Monarch Caterpillar

Earlier this year, I ordered some monarch butterfly eggs for my girls. I wanted them to see the beginning of the life cycle for the butterfly. We had 12 eggs, and 4 hatched. One died the same day it hatched, and the next disappeared about 10 days after hatching. We ended up with 2 healthy caterpillars. Last week, they pupated! We now have 2 chrysalises hanging in our butterfly cage.

I took daily pictures of the growth of the caterpillars and posted pictures to my family blog. It just occured to me that this is the perfect place to share with you all, too! My girls loved looking at the caterpillars every day. My oldest was watching the last caterpillar pupate with me, and she thought it was pretty fascinating, too. It's a great science lesson for them!

I was able to take pictures of the second caterpillar pupating. I ended up taking quite a few pictures, and the time that passed during the picture series was less than 5 minutes. This was one of the very coolest things I have ever seen! This is the link to the pictures: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8QYs3Ldo5aqICw.

I'm hoping that I am able to take pictures of the butterfly emerging from the chrysalis, and that should happen next week. The first is due on Tuesday, and the next one is due on Thursday or Friday. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

The picture below is one of the chysalises in the cage. They are really beautiful!