Dear Butterfly Diary,
First, let me start by thanking my good friend, Lisa, for giving me MIlkweed sprouts in early spring to prepare for the Monarchs.
Secondly, it's all her fault!!
She had so many caterpillars on her milkweed and most of my milkweed was overtaken by marigolds.
Lisa went on a couple trips and I not only fostered hers, but went back for more time and time again and ended up with around 43 Monarch's and 2 Gulf Frittilary. (I could have taken more, just no space).
I eat, drink and sleep butterflies and caterpillars now since September 6th.
Again, THANKS LISA! I'm now obsessed! (Obviously... with all the uploads & documentation and film producing! LOL!!!)
They poop so much! OMG! Cage is cleaned 1-2x daily. I've timelapsed what I could to speed things up. The emerging butterflies are awesome but how can you not be MINDBLOWN watching the chrysalis form.
Also, watch the regular speed -it is quite breathtaking. (Look through the videos). God is amazing, isn't he?
From little babies the size of the Letter "L" on a dime, feeding them separately to grow up & be ready for the big enclosure.
Waiting on end knowing just about when the next "J" may appear or the next Chrysalis formed and now when the next butterfly will hatch.
My first one came to me already in chrysalis stage and had formed in too tight a space. As suspected, she fell upon emerging. I grabbed a paper towel & she grabbed onto it immediately. Everything seemed perfect except the tips of both wings bent wrong. After 36 hours of her gaining strength, we tried outside and she couldn't fly. We kept her longer & tried to feed her & she didn't make it.
RIP #1
My grandkids have been very respectful & watching from a distance when they visit.
The Monarch inside the chrysalis just before emerging is absolutely stunning!
You can see my makeshift production studio set up in various spots. I put it on Timelapse & go to bed for the night or when I run errands.
My husband and I bet everyday on which one we think will emerge first, so I have have eyes on the chrysalis's at all times! Even the laptop came out & set up webcam.
Then there is the cannibalism that shocked the heck out of me! They never went hungry, in fact, I might be the picky mom who took out semi dried milkweed because I thought it might be too dry & gave fresh leaves often.
This one guy, we put him in jail for murder! He got time-out time in a separate enclosure until we got a bigger enclosure & separated caterpillars from chrysalis's. It's because a chrysalis tastes just like milkweed I guess.
I took 2 Gulf Fritillary's from Lisa's because they were destroying her passion flower vine. Their chrysalis is really ugly. So again, how amazing is God to create this beautiful butterfly. It goes from an ugly, orange, spiney, scary caterpillar, then turns it into an ugly upside down batman shaped mummy in an ugly desert sand color. Also, it looks petrified! Then emerges a gorgeous butterfly with two distinct patterns on the top and the bottom of their wings! I have my 2 Frit's in a separate enclosure over here at the Monarch Foster Compound.
I also have several Gulf Frit's in my yard already.
Then their is Monarch #12C. We numbered them all, marked date & time (best to our knowledge) on day of Chyrsalis. #12C must have had a deformity. She fell out & didn't hang on. I was right there, within seconds & quickly gave her a papertowel to latch on to & she couldn't latch. Her feet didn't catch. I tried my finger, her chrysalis, a towel, nothing. I'm still traumatized by #1 & now this.
I gave her a chance by gently holding her to a paper towel upside down. Her wings did get almost completely full & her abdomen was skinny. But no matter how many times we tried helping her latch, she couldn't do it.
I have reattached a fallen Chrysalis (fingers crossed on #10). I've had to reattach a "J".
The Monarch Butterflies are endangered. Help out by going to www.monarchwatch.org and planting milkweed in your yard. Monarch's only live on milkweed.
23 сен 2024
