Caterpillar Friend Update!
Hey everyone!
So, when I find caterpillar eggs on milkweed plants “in the wild,” what I do is clip the leaf away from the stem towards the bottom so that I can stick the stems through holes in a condiment cup lid or some other type of plastic container. Then, once the eggs start to hatch I LEAVE IT ALONE! You all saw how small the caterpillars are after they hatch. If I mess with the plants when there are small caterpillars on them, it’s more likely that I will accidentally squish somebody or throw them out with old plant leafs. Instead, I waited about a week before I even touched them at all!
I took out the container and one by one, I removed the leaves from their holes in the container. (I know it’s hard to see in this picture… but the container is about the size of a cheeseburger and it has about 20 or 30 holes drilled in the lid for me to stick stems in. I searched each leaf for a caterpillar and counted how many hatched and lived the fist week. Then, I threw away any leaves that were too crunchy, too hole-y, or otherwise going bad. I added about 5 new leafs in between the older ones and over time, the caterpillars will most likely wander onto the newest leaves naturally just like we all would rather eat fresh food than week old food!
Out of 21 eggs I found, 18 made it this far.. plus the one I have been bringing to school that was already a caterpillar when I found him. From this point on, most of the caterpillars will live and become butterflies. There are still some things that can happen… they could fight, or they could wander away from the food and not know how to get back. I try to help them but sometimes it’s just too late. I’ve only ever had 1 large caterpillar die mysteriously. It’s possible he had parasites or something that kept him from becoming full size and forming a chrysalis. Who knows… nature is cruel sometimes. And as for chrysalis, I’ve only ever had one not make it. The silk the caterpillar spun to attach to the ceiling of container was not strong enough and when I was moving the lid to take out frass (science word for poop!) and add food, it fell off of the silk and the impact on the floor cracked the chrysalis open. I was sad! But that means in a few weeks I should have about 19 beautiful butterflies to release and I can’t wait to show you all on here!
Speaking of “our” caterpillar… I decided on the name suggested by my 2nd hour students. “He” will be Louis Vuitton… and if “he” ends up being a female, Louise Vuitton! (I won’t know for sure until the butterfly emerges from its chrysalis.)
Louis Vuitton is now 19mm long!!!! And about 3-4 mm wide. What a chunker!
I will change his leaf out today, too… but I wanted to show you a picture of him on his original leaf so you could compare the size and how much he has eaten first!