4th October they were eggs. 25th October, huge appetites and shedding skin. 11 days. From here on in, the caterpillars will need daily fresh food supply. To keep the cut branches fresh, I cut 2 vertical cuts into the base of the stem or crush the base of the stem using my secateurs. Questions welcome.
These caterpillars are going for it. They need fresh lush leaves on a regular basis. More big news coming soon. Changes are afoot. Speaking of a foot, Monarch butterflies appear to have 4 legs. In fact, a pair of "brush legs" are not used and are tucked against the body near the head. They look more like an upper thigh. A bit like wings on a kiwi.
Did you see the photos of the eggs on the leaves? This is one of those caterpillars. Keep following its story. Share our link with a few work colleagues and relatives please. We are saving up for a safe space for native butterflies to breed.
We have had a lot of new eggs laid
Yet the caterpillar usually only survives a couple of days before predators find it. The reason we are replacing the butterfly house is because the last one got damaged in a storm, it wasn't made for this purpose, we adapted it to suit us. The new one is covered in biomesh. The holes are so much smaller, it will keep out the tiny parasitic wasp called Pteromalus Puparum.
This is John and I (Melody). This pic is from last summer. We were at West Lynn Garden butterfly house. My neighbour John has a lifetime of experience working in nature and knows a lot about insect and plant life cycles. We love working together on our butterfly project (covid restriction dependent).
To celebrate reaching 30% of our fundraising target I have added some photos of a new egg, an egg about to hatch (you can see the black head of the caterpillar), and a tiny 2 day old caterpillar. You will see my finger holding the leaf as an indicator of how small the caterpillar. What I didn't show you is that there are loads of eggs, signs of where they have hatched and started eating, but only that one caterpillar. Quite a few others have already disappeared. We start our conservation of Monarchs by protecting the eggs. Please share our page with a few friends and help the Monarchs please.
This is a pic from Redpath website so that's not us inside it. Ours is on order and waiting for full payment. It's 2.36m wide and 4.5m long. Keep sharing our link with your networks please.
Thanks to all your kindness, we are 25% of the way there. Please forward our link to a few friends. You are making a big difference already.
Prior to setting up this page, we had applied for funding. Ecomatters, "Love Your Neighbourhood" fund with support from Henderson-Massey Local Board have supported us with $500 that has already been paid toward the tunnel house. It's incredibly easy to apply for funding with them, really appreciated.
Very pleased to announce the addition of a new female to our local Monarch population. Most have been males. She is newly emerged between 2.30-3pm today. Very keen for her to get out there and start laying eggs. When she mates, she will store sperm and release it to add to the egg when she is ready to lay the egg. She has her own sperm storage facility.
