There's no denying that we all want a pet. We are pet-less these days, but we do have lots of conversations about "someday" having a cat or a dog. However, our neighbor did recently give us a few monarch butterfly caterpillars to raise! While not the cute cuddly animal I was hoping for, they have provided an amazing science lesson and hours of entertainment…
First of all, monarch caterpillars only eat milkweed. The little suckers are voracious eaters and after two trips to different nurseries, we were unsuccessful in finding a plant to supply them with food! We ended up making a late night call to our neighbor to ask for more milkweed to get us through the night (by late night I mean 8:30pm…) and fortunately found a plant the next day at Home Depot. Apparently everyone is feeding their monarchs these days!
We started off with one chrysalis, and 4 caterpillars of various sizes. They've been a great addition to our homeschool classroom, as we've talked about both metamorphosis and migrations over the past few weeks. One butterfly has since emerged and flown away. Oscar and I spent most of a day last week watching this beauty and her departure. (Livi was at school, but we videotaped a few moments to share with her.)
We now have 3 chrysalises and are anxiously awaiting the butterflies that will emerge. We've even been able to see caterpillars dueling for leaves…Seriously, two of them were fighting over one leaf even though there were like 20 in a cage. They'd raise the front part of their body up and lunge at the other one. After a quick google search, we discovered that this is apparently pretty common with monarchs. Who knew?!
I'm clearly spending too much time on these critters and need a dog. Right Oscar?! :)
First of all, monarch caterpillars only eat milkweed. The little suckers are voracious eaters and after two trips to different nurseries, we were unsuccessful in finding a plant to supply them with food! We ended up making a late night call to our neighbor to ask for more milkweed to get us through the night (by late night I mean 8:30pm…) and fortunately found a plant the next day at Home Depot. Apparently everyone is feeding their monarchs these days!
We started off with one chrysalis, and 4 caterpillars of various sizes. They've been a great addition to our homeschool classroom, as we've talked about both metamorphosis and migrations over the past few weeks. One butterfly has since emerged and flown away. Oscar and I spent most of a day last week watching this beauty and her departure. (Livi was at school, but we videotaped a few moments to share with her.)
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| there are actually 3 different forms of butterfly in this picture - a caterpillar forming a chrysalis (left of the cage top), our butterfly just after it emerged, and a newer green chrysalis near the front of the lid (hardest to see) |
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| he was so careful and protective when he transferred the butterfly to a plant outside to dry its wings off |
We now have 3 chrysalises and are anxiously awaiting the butterflies that will emerge. We've even been able to see caterpillars dueling for leaves…Seriously, two of them were fighting over one leaf even though there were like 20 in a cage. They'd raise the front part of their body up and lunge at the other one. After a quick google search, we discovered that this is apparently pretty common with monarchs. Who knew?!
I'm clearly spending too much time on these critters and need a dog. Right Oscar?! :)
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