 Wednesday 6/19/02 - Sometime during
the night the chrysalis of the
first two caterpillars emerged. Darn! We missed it. I hope we get to see
the miracle with one of the remaining five.
Late afternoon – the third of the larger caterpillars followed the same procedure of the first two – gigantic “poop,” restlessness roaming, settling on the wire at the top of the box and hanging from his girdle. |
| Evening of 6/20/02. Our "big guy" had been hanging about 24 hours now, and based on the time it seemed to take the other two to reach the chrysalis stage, I decided to stay up all night if necessary to see the miracle. I worked at my computer during the night and checked the caterpillar every 15 or 20 minutes. At 2:30 a.m. he started to wriggle. Below, left to right: the green chrysalis emerges from the caterpillar. |
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Almost finished! |
| In the second and third pictures above, the process is almost complete. Below left, he is completely out of the skin. Below, center: now he has reared back to hang with the head down. Notice the points from the head that look like little horns. Below, right: all seven hanging from the top. At this time (6/25/02), two have not yet gone into the chrysalis stage. |
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| After reaching the chrysalis stage, it's supposed to be 8 to 10 days before the butterflies hatch out. We are eagerly awaiting! |
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Atwater
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