Caterpillars making chrysalis on milkweed

[John Beaulieu]

Usually the caterpillars will leave the milkweed patch to j-hook and turn into a chrysalis on a branch or other sturdy object. Even in a pen, they climb down from the milkweed stems and crawl up to the top screen to anchor themselves. The odd time they will stay and form the chrysalis on the milkweed. In a pen with several caterpillars this can be tricky, as other caterpillars can chew off the leaf which may be holding a chrysalis! These two caterpillars were lucky... They both decided to j-hook at the same time.



Photo from my monarch/milkweed album at http://photobucket.com/albums/a240/JohnBeaulieu

John

[John Beaulieu]

Another problem with caterpillars creating the chrysalis on a milkweed stem in a cage is that the stem will eventually dry and start to shrivel even if kept in a bottle of water. I know there is a close relationship between monarchs and milkweed, but I have observed that somehow the milkweed stem/leaf knows there is a pupa on it and that leaf will not dry and curl the same way as the other leaves on the same stem. This strange trait can be seen in the photos.



John

[Farfalla]

GREAT pictures!! Thanks for sharing.
So scary thinking they might fall! Have you ever tried the method of moving chrsalides as suggested on this website? I did once.. sweating the whole time ..wearing my glasses AND using the magnifing glass from our classroom science center. I felt like I was performing surgery as I tied the cremaster with string and prayed it would hang properly. (which it did, thank goodness.)
Did I read Jim saying in one of the threads that the butterflies will still form properly even if the chrysalis is not suspended?

[John Beaulieu]

Farfalla

I have not tried tying or taping to hang a fallen or insecure chrysalis, but rather use a small plastic clothes pin to clamp onto the top stem of the chrysalis. These clamps usually have holes in the handles and can hang on small nails.

John

[Farfalla]

THAT sounds much less stressful! Thanks, John

[John Beaulieu]

No sooner do I mention the caterpillars staying on milkweed to transform, and several decide to j-hook on plants. I clip the leaves and hang them up so remaining caterpillars can't harm them. This process of transformation, once started, only takes a minute or so and I usually miss the actual transformation, but this time I saw it starting and my camera was handy. The real clue that it is about to happen, is when the antenna go completely limp.

A lot of movement takes place to discard that shed skin. Then the pupa settles down and takes on the familiar chrysalis shape.

John

[Gwynne]

Thank you for sharing your pictures. I almost got to see two of my caterpillars turn into chrysalises but they were too fast for me!

[Farfalla]

Oh..this is a great series of pix!

There is a book I use with my preschoolers called "Monarch Magic" and it explains the transformation in a poem called the "wiggle jiggle dance" It's cute but true.

I hope you guys don't mind if I use the photos posted in this forum in class? I want to collect them for my new group of kids in September!