Painted Lady Butterflies ARE here!

As I shared last week the caterpillars made their chrysalis. We were surprise to learn that they shed their exoskeleton to reveal their chrysalis. I didn't share any pictures last week so let me show you pictures now! This was taken last week on the 14th after all of the caterpillars formed their chrysalis and they were moved to the butterfly habitat.

You'll note that two of the chrysalis has fussy stuff stuck to them. That is the shed exoskeleton. Sometimes the shed exoskeleton gets stuck to the chrysalis as it's drying. You may also noticed some red spots on the paper. This the the dye that is used in the coloring of the wings.  Insect lore's paper work did state that we may see some excess meconium so don't worry and it's not blood, etc.

So this morning about 7:30 I checked the chrysalis and everything seem "normal" they looked pretty much the same as they have been. Although I noted that two of them are slightly different color. No movement, just different color.

Then at 8:30 something caught my eye. I took a look and what did I see:

This butterfly came from one of the chrysalis that were a sightly different color this morning. I have been checking them now pretty regularly.  From 8:30-9:30 there has not been any new butterflies. However there has been a TON of meconium released by this one butterfly.

See how the one chrysalis below the butterfly on the left side and in between the two chrysalises with the exoskeletons attached. That is the one that is slightly different then the rest. That is the one we feel will become a butterfly next.  Can you see how it's a little bit darker then the rest and darker then it was before (see picture above). It the middle one on the bottom I'm referring too. Now I understand why the one commenter on Ten Kids and a Dog stated they get a bit messy when they leave their cocoon.

For food we have placed some coffee filters soaked in sugar water and placed on a Tupperware lid "on the bottom of the container". It's actually the "top" of the container. However when I thought about having to feed them I new it would be easier to just unzip the lid and slide the food in and out instead of having to  place my hands and arm into the container to place things on the bottom.  So we made the top the bottom so we could just unzip and slide the food in and out with minimum disturbance to the butterflies.

We know it will be several hours before the butterfly will move around seeing the wings still need to dry out, but the food is there for when it's ready. Some point before we let them go will also feed them some orange slices and perhaps even some watermelon slices.

Big Dipper is it a constellation?

Of course it's a constellation! It's one of the first one's I learned and the most easiest to find!  However that line of thinking is FALSE! The Big Dipper is NOT a constellation. It is an Asterism!  We learned that today at our local children's museum. We went today for the Splish, Splash, Splat! Activities.

The kids got to play with cornstarch and water suspension; dunk some museum employees, and watch the watermelons we brought to the museum become squash thanks to the giant catapult. Not only was it a catapult, but a great magician seeing it turned watermelons into squash; water jugs into squash, tomatoes, garlic, pineapple all became squash! As a matter of fact nearly everything became squash, everything but eggplant that is. For whatever reason the eggplant did not go through a metamorphosis like everything else! It came out as still an eggplant! Go figure!

I decided to pay the little bit extra money to participate in the planetarium show as well. It was at the planetarium show that we learned that the big dipper is NOT a constellation, but an asterism. Not only that but different parts of the world call it different things! We, in USA, say it's a big dipper, but in other parts of the world they call it a butcher's clever, a plough, or even a saucepan.

Our local ABC affiliate was there! They took images and videos of OUR watermelon going through the catapult. We have no idea if those image will make the cut for tonights "news", but we are going to watch just in case!

Non-Related Note: All of our caterpillars are now in their chrysalis and have been moved to the butterfly habitat! In about 7-10 days form now we should have some butterflies.

Exoskeleton: Painted Lady Butterflies

Karen's comment in my last post regarding our Painted Lady Butterflies (Forming the Chrysalis) had me do some more digging! We hadn't really seen any "green" waste in our jar. I'm sure there is some, but that wasn't what stood out for us. We seen a lot of what looked like black fuzzy balls, sometimes very big balls.

