Exciting Day!
That chrysalis I’ve been watching and posting about is going to eclose tonight. Eclose is the word used to describe the butterfly bursting out of its chrysalis. I know this because the green color of the chrysalis has gone clear and you can actually see the butterfly crumpled up inside of it.
How cool is that?!
I don’t know exactly when… just that it will be soon. Usually it happens right after my phone dies, or right when I go into the other room to grab something. They are rascals like that.
When it opens, the butterfly will cling to the chrysalis with its legs and hang. Right now its belly is full of all the liquids the caterpillar made from eating so much before its transformation. All those liquids will get pumped into the butterfly’s wings, causing them to stretch out to full size. Then, any extra liquid will drip off of the butterfly and the butterfly will need to air-dry. That whole process takes a couple of hours.
I will know the butterfly is ready when it stops hanging from the chrysalis. Sometimes they walk around on the lid of the enclosure. Sometimes, if they are really rascally, they will try to fly around the tank. That is dangerous because the butterfly could tear a wing trying to do that. I always keep a very close watch on them because as soon as they are ready, it’s time to let them go outside!
I will know this butterfly’s gender once it stretches out its wings. 🙂
As for our two caterpillars… it’s cleaning day. They have stripped this plant down to its stem, which they are happily munching on now. They do prefer leaves, usually, so today I will put a new stem in and put down fresh paper towel. I will also check on the dozens of eggs I have in there.
I actually have their condiment cup tucked inside of a large McDonald’s cup to keep them safe. Big caterpillars don’t have good eyesight, and if they go to eat the leaves the babies / eggs are on, they often will eat the babies / eggs as they go. 🙁 It’s important to keep them separated.