Goodbye to the caterpillars

So, there haven't been caterpillar updates in awhile. That's because my caterpillars are gone. I guess hungry birds got them. There were too many to count at first. Then it went down to seven, then four, then one, then none. I'm assuming that the big one went off to chryaslis somewhere and is now a pretty butterfly. Next time I'm bringing them inside. Forget leaving things to nature!

Instead of caterpillars, we're watching the flowers bloom.




And tonight I picked the first tomato!

Monarch hanging

The boys and I were very excited to find the caterpillar hanging like a "J" this morning. We're now on chrysalis formation watch.






I tried to show A, she wasn't thrilled.  Too bug like for her I guess.

Almost grown monarch

I think it is up to the 5th instar now.  It is eating a ton.  It used to eat a bit of a leaf during the day.  It ate 5-6 leaves last night and is munching away on more right now.

Monarch 3rd Instar

The caterpillar keeps eating and growing. This morning it was bigger and sporting longer antennae.

More monarch

The monarch caterpillar is growing nicely.  It is sporting cute black antennae now.







This morning it was on the lid of the glad container.  I got it to move onto fresh leaves and cleaned out the container again.  It seems happy again, eating big holes in the new leaf.

Monarch Update

Some time this morning, the monarch went from the first instar to the second instar.  The pictures a little blurry but you can see the changes.  It was about 2-3mm yesterday and it's about 5-6 mm today, plus it has stripes.

Baby Monarch!

I love watching caterpillars turn into moths & butterflies.  We've been lucky to have a black swallowtail and polyphemus moth transform for us.

After watching the monarch on the milkweed last week, I decided to check the plants for eggs. Yesterday I found one. I did some quick google research on raising monarchs and decided to try.

I plucked the leaf with the egg on it yesterday. It was completely white. This morning it had a black spot, so I knew it was close to hatching.











I was sitting at my computer contemplating working when I looked down to see the caterpillar coming out of the egg.  Oh, so exciting!!!!







It is happily eating away at the egg sac now. I don't know if I'm going to be able to work today. I may be caterpillar watching instead.

Caterpillar

Yesterday DH found this guy crawling up the front door frame. I plopped him in a jar to figure out what kind of caterpillar he is, then the internet went out for the afternoon. I couldn't wait that long so we headed to the library to find a book on caterpillars. Not much luck there. I've decided that I need to write a book where you find the moth/butterfly based on the caterpillar not the other way around.

Luckily the internet came back on around 9pm and with diligent searching and my humble google-fu, I found our caterpillar. Well, I narrowed it down to two, Heterocampa astartoides and Heterocampa astarte. I still haven't figured out the difference between the two. I'm leaning toward the h. astartoides because the pictures are from Texas.





It is happily munching away on some live oak leaves on my desk.

wasp?

Our cocoon has been in the jar sitting on the window ledge for a while. This morning I heard a noise and checked it out.

Instead of a moth, there was a wasp. I'm supposing that the wasp ate the caterpillar and came out instead.



Strange

new "friend"

The kids took the dog and my mom for a walk yesterday. They came home with a caterpillar. It got deposited in a glass jar. I tried to figure out what kind of caterpillar it was but didn't have much luck.

I intended to identify it and then release it but since I didn't figure it out, I left on my desk last night. This morning I found this.



It's not the best picture but you can see the silhouette of the cocoon/chrysalis the caterpillar is building.

We still have our other caterpillar in a glass jar in the window. From what I've read it should hatch in May.

The boys are going to be excited to find the cocoon when they get home.