Caterpillar Journal

Day 1- Our Caterpillars are very small

Day 1- in 7-10 days they will be ready to make chrysalides!

Day 1- They start moving right away to begin eating and growing

Day 3- in just 2 days, our caterpillars have already grown a lot in size!

Day 3- Closer look

Day 6- even bigger and you can see lots of evidence of shedded exoskeletons and excreted waste!

Day 6- Closer look

Day 7- They are much bigger today and moving around a lot!

Day 9- 2 of our caterpillars have made their way to the top! I wonder what will happen next!

Day 10- 1 has made a J shape!

Day 10- Now we have 2 in a J shape!

Day 10- We have 3 in a J shape!

Day 11- We now have 4 in a J shape! Watch this video to watch complete its shedding of its last exoskeleton as it hardens into a chrysalis!

Day 11- Our 5th caterpillar seems to be looking for a good spot to make a J.

Day 12- Oh No!!! One of our J shaped caterpillars has fallen down! But, it seems like it has formed into a chrysalis while on the ground...hmmm...

Day 13- Our final Caterpillar is finally a J! And the others are all chrysalides!

Day 13- Even the one that fell formed a chrysalis! Amazing!

Day 14- We have 5 Chrysalides! Does anyone notice a sight change in our original chrysalides, or a difference between the new chrysalis (far left) and the others?

Day 18- update: we still have 5 healthy looking chrysalides!

Day 18- Even the one that fell is still looking healthy! We wish we could see what is happening inside!

Day 19- We had to carefully remove the cap of the jar to allow the butterflies space to emerge.

Day 19- The caterpillar that fell and then formed a chrysalis is still at the bottom of the jar.

Day 19- After removing the cap, one of the chrysalides was moving all over. I wonder what is happening in there?

Day 22- We woke up to 2 butterflies who had emerged overnight!

Day 22- One butterfly is either eating the caterpillar food or checking on their friend. Time to feed them!

Day 22- If you look closely, you can see the wing of the butterfly showing through the chrysalis. We think this one may emerge VERY soon!

Day 22- We were right! Within the hour, the third butterfly emerged! Now just waiting on the last 2, including the one that fell.

Day 23- A butterfly emerged from the chrysalis of the caterpillar who fell and formed a chrysalis on the ground! Unfortunately, they are not looking too strong. Its wing is folded over and isn't drying properly and some of its legs look tangled. We did our best to help it, but I am not sure what will happen.

Day 24- We woke up to find that our butterfly that emerged yesterday didn't make it. He died overnight. While we were feeling that sadness, a beautiful thing happened! Our final butterfly emerged, healthy and strong. This was our caterpillar who took their time eating and finding a good spot to make the chrysalis, and his patience paid off. He is a little bigger than the others and looks more ready! We will keep them for a few days for observation and post more pictures when we release them this weekend!

Day 27- update: Our butterflies are still strong! They have been enjoying the oranges we leave in everyday for them to eat. They are not too active and always end up perched on the side of the habitat that faces the sun. We think that means that they like the warmth of the sun AND they want to be in their natural habitat. This week has been a little too cold for a release, but Saturday will be perfect weather! We will release them in the morning to give them the day to find safety in their new home.