't see the little lady monarch today, but I found 5 eggs that she left. My count is up to 9 eggs and 5 caterpillars....still quite behind last year, but we are on our way.

It's a real challenge getting the eggs because the milkweed is loaded with honey bees, great black wasps, great golden digger wasps, paper wasps, and bumble bees. The black wasps and golden diggers are the scariest because they are about an inch and a half long. Yikes! However, I found out that they are not supposed to be aggressive. The females are the bigger ones and the ones that sting, but won't bother you unless you disturb their underground nests. Their stinger is actually their apparatus to lay eggs. The males don't lay eggs, they don't sting. The females consume lots of high energy food like the nectar from the milkweed because they seem to do all the work. When the time comes that the flowers turn to seeds, I am hoping I won't have to deal with as many wasps.

I haven't photographed them myself....being a little timid around them because they are pretty big and quite scary looking, but I found some beautiful pictures taken by littlebangtheory.wordpress.com.

The Great Black Wasp

The Great Golden Digger Wasp

I continue to wait until the sun starts going down to hunt for eggs, so I don't have to contend with the huge wasps.

2016                                                                        2015

Eggs              9                                                     Eggs              2

Caterpillars    5                                                       Caterpillars    38

Monarch De Triomphe!

Finally! A wounded Monarch butterfly came into my garden today. She had a chunk taken out of her wing, but was flying very well despite her injury.  I tried to photograph her, however she wouldn't sit still for me. Tonight when I checked, I found 4 eggs that she had left.  They are in the plastic container/nursery.

 Then I was delighted to find a monarch caterpillar about 3/4 inch in length. It could have been developed from an egg the other day when I saw a Monarch zip out of the garden.  It is now inside the "Big House"  crawling around the Milkweed stalks with the other cats.

They are all about an inch or more iin the Big House now and eating and "frassing" (polite way of saying caterpillar pooping).

While I was searching for more eggs I spotted something that looked like a humming bird, about the same size as a humming bird.  It had the rapidly flapping wings, but didn't have the long slender beak typical of a humming bird.  After searching online I discovered it was a "Humming Bird Moth". How appropriate for a butterfly garden! 

2016                                                                        2015

Eggs              4                                                      Eggs              2

Caterpillars    5                                                       Caterpillars    38

All in a Days Work

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.

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

Where Have All the Monarchs Gone, Long Time Passing!

According to last years records, I collected 22 eggs and 1 tiny caterpillar on this same date adding to an already collected 11 eggs and 1 caterpillar.  My running total for July 7th, 2015 was 34 eggs and caterpillars, so I am quite behind with my four caterpillars.  According to the Monarch Butterfly migration maps, the yellow, orange, and white dots show the first Springtime sightings of the Monarchs from March 1st to April 25th.

This next map shows the first sightings from April 26th until after June 20th in brown, pink, and blue dots. Clearly the Monarchs have been up this far north in Northern Illinois. However,  sadly I have only seen 2 so far. 

Luckily I still have my 4 healthy little cats to watch and chart. 

These two are friends.

This one is not camera shy. 

 Life is your restaurant!

Take a look at this little clip......an energetic caterpillar looking for food. Life is your restaurant!

Map pictures from Copyright 1997-2016 Journey North.

Spotted a Monarch today in the later afternoon....no new eggs yet. Hopefully we will get some in the next few days.

 Our little cats (caterpillars) are munching away and needed new milkweed this morning. This little cat is about 4 days old.  He has shed his skin for the first time and the old black face cap has fallen off. He is now in his second instar.  He has also doubled in size in the past two days.....over 1/2 inch!  :)

Hoping for a visit from the Monarch tomorrow! Stay tuned!

The Monarch Rules

After only one week, the caterpillars now have the color of the adult caterpillars. The translucent ones that broke out of the eggs a few days ago with the their oversized black heads are now yellow, black and white striped caterpillars.  This one has grown 25% in one day measuring in at over 1/4 of an inch as compared to 3/16ths of an inch yesterday. 

The holes in the leaves are getting bigger and pretty soon they will need new milkweed to chomp on. I changed the paper toweling to a fresh damp one because of the "frass" starting to build up.

Every one looks healthy.  We are still waiting for the Monarchs to appear and lay more eggs. I have heard from the Facebook page,  Beautiful Monarch, that there are disappointed people in the Chicago area still waiting for the Monarchs to make their way thru on their journey.  We are keeping our fingers crossed.  Hopefully tomorrow will be the day!