Change happens

It was around 3:45am. I was sooooo tired. I was out on the lanai and had to go to bathroom but all of a sudden I noticed how limp the antennae were. It's time! I never get tired of watching and wondering how on earth? I tried to zoom in a little at the end and made it blurry. Darn it!

Another butterfly soon

It won't be long now before this little one starts to chrysalis. Problem is, it will be around 1am and I so wanted to video it this time. I think I'll probably miss it.
:( This is a Monarch.

Transformation to cocoon complete

I tell you, I am just so fascinated with the metamorphosis that these creatures go through. Could you imagine if we had to do this? Get born, eat almost 24/7, and live a couple of weeks only to turn our bodies inside out, shrink and cocoon to turn into an adult. This little guy will now undergo a journey that we only wonder about. Or I do anyway. How does this caterpillar turn into such a large, beautiful butterfly inside this small casing which is now an inch and a half?



Here are 3 more of my Dotee dolls. I now have 3 for a swap on Doll Journal and the one with the name is for someone who said they would really like to have one.

The change has started

Last night he started acting funny. He crawled all over the jar, up and down, around every stick and leaf. There was a lot of liquid in the bottom of the jar called meconium. Then he settled on a spot. I told Mike, I bet it starts tonight. Well, sure enough it did. See the little saddle of silk? That's how he holds himself on while he pupates. I wonder how long it will take for him to go to full chrysalis? The monarch was almost immediate. I've searched all over the net but cannot find info on this guy except they say Giant Swallowtails do everything slowly.

They grow too fast

The little guy was born on Feb. 24 and is now 16 days old. He (or she) is now over an inch long. Remember when it was born? Only about an eighth of an inch long. The white end on the right is the end. You should see it raise up and shoot a ball of poop. LOL It's hilarious. All the other ones that I left in the tree are gone. :( I'm glad I was able to rescue this one.

From caterpillar to butterfly

Have you ever seen a caterpillar and wonder how they turn into butterflies? Have you ever seen a cocoon and wondered what was in it? I saw a Monarch laying eggs one day and started taking photos daily of her and the eggs progress.
The first photo is a collage of the process. What a fascinating experience. I sat outside all day with the camera waiting for the transformation to start. Then took photos as fast as I could for 10 minutes.
When viewed large you can see another egg just above where she is laying in #1.
#2 is what they call the J shape. This lets you know the caterpillar is ready to change. She (as I found out later) hung like this for about 8 hours that I know of before the change.
In #3 the antennae are limp, the change has started and goes very quickly!
#8 was amazing. It rocked and squirmed all different shapes until it settled on the final well-known shape.


In this next photo the Monarch caterpillar is just starting to change to a chrysalis.


I could not for the life of me see what was happening other than the outer skin was being pushed up in the next photo.


Here is the beautiful chrysalis all done. It went so very fast!


Just moments away. The waiting is killing me! The chrysalis is actually clear. You can see the butterfly wings. When it is green, it is really the caterpillar you are seeing. Then when it really turns clear, you see the butterfly inside. I had this chrysalis sitting on a counter next to the computer. I watched for a while, took the photos then turned back to the pc. When I looked again about 5 minutes later, she had come out of the chrysalis! Oh, the excitement.


This is the female that I raised. She emerged and took about 2 hours to dry off. I put her outside on a flower leaf and watched her until she took her first flight. I almost cried when she flew away. She did fly back to me a few times but then she was gone to make her own life.


Just a week after my first female flew, this guy decided to make a break for freedom. This guy is less than an hour old. The 2 dark spots on each side of the wing show it's a male.


I hope you enjoyed this little show. Maybe it answered a few of your questions. :)