Five Releases?! 8/19/15

Release Party

        Yesterday when I woke up there was one healthy female butterfly waiting for me. It was raining all day, so I waited until evening to watch her go. 

        It seemed that things would remain uneventful for a while, but then this morning, I woke up to FOUR chrysalides that were nearly ready to go.

        Sure enough, throughout today I gained Monarch after Monarch! It was very exciting and I was eager to let them all go. But again, it was raining and cold, so I waited until later. 

One...

Two...

Three...

And all four!

All healthy males.

        All in all it was a very exciting day. Tomorrow I should have one or two more butterflies, and maybe even a Hanging J or two. I'm still waiting on my two little friends to get going on that! Today I only brought in one plant for them to share since they will be entering pupae soon.

        That's all for today! Until next time :)

And Then There Were Two 8/16/15

More Releases

        Yesterday I was gone all day and just before I left I had a chrysalis that looked like it was ready to eclose. I watched it all morning in hopes I would see it, but no luck.

        Later, while I was out, my mom texted me to say that I had a butterfly. Another female! And a little later she said she had already been released. At first I was upset that I wasn't there to see her off, but who can be upset about a successful release?

My mom snapped this picture before she was released.

        Then again this morning, there was a brand new butterfly waiting for me when I awoke. What do you know, a female! She was all set to go early this afternoon and flew away happy and healthy.

        My caterpillars had their house cleaned today, as many of the plants were wilted and yellowing and the oldest caterpillar crawled up to make a silk button. This means that only two remain eating. It makes me so sad, but at the same time I am eager to see all sixteen of them fly away safely so I can raise their kin next year! My two little guys/gals that remain are friends I think, they eat together, rest together, even shed to the next instar together. Last night I couldn't resist snapping an adorable photo before I went to bed.

Aren't they the best?!

        My hope is that they are the same age so when the time comes, they can be released together as well. For now they are just hangin' out and sharin' leaves.

        The other isn't quite in their "J" yet, so maybe they'll let me watch him go into his pupa tomorrow.

        Not much else to say, hopefully I'll be able to post more butterfly pictures and this caterpillar's new chrysalis. Until next time :)

One of Each 8/13/15

Nearing the End

        It makes me so sad to think that all that is left of my season of Monarchs is three little caterpillars. I could take in more, but I'd be afraid of having to worry about them once school starts, since I need to focus on my studies. So yes the summer is very quickly coming to a close, but it has been awesome!
        Yesterday I was cleaning out my enclosure late in the afternoon when I finally found the missing caterpillar from a few days ago!

It just goes to show how camouflaged the chrysalides are.

        So yes, that means I am all set to have sixteen butterflies in round two. As of this morning, I have three small caterpillars, ten chrysalides, and THREE successful butterflies. When I woke up this morning there was one male and one female butterfly ready to be released. The male was really ready to go and was difficult to photograph, but yes, I did get a good photo demonstrating the spots on a male's wings that set them apart from females.

They are on the lower wings near his body. They are scent glands to attract females!

        I also had yet another chrysalis on a leaf today that was absolutely beautiful. If only I was brave enough to let them stay there, but I just can't risk it.

        My caterpillars are still very young, and never seem to be in the right place for clear photos. One is not pictured, and I have blurry photos of my other two. I did my best though.

        One thing I wish I could do is tag my butterflies. I have tagged someone else's before with the traditional little sticker, but it wasn't mine. It wasn't the same. I don't know how to get ahold of tags and that's the biggest issue. I've heard of people that use non-toxic markers to uniquely mark their butterflies so they know which ones are theirs, but I am not brave enough! I wouldn't want to rub off scales from it's wings or somehow damage it with the ink. I may try to contact the biology department at the University of Minnesota to see if I can get tags through a program there, but for now I just let them go. It would truly be amazing though to know how far they get or if other people see them. Maybe next year I'll have my very own tags!

        I think that's all for today, hopefully I will have more butterflies soon.

Butterfly! 8/11/15

First Butterfly

        Yesterday the first butterfly of my second round of raising emerged from it's chrysalis. And to think I took a picture of her when I first found her! I was in fact a female Monarch who was released into my mothers brilliant garden.

The first day I found her...

And yesterday when she was released.

        Many people ask me, how do I know the gender? I was taught only two years ago that male Monarchs have a raised bump on their lower wings that acts as a scent gland to attract a mate. When a male hatches, I will try my best to show a close up of the scent gland.

        I always talk like there is two rounds of caterpillars every year, but I honestly don't know if that's entirely true. I like to do it that way, because it gives me a break and a chance to clean my enclosure, but I can find eggs and tiny caterpillars all summer long. There definitely is though a noticeable number of Monarchs in the beginning of spring and in the middle versus any other time in the summer. Therefore I learned to work around this noticeable change and turned it into two rounds.

        On the 9th my older brother really wanted to find a caterpillar to call his own. He wanted to name it Heimlich after the caterpillar from the Pixar movie "Bugs' Life." He always tries to help me find caterpillars and never seems to have the eye for it. But regardless, we went out searching for his caterpillar. What do you know! He found a very large caterpillar and I found two smaller ones. I couldn't resist bringing all three home so I could care for them.

