How to Care for a Monarch Caterpillar

If you are one of the lucky ones who found themselves caring for a cute little eight-legged fuzzy friend, otherwise known as a monarch caterpillar, you probably fall into one of two categories. Either you have never been a foster caterpillar mom before, or you could use a quick refresher course. Hopefully, this post will take care of both!

I will go step-by-step through the life cycle of the monarch and you can just jump in wherever you happen to be with your new temporary family member.

Finding eggs:
Eggs can be found on the underside (almost always) of the milkweed plant. Unfortunately, milkweed is becoming harder to find as more and more houses and building are being built and as more heavy duty pesticides are being used in fields and pastures. It is a weed, so it is usually found along the sides of roads and pastures, along fences...those kinds of places. There are LOTS of different varieties of milkweed, the most common in this region (Utah) being Common Milkweed. If you tear the leaf, you will see, yep, you guessed it, milk. Ok, so it isn't really actual milk that you drink wouldn't that be cool?, but it sure looks like it!

Here is an egg on the underside of a milkweed leaf. You can see some of the milk on the leaf below it.

Monarchs only eat milkweed. The milky substance in it makes them taste bitter so it acts like a natural deterrent to predators.

If you find an egg, it will only be an egg for a four to six days before it will hatch. Watch the egg, when it starts to get black on the top, it is getting ready to hatch. If you are lucky, you will see it wiggle its way out of the egg and start its journey as a hungry, hungry caterpillar. A newly hatched caterpillar is super, super tiny. It is actually kind of hard to see it is so small. But....they will grow and grow really quick!

The Hungry, Hungry Caterpillar:
Once your wiggly friend had taken its first breath, all it will do is eat and eat! It will eat its own weight in milkweed in one day. This stage only lasts 9-14 days. It is fully grown at about 2". At that point it will likely wander, searching for a place to settle and form its chrysalis. During this caterpillar stage, you will need to keep a fresh stalk of milkweed for your caterpillar to be munching on. Keep your milkweed in a jar of water to keep it fresh, a mason jar works great. I keep the lid and ring on it and just poke a hole in the lid big enough to stick the milkweed through. When the leaves start to get dry or just old looking, get a new stalk. The bigger your caterpillar gets, the more it will eat and the faster you will need to replenish your milkweed. This is their only source of food, so make sure you are watching to make sure your caterpillar always has something to eat, and something to crawl on. Your caterpillar will shed its skin five times. Like a snake, you will see the skin after it is shed. Kinda gross, kinda cool.

Before getting too close to the end of this stage, make sure your friend has adequate housing. So far all they are doing is eating and will most likely stay on the milkweed, munching away. But, when the caterpillar stage ends, they WILL wander off, looking for the perfect spot to settle down. We have found our caterpillars on our kitchen counters before, and even have had them attach and form their chrysalis under counter tops. Definitely a conversation starter, but not really something I would advise.

In the past I went to the local thrift store and found a huge glass vase. I have also used a fish bowl. It needs to be large enough to fit your jar of water with your milkweed stalk inside. Cover the top with some kind of netting. I think I used tulle for mine. We are now the proud owners of a 'butterfly house' that is super tall and awesome and works great. But.....some kind of large glass vase or bowl will work fine, too!

Our fancy, dancy butterfly houses. We just stick  the jar and milkweed right inside.

Chrysalis:
When your caterpillar is full grown (about 2 inches), it will find a spot to 'form a J'. He will find a place, usually not on the milkweed, make a little silk-like mat and attach itself to it, hanging upside down in the shape of the letter "J". It will stay this way for about one full day.

At this time, your friend will shed it skin for the fifth and last time, but instead of a new layer of caterpillar skin underneath, it will be a jade green casing, or chrysalis.

The chrysalis is only about an inch long and is soft at first. After about an hour it becomes a hard protective shell. It will stay in its chrysalis for 9-14 days. After its transformation inside the chrysalis is complete, the shell will become clear. You will be able to see the black and orange wings stuffed inside. When it is ready, the butterfly will break out of the chrysalis. Its wings will be wet and crumply and it can't fly yet. It will hang onto the chrysalis while a blood-like liquid is pumped through its body. This will make its wings and body bigger. About an hour after it emerges from its chrysalis, its wings and body will be full size, dry and all ready to fly.

At this time, look on the top of its wings (looking down on to the top of the butterfly) when they are opened up. If you see a black dot on both wings (on the bottom end, not the head end) your butterfly is a male. No spots, you have a girl. Here is a good picture to show you what to look for.

Now....take your winged creature outside, wish it well and send it on its way!


If you would like to follow our own caterpillar journey, or see more pictures, you can go here.
Also, here is a post I did about the life cycle of a monarch butterfly in more detail.

It's that time of the year again...caterpillar eggs!

I am so excited, it's time once again to share our home with visitors for the next few weeks. Probably not the kind of visitors you are thinking of, though. These are the super teeny tiny, can't I just hold you(?) fuzzy, always eating, rapidly growing, constantly changing and eventually leaving for good kind of visitors.
It's monarch caterpillar season!!! YAY!!!

It's been a few years since we have had the lucky experience of raising butterflies and I am so excited to once again share with my kids the awesomeness of nature. This time around, my two boys are old enough to follow along and understand what is going on. They were just teeny tiny themselves the last time we shared our abode with our winged friends so this is all new for them, and even funner for us as parents to see their excitement in learning.

There is definitely a science to finding, collecting, feeding, protecting and releasing these creatures, but it's all pretty simple, really. We were lucky enough to have a good friend who had been raising butterflies for a while and was gracious enough to show us the ropes.

