Tuesday, July 20, 2004
Garden Additions
Yesterday and today brought some fun changes to the caterpillar garden...
Monday, July 19:
Terrarium Guy (TG) was still firmly gripped to his little branch in the "nursery" vase, so I tried to move him to the big plant, now that the other 3 are almost ready to pupate. Once again, he fell down, several times, and got moved to his special plastic box with fronds on the floor. He's about 4 days behind on growth and doesn't eat much.
On the upside, the medium 2 are going to town on the stalks they've stripped (it's like corn on the cob). The Big Guy has found a thick stalk and accordioned down into a comma shape, followed by him tasting and testing the stalk for a place to attach. I took them outside to take some pictures (on the plant) and 10 more mosquitoes made me into a tasty treat while I held the camera steady. Sigh.
Tuesday, July 20:
This morning, TG was still laying in his fronds, not having eaten all night. Big Guy attached on during the night to pupate. The process is this: they attach a silk thread to the back of a stalk and, in a Twister-like move, attach it to their own back, and repeat it on the otherside. When they fall asleep (hibernate, etc.) the cord catches them and they look like a caterpillar hammock, with their bottom two feet attached also. Eventually within the next 24 hours (i.e. when you're not looking), their skin splits along the back, their faceplate falls off, and a pupae emerges, in this case, bright green and aqua with little horns. In as many butterflies that I've raised, which is probably about 100, I've never caught them doing that. The other 2 caterpillars were resting before I left and looked as though they may do the same tonight.
Also, happily, I have 3 baby caterpillars, just hatched! They're this big: __
Monday, July 19:
Terrarium Guy (TG) was still firmly gripped to his little branch in the "nursery" vase, so I tried to move him to the big plant, now that the other 3 are almost ready to pupate. Once again, he fell down, several times, and got moved to his special plastic box with fronds on the floor. He's about 4 days behind on growth and doesn't eat much.
On the upside, the medium 2 are going to town on the stalks they've stripped (it's like corn on the cob). The Big Guy has found a thick stalk and accordioned down into a comma shape, followed by him tasting and testing the stalk for a place to attach. I took them outside to take some pictures (on the plant) and 10 more mosquitoes made me into a tasty treat while I held the camera steady. Sigh.
Tuesday, July 20:
This morning, TG was still laying in his fronds, not having eaten all night. Big Guy attached on during the night to pupate. The process is this: they attach a silk thread to the back of a stalk and, in a Twister-like move, attach it to their own back, and repeat it on the otherside. When they fall asleep (hibernate, etc.) the cord catches them and they look like a caterpillar hammock, with their bottom two feet attached also. Eventually within the next 24 hours (i.e. when you're not looking), their skin splits along the back, their faceplate falls off, and a pupae emerges, in this case, bright green and aqua with little horns. In as many butterflies that I've raised, which is probably about 100, I've never caught them doing that. The other 2 caterpillars were resting before I left and looked as though they may do the same tonight.
Also, happily, I have 3 baby caterpillars, just hatched! They're this big: __
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