Butterflies

Today we welcome two monarch butterflies into the family.  About three weeks ago, my wife saw a show about a guy who raised monarch butterflies. It occurred to her that it would be pretty cool for us to do it too.  She found nine milkweed leaves with tiny white monarch eggs on them and put them each in a numbered plastic cup.

After a few days they started hatching into these tiny little worms that began devouring the leaves they had hatched on. We were all fascinated by how quickly these little caterpillars grew and how much they ate.  We even took them along on vacation, taking a zip lock bag full of milkweed leaves, which quickly disappeared.

Shortly after getting home, the biggest caterpillar attached itself to the roof of the little screen insect carrier they had been transplanted into and split into a chrysalis. Soon the next one started the process. The family stayed up much of the night waiting for it to transform. 

When I came down to the kitchen the next morning at 6:00 it still hadn't turned.  The family came down for breakfast at 8:00, and aargh, there was chrysalis number two.   I think we are currently up to four with a number of other caterpillars in the pipeline.

We have all been fascinated by this whole process and it has provided a neat diversion this summer. It's been like a game - see if you can see the egg hatch, the caterpillar molt and split into the chrysalis, or emerge as a butterfly. I think the thing that has surprised us the most is the rapidity with which this process has taken place.

It's kind of like parenting; don't blink or before you know it your tiny caterpillar will be flying away as a beautiful butterfly.