I have some monarch chrysalids now. This is my newest monarch chrysalis. If you open a moth cocoon (cocoons are what moths spin), you will find the skin it shed inside the cocoon. If you have a pre-pupa that spins a chrysalis, it will shed its skin outside the chrysalis. On these pictures, you can see some bright colors on this monarch chrysalis. This one has fallen off of a stick that I put in my bug pavilion. If you look close, you can see this pupa's wings. On another chrysalis I have you can even see orange.

butterflies at the museum

We visited the nature museum yesterday and went into the special butterfly room. The top picture is of a zebra butterfly. We don't know what the other two are.

monarch caterpillars cocooning

The top picture is a caterpillar fully hardened - it's a chrysalis. The lower picture is a different monarch caterpillar hanging upside down, getting ready to be a hardened chrysalis. I hatched both of these from eggs I found.

Painted Lady 2nd Instar

Most of my painted lady caterpillars are on their second instar. This caterpillar (above) is also in its second instar.

This video and picture are of a painted lady caterpillar at 60x magnification. This is one of the many hatchlings from when my painted lady butterflies laid eggs. I probably have 45 of them. I have them in the same rearing container that my painted lady caterpillars came in.I gave them some thistle leaves. I probably have enough thistle to feed them.

Monarch Caterpillar Shedding Skin & 5th Instar Monarch Caterpillar

The top picture is of an energetic monarch shedding its skin at the same time. I know it's shedding because it has a yellow head.

The bottom picture another monarch caterpillar that is in its 5th instar. If I were the dime, I'd be scared - it's a big one.

I hatched them from eggs I found on milkweed - one at my house, one at my park.

Releasing Painted Ladies

Yesterday I released my painted lady butterflies. Before we released them, they laid lots of eggs. The eggs are in a cup with plastic wrap over it. When all of them hatch I'm going to put them in a "suitable rearing container." I probably have enough thistle to supply them when they hatch.

Monarch Caterpillar Feet

These are pictures of a monarch caterpillar. The close up pictures of the feet are at 60x. The top picture is 10x. This caterpillar is probably a 4th instar.

Some of my painted lady butterflies hatched from their chrysalides. Some hatched today and some hatched yesterday. They hatched into beautiful painted lady butterflies!

monarch butterfly

We took both of these pictures at a park. When it's drinking nectar, its proboscis wobbles. The proboscis is like a tongue. It is like a straw for sucking the nectar out of the plant. I can tell this is a male because his veins are thin. Female's veins are bigger. If you look close enough on a male, you can see it has two dots, one on each lower wing.

Monarch Caterpillar Hatching in 3 Parts

The first part is the monarch caterpillar making a hole. The second part is the caterpillar coming out. The third part is the caterpillar eating its own egg! I filmed these videos on my microscope at 60x.

monarch caterpillar with antennae

I missed another shedding of one of my monarch caterpillar's skin. The caterpillar is starting to sprout antennae! They also have fake antennae on their back end , for self-defense. The fake antennae is for tricking animals into going for their back end instead of its head.

I also missed this caterpillar shed it's skin. It may be some kind of silk moth. In the picture above, the caterpillar is next to the skin it shed.

monarch caterpillar spinning silk

When I woke up this morning, I went to check on my caterpillars. Some had shed their skin and gone into the second instar. The two pictures above are of a monarch caterpillar that is in its second instar. One picture is 10x magnification and the other one is 60x magnification.




The video is of a monarch caterpillar spinning silk. It is in its first instar. They spin silk for self-defence and they spin silk to crawl easier.


This is a picture of a first instar monarch caterpillar with its egg. We have a dime for comparing the size of this caterpillar.

monarch caterpillar hatching

I finally caught a caterpillar hatching! Up above, I have 2 pictures and a video of it hatching. The caterpillar had the egg stuck on it and couldn't get it off. We held a toothpick on the egg so it could crawl and get out.

monarch caterpillar

I found an egg today with this caterpillar's head already developed. I found it on a milkweed. By evening, it had already hatched and we missed it! Here it is at 60x. The video below this shows its head moving and trying to get out!

monarch caterpillar moving inside egg

I just found a new monarch egg today. We went to a park with a lot of common milkweed. I found a lot of monarch eggs there! One is ready to hatch! This a video (above) of it moving in the egg.

monarch egg

which picture do you think is better? (60x).
I found a monarch egg on my tropical milkweed plant this afternoon. This is the first egg I found on this plant. I'm going to keep it in a tupperware with holes in the top with a damp towel and fresh milkweed leaves.

another cocoon picture

This is the picture my mom likes but I don't like it as much.

painted lady cocoons

This morning, my painted lady caterpillars started to cocoon. Last night they climbed up to the top of the cup. And now they're cocooning. It looks like a bumpy tortoise shell. They will stay like this for 7 - 10 days. But not all of them are cocooned yet.

Monarch Caterpillars and Big Painted Lady Caterpillars

My monarch caterpillars are available to order now. I'm going to order them soon. My painted lady caterpillars are getting real big. So, I hope they will cocoon.

Painted Lady Caterpillars

I got my painted lady caterpillars in the mail yesterday. They have special food, not plants. It looks like wax in the bottom of the cup. The painted lady caterpillars spin silk for protection and for easier walks. I thought one caterpillar was actually dead because I saw a head and a curled up body. Luckily that was just the exoskeleton of one. The instructions said that they would be cocooning and when they cocoon you have to open the cup and take the sheet of paper out and pin it to the side of my bug pavilion. If my butterflies lay eggs the instructions said to get thistle, hollyhock, fiddleneck, and malva for them to eat.

my caterpillar's diet

My white marked tussock caterpillar eats orchard-like trees. I have a crab apple tree and a plumb tree. I put some crab apple leaves in my bug pavilion. I'm going to put some plumb leaves in there, too. I hope he'll spin a cocoon and turn into a moth!

Tiny Monarch Caterpillar & Moth Caterpillar

Today I just found the first instar of a monarch caterpillar. I found it on my tropical milkweed. I got my tropical milkweed at the Chalet with my grandparents. I put the caterpillar in my bug pavilion. He's so small I don't know where he is!

I also found another caterpillar today - the picture is above. I was at my park with my little sister (Jessie Nadler) and my father (J.D. Trout) and I found a white marked tussock moth caterpillar. It looked like a hairy monster!

All butterflies have larvae. Some types of larvae are poisonous (monarch and queen sometimes black swallowtail). Some butterflies try to look like poisonous ones for protection (like viceroy).

Welcome

Welcome to Jack Nadler's blog. This is about caterpillars and butterflies.