Up until a few moments ago we just assumed the black stuff was 'waste' and that perhaps it was fuzzy to confused predators etc. It was black not green, but at the same time I thought perhaps it was a dark green almost black, and if the lighting was a a little better we would see it was green. The material that came with our painted lady butterflies NEVER said anything about them shedding their skin.

Well Karen my digging found this information again from Earth's Birthday Project:

What is that black thing hanging on the bottom of the chrysalis? Is it the caterpillar’s head? Nope, it’s the caterpillar’s last exoskeleton, crumpled into a ball and stuck to the chrysalis. Painted lady caterpillars molt—shed their exoskeletons—five times, the last time just before they pupate. Often the exoskeleton doesn’t fall completely away from the pupating caterpillar but gets stuck on the outside of the chrysalis as it hardens.

So that "fuzzy" black caterpillar looking stuff we've been seeing has not been "waste" as we thought! It was the shed exoskeleton! I wished the material from insect lore shared that as well! That would have been extremely helpful and beneficial! Clearly insect lore delivered on the caterpillars and they are doing great. They do guarantee that at least 3 of them will make it to adulthood. I just wish the material they give with them shared more information like the fact they shed their exoskeletons.

Forming the Chrysalis: Painted Lady Butterflies

Well 2 of the 5 Painted Lady Butterflies have already "made" their chrysalis this morning. Two more are hanging upside down now on the lid, and the 5th one is just hanging out on the side of the container. The literature that came with the caterpillars said that it will take about 1-2 days to form the chrysalis and 7-10 to emerge from it. So we are going to move all of what we can on Saturday (day 3) to the butterfly habitat.

We knew the process had started this morning. When I woke up at around 7 am I asked Web-Princess if she checked on her caterpillars yet this morning. She said no but I will. Web-Princess and Hubby, who was finishing up getting ready for work, checked them out and seen that 2 of them were already hanging upside down and the one was just wiggling really fast. Hubby said let's move them (to the butterfly habit). I had to tell him NO, it's to early they are still caterpillars. We have to wait until they are in a chrysalis to move them.

DH asked why was he shaking like that and I naively said he's spinning his chrysalis. Seeing it would take some days, we just went about our business and when we looked again at about 8:30, this morning, the chrysalis was completely form and the second one had started on his. It was at the time we also observed that 2 more caterpillars and made their way to the top and started to hang as well.

Some things we observed at that point was the completed chrysalis had a "fuzzy" thing next to it where it was hanging from the jar. The one that was working on his chrysalis had it started down the bottom towards it's mouth. What is going on? What is the fuzzy stuff? I thought they spinned their chrysalis? I know I got this idea from school, teachers, or someone as I was growing up.  We could tell this fuzzy stuff was caterpillar skin. We were just confused why it was outside they chrysalis. Not only that but I was confused on why the other one was starting his chrysalis at his mouth.

So I went searching and found this video on Youtube:

I then dug a little deeper and found this information on Earth's Birthday Project:

The caterpillar finds a safe place to rest. With a silk thread that comes out of a hole just below its mouth (spinneret), the caterpillar spins a silk pad to attach to. The caterpillar hangs from this pad. Soon, the caterpillars’ skin splits open, from head to abdomen, revealing a shiny green case underneath—the chrysalis.

So that fuzzy stuff we seen was indeed shed skin and the painted butterfly does NOT spin a chrysalis!

We are still waiting for the aquasaur eggs to arrive.

Painted Lady Butterflies and Aquasaurs

Our painted lady caterpillars arrived today. Last year Web-princess received at butterfly habitat for butterflies. We finally order the caterpillars. They are here today! There are 5 baby-baby caterpillars in the jar. They aren't moving and if I didn't know any better I would say they were dead!

The literature that came with the container stated that it was normal for them to seem like they are dead at first. If they don't become more "lively" within the next 7 days then we need to call insect lore and get replacements.

We also order a replacement set of Aquasaurs. Superstar enjoyed them the first time so much so we are trying it again. The replacement set should be here shortly too. Aquasaurs are a Uncle Milton Industry product and I was able to order a replacement kit via Uncle Milton's Site.