Heimlich, who today is in a Hanging J.

My two babies.

        So as of today there are nine pupae on the top of the enclosure and one very special Hanging J. Not to mention the four caterpillars still munching away on the milkweed. Again, I'm missing one! I don't understand if I can't count correctly or if something is happening to them. It'll probably turn up at some point. If not, fifteen is still a good number! I'm definitely happy with how many I have had this year; thirteen in round one and hopefully fifteen in round two.

        I don't have any other news today. Until next time :)

A New Chrysalis 8/8/15

Finally Photographed

        At last number six decided to make a chrysalis, and they decided during the day for once. I cleaned the enclosure thoroughly while I waited and I was able to capture the process. 

 

The skin of the caterpillar starts to look thin and show green.

A concerned friend looks on as the caterpillar's skin splits.

The skin splits in the back of their head and their body contracts to shed it all.

The process is slow, and the skin inches up the body.

When the skin reaches the top of the body it will wiggle until the skin falls.

The skin after it falls.

After the skin drops, the newly formed chrysalis still wiggles, getting comfy.

And ever so slowly...

The pupa shrinks.

Later tonight it will smooth out.

And look as beautiful as the one I moved yesterday!

        As for the other caterpillars, they are getting along just fine. Two more have crawled to the top of the cage and are preparing for hanging J's. The five on the plants are doing well. All seem healthy and happy. I think there will be success all season! I'm so glad that this year is going as great as it is. I love each and every adorable caterpillar and I feel like a proud Momma when they fly away as butterflies.

        That's all I have today, I will write soon with more news. Be sure to follow the new Instagram @monarchmayhem to see extra photos that I don't include in the blog. Until next time :)

Moving a Chrysalis 8/7/15

Chrysalis On a Leaf

        Yes I have five pupae! I thought I had four, until yesterday I noticed I was missing a caterpillar. It has been so rainy and dark here, so i braved the rain to find food and clean the enclosure in search of this caterpillar. I moved a vase only to see...

        I do not like when they do this! as you can see, a larger caterpillar ate around the entire chrysalis and it is hanging on a shred of a leaf. Not to mention this plant needs to be thrown out. Every year I get a few that do this, and it never becomes any less frustrating. So, I move them, which is exactly what I did this morning.

I remove the leaf and stick it firmly to duct tape.

Then attach it to the top of the enclosure.

        Doing this removes the fear of the leaf shrivelling up and falling off, killing the chrysalis. It also means I can remove the plant to prevent any diseases from spreading. It gives me peace of mind and keeps the developing butterfly safe from harm. 

        As for the rest of my caterpillars, they are adorable as always. Most are getting close to chrysalis time, but the one that hatched from an egg recently is still rather small. I love watching them crawl around and eat before I go to bed. Some don't mind interacting and eating next to other caterpillars, and some thrash around to be left alone. They are all unique as caterpillars, and will continue to be as butterflies. 

        That is all for now! And if you are interested, I now have an instagram dedicated to Monarch Mayhem! So follow me @monarchmayhem on Instagram, and if you like my photography you can check out @sam.jutz too. Until next time :)

"Hanging J" 8/3/15

Finally Photographed

        Yes it's true! I finally watched and photographed the process of becoming a "Hanging J". It took hours of patience, and the photos are not great quality, but they still demonstrate the process very clearly.

Step one: The Button. As you can see, between the front feet of this caterpillar

there is a small lump of a silky substance. They make it with their mouths, and

use it to hang from.

 

Step two: The Attachment.When they feel the button is complete, they will turn

 around and attach their little rear ends to the button. 

 

Step Three: Ever So Slowly...

 

They let go!

 

        This was in fact my third caterpillar to make a chrysalis, since two made J's yesterday. But they always seem to make a chrysalis while I'm sleeping! Hopefully soon there will be a daytime even so I can photograph that as well. But be warned, that process is kind of gross.

        Today was another food day, and it was much needed. It's difficult to keep up with all these hungry caterpillars. One is still missing, which happens a lot actually. I don't think it was a serious death if it did pass away, because it was too small to pass on diseases. Not to mention I am keeping my enclosure much cleaner than previous years. New paper towel in the bottom every other day, and discarding plants as soon as they start to yellow. So I am confident that if it was a disease related death it won't spread to anyone else. Not to mention I already have three healthy pupae!

        That's all for today, I will write soon.

Starting to Change 8/1/15

Little Bit of Metamorphosis

        I should have posted yesterday but I didn't have a chance. In the early morning hours my largest and first caterpillar crawled up to the top of my enclosure and made him/herself a chrysalis. It all went well and they seem healthy. I wish I would have photographed the process but the lighting was never right.

The beautiful pupa.

        The other caterpillars are growing and eating everything. I haven't noticed any irregularities. One of my caterpillars however was unaccounted for this morning which concerns me. It could have been a death, or just overlooked. I'm notorious for miscounting too so you never know. As of now there are twelve caterpillars and one chrysalis.

Friendly face.

These two are my largest.

        So far so good, and not much else to say. I didn't post for two days which feels so strange! But there wasn't a lot of fantastic events, so no one missed much. Maybe with the next two I'll be able to photograph or film the process of becoming a chrysalis. Until next time :)