Monarch Project: Caterpillar, Crysalids, and Butterfly

danielj

August 18th, 2007 at 12:00 am

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Monarch Project
Dear Bugman,
I thought I’d share with you this photo of my 6-year-old grandson’s butterfly project. The monarch emerged this morning from the first of 46 chrysalises (with more to come). Thanks for your great website!
Nancy Codere
Cumberland, ME

monarch project Monarch Project: Caterpillar, Crysalids, and Butterfly

Hi Nancy,
We only wish your letter had included a more detailed description of what the Monarch Project is. We are guessing your grandson collected Monarch Caterpillars off of milkweed plants and kept them in a cage to observe the metamorphosis.

Dear Daniel,
I thought I’d share with you this photo of my 6-year-old grandson’s butterfly project. He collects the caterpillars from a stand of milkweed in back of our house and keeps them in a 10-gal. terrarium with screen cover. Everyday 3 to 4 fresh milkweed stalks are added as food. When the caterpillars are ready, most crawl to the cover to begin their metamorphosis (an occasional one will hang from a milkweed stalk and make his transformation there). When a chrysalis turns black (it’s actually clear but the unborn butterfly’s coloring shows through), we suspend the screen cover from a hook on the ceiling to observe the critter’s emergence. The monarch in this picture emerged this morning from the first of 46 chrysalises (with more to come). Thanks for your great website!
Nancy Codere
Cumberland, ME