Monarch Caterpillars

[Brian_T]

I've been cultivating a little patch of milkweed for the last few years in hopes of helping out the struggling monarch butterfly population. I finally have some caterpillars. I counted about half a dozen this morning. It was the first time I saw them.





I needed to share so I figured you guys might be interested. My coworkers tend not to be interested in anything that doesn't involve fake sports teams.

I guess I have something new to research. I'm not sure if they are a bit late or if mid September is a normal time for them to show up. I want to give them the best chance for survival with minimal interference. I suppose nature knows what it's doing.

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[littletechcrab]

Very nice, best of luck. They are cute

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[rainbow_crab]

That's awesome! We have wild milkweed all around our property and we love how colorful the caterpillars are. Your pics are great!

[StayLoki]

amazing !!!
any work with monarchs is underappreciated!
keep up the good work

[Brian_T]

Found a chrysalis this morning:


You can already make out the wing pattern, so it should hatch in the next few days.

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[Rawrgeous]

Thank you for sharing! Very fascinating to see! It's very noble of you to support the butterflies like that.

[robinwhiskers]

Cool!

[Brian_T]

This evening I found a chrysalis laying on the ground intact. Good news is I finally found a good use for those hermit crab cages they sell at the beach.



I tied it to a stick with dental floss and hung it across the wire mesh. I guess every thing comes back to hermit crabs.

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[bbcraft22]

oh. I have some tomato hornworms, which are really cute, but they turn to moths. not the ugly ones though.

[LadyJinglyJones]

This is awesome... I love milkweed & caterpillars. This is just a quality post by my standards.

Thanks, yo
LJJ

[mool]

Ohhh, how cool! Take pictures of the butterflies as they emerge (if you can). Once their wings unfold you can tell if they are boys or girls. It's super easy!

[Brian_T]

Ohhh, how cool! Take pictures of the butterflies as they emerge (if you can). Once their wings unfold you can tell if they are boys or girls. It's super easy!

Here he/she is


Is it a boy or girl?

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[mool]

Dang, the part I need to see is being blocked by the cage, but I'm going to guess female by the thickness of the black markings. Males tend to have thinner black stripes and females have thicker black stripes--on their lower wings.

Also, males have a marking on their lower wings that females lack.

[Brian_T]

oh. I have some tomato hornworms, which are really cute, but they turn to moths. not the ugly ones though.

I had those on my tomatoes a couple years ago. I had mixed feelings about it. They become really cool giant moths, but they will strip all the tomato plants in a garden to stems in a short time.

Fortunately or unfortunately, parasitic wasps resolved my dilemma for me.

[Brian_T]

Dang, the part I need to see is being blocked by the cage, but I'm going to guess female by the thickness of the black markings. Males tend to have thinner black stripes and females have thicker black stripes--on their lower wings.

Also, males have a marking on their lower wings that females lack.

Thanks. I have some more photos on my wife's phone, I'll see if there are any clearer shots so I can look for the marks you are talking about.

I can't take anymore, hopefully it's halfway to Mexico by now.

I also found another open chrysalis on my asparagus plants so hopefully that's two heading south.