Caterpillar Season is Upon Us

      Tuesday September 14, I took a trip to my local wildlife park and brought back 5 monarch caterpillars all at different stages in their development. Unfortunately, I do not have a nice butterfly house to keep them in so for now they are in a large bowl with a few leaves. I have to admit it is a bit of a challenge trying to keep them in the bowl, since it has no cover. One of my caterpillars that is in it's final stage is constantly on the move as well as the 2nd oldest who I came home to find crawling on the cord of my floor lamp. I guess it's a good thing I don't have any pets or small children.

(Successful trip to the park (all 5))

      I have 2 caterpillars at the 3rd instar, meaning they are currently about 3/4" long. I have 1 that is in 5th instar and measures about 1 3/4" and is the most active and hard to keep track of. I also have 2 that are at about 4th instar and are about 1 1/4" to 1 1/2".
      Sadly one of the 4th instars who I had taken from a milkweed plant that had 2 dead caterpillars about about the same stage contained a Tachinid fly larva, which fell out of the caterpillar onto the bottom of the glass (noticeable by the long white string coming from the dead 'pillar). The caterpillar had been acting a bit lethargic and the previous night started to do the classic monarch caterpillar "J" hang. I thought it to be a bit odd being the stage it was in. However, I had had a monarch the previous year that pupated early and hatched just fine. Sadly however it had Ophryocystis elektroscirrha.
      The particular butterfly hatched just fine and unlike some butterflies with OE, was able to hold on to the chrysalis lone enough to fully open its wings. Unfortunitly, it was unable to fly. It would just sit there and flutter its wings but it could never take off. Sadly the butterfly only lived for 3 months.

(Notice the pale spots on both wings)

(Painted Lady I found with OE)

      Although I love having pet butterflies, I am hoping to have big, healthy butterflies this year that will be strong and ready to fly down to Mexico this winter!