Let's begin our journey......

Monarchs lay their eggs on Milkweed, which is just that, a weed. The key is knowing what it looks like and where to find it. I had no idea milkweed even existed until this whole adventure started.

We were super lucky and had a couple stalks of milkweed spring up in the flower bed in front our house. I had been watching for a while and as soon as I saw Monarchs flying around, I began my hunt for eggs.

I found 20 eggs in one day! Unbelievable! If you find eggs at all, there is usually just one and sometimes two on a plant. I was super lucky and was able to check my milkweed as soon as the butterflies had laid their eggs and before the spiders and insects could get to them. The eggs make a tasty snack for our multi-legged little friends, and most eggs don't survive.

I showed my boys what to look for, and the next day we saw Monarchs flying around again. My six year old found nine more eggs to add to our growing little soiree of pets.

Here is picture of an egg on the underside of one of the leaves.

A few days later, the eggs started hatching and we had all of these so tiny and so cute little caterpillars. They are so small at first that they are hard to spot. You can tell when it is getting close to hatching when the top of the egg turns black. After that, you just have to keep checking and if you are lucky, you can see one squirm its way out.

They don't stay little very long, though. They will eat their own weight in milkweed each day and they grow SO fast, it's amazing. Here is a picture of one day old caterpillars and six and eight day old caterpillars. HUGE difference, huh?

One day old.

Smaller one is six days old and larger two are eight days old.

This last picture is from today, I will keep posting as they keep growing and changing. SO FUN!!

To learn about the whole life cycle of a Monarch butterfly, read my post here.

The Life Cycle of a Monarch Butterfly

Butterflies have four stages of life: egg, larva (the caterpillar stage), pupa (the chrysalis phase) and adult. These four stages are called Metamorphosis. It takes a monarch butterfly about a month (28 to 38 days) to complete the whole life cycle. 

Common Milkweed

Females lay their eggs on milkweed, which is the only plant monarch caterpillars can eat. The eggs are usually laid on the underside of the leaves and usually one at a time. They are white and are really small, smaller than a pinhead. The egg is attached to the leaf by an 'liquid glue' as it is being laid. Four to six days later they will hatch. Monarch caterpillar egg on the underside of a milkweed leaf.

After it hatches, the caterpillar is so small you can barely see it. It grows really fast, eating nothing but milkweed leaves. A Monarch caterpillar can eat enough Milkweed in one day to equal its own body weight. 9 to 14 days after hatching, the caterpillar will be about 2" long and fully grown. 

 

Monarch caterpillars about one day old.

 

The larger caterpillars are eight days old, and the smaller one is six days old.

During the larval stage, a monarch caterpillar will shed its skin five times. A new, larger skin is waiting under the one that is shed.You can see its shed skin left behind each time.

When the caterpillar is full grown it will usually leave the milkweed plant. It crawls (sometimes 20 or 30 feet away from the milkweed) until it finds a safe place to pupate. The caterpillar lays down a silk-like mat and then attaches itself to the mat with its cremaster. Then it will drop and hang there, upside down in a J-shape, for about one full day.

The caterpillar's skin is shed for the last time as it passes from the larval (caterpillar) stage to the pupa (chrysalis) stage of metamorphosis. Under the caterpillar's skin this time is a jade green casing which is called a chrysalis. Inside the inch long chrysalis, is where the real magic begins as the caterpillar transforms into a beautiful butterfly.

At first, the chrysalis will be very soft. Within an hour, it hardens to become a protective shell for the caterpillar. Lots of majaor changes happen inside the chrysalis. The mouth parts change from being those required for chewing milkweed leaves to a straw-like tongue the butterfly will use for sipping nectar from flowers.

9 to 14 days after the chrysalis is formed, the transformation is complete. The green color will disappear and become clear. Through the chrysalis, you can will be able to see the orange and black wings of the monarch butterfly.    When it's time, and without any warning, the chrysalis will suddenly crack open and out comes the monarch butterfly. Its wings will be crumpled and wet. The butterfly will clings and hang on to its empty chrysalis shell as hemolymph, the blood-like substance in insects, is pumped through its body. Once the hemolymph fills the monarch's body and wings, they will enlarge.

About one hour after emerging from its chrysalis, the monarch's wings are full-sized, dry, and ready for flying. A week later, or less, a monarch butterfly is old enough to mate, starting the next generation's life cycle. Pretty amazing! We are in the process of 'raising' our own caterpillars, if you would like to follow us on our journey so far, you can read about it here.

Healthy Corn and Black Bean Chip Dip

My family LOVES chips and dip!

A bag of chips never lasts very long around here, especially if we have an awesome dip to go with it!
Here is one recipe you are bound to love as much as we do, and it's super healthy, too!
My daughter made this last batch for us.

Healthy Corn and Black Bean Dip

1 can mexicorn, drained

1 can rinsed and drained black beans

1 can sliced black olives

 2 green onions sliced

 2 diced Roma tomatoes

2 Tbs red wine vinegar

 1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. cumin

1/8 tsp. pepper

4 shakes Tabasco sauce

 corn tortilla chips 

Mix everything except chips and let chill. Serve with chips.

Let it sit in the refrigerator at least an hour to let the flavors really blend together. If you have any left the next day it will taste even better! Be advised, though, the longer it sits (like overnight) it loses it's visual appeal. In other words, it won't look as appetizing the next morning, but I promise it will taste SOOOOO good!