Voila Catty is a Butterfly!

It really is an amazing transformation (which I guess should not surprise me...birth in any nature is a pretty amazing thing, right).  The first picture that you will see is not of our gorgeous butterfly but of the cocoon that Catty once lived in.  You can see where he broke free (a little foreshadowing) and the cocoon that once was a beautiful green and appeared to be thick in nature now looks paper thin and clear.

May I have a drum roll please.... Let me officially introducing Catty the Butterfly!!!

I took a picture prior to releasing him because I was worried that he would fly away and I would miss him all together.

She was so excited to be releasing her butterfly. She was very sweet and gently placed it on the milkweed.  Of course right after she let him go she wanted him back on the stick so she could carry him around like a prize.  She told all her friends and the director of her school that we were going home to release her butterfly.  When Mike, the director, asked what kind of butterfly she looked at him proudly and said "a Monarch butterfly".  She is growning up way to fast.

The milkweed plant.  Of course I picked a yellow one.

I had a hard time getting a good picture of Catty with his wings open...do you see the two black dots that are symetrical toward the bottom of the wings?  Those are the indication that he is a male Monarch.  You can also tell by looking at the cocoon...but I am NOT that good.

Catty Update

Right after I wrote my last post, Catty cocooned (turned into a chrysalis).  Or as Ahliana has learned from her Little Einsteins show..Catty is getting a wardrobe change (how cute is that), it is really undergoing metamorphosis.  The Cocoon is really beautiful.  It starts off emerald green with gold glitter in it. 

Before they cocoon they attach themselves to a part of the container so they can "hang".  They will make a silk button and attach to it hanging upside down forming a "J".  At this time the caterpillar goes through it's last molting process (shedding of the skin).  The only thing left in the container that resembles the caterpillar is the molting (exuvia) of it's head...and in Catty's case the head stayed connected to the top of the cocoon and then fell off about a week later....I knew Catty was special.

This is a picture of Catty and his little friend before he cocooned ...



Ahliana is so proud of her caterpillars.

  

Look you can see Catty changing his wardrobe.  Can you see the butterfly in there?  Cool!!

I have to admit that I have become a little obsessed with caterpillar raising.  At one point we had Catty in a cocoon and six other caterpillars.  No, really look below.  One caterpillar was too small to keep in this container so I had to keep it in a separate smaller one (and I wonder why my hubs thinks I am a little nuts).  I read that only about two to five caterpillars that hatch form many hundreds of eggs makes it to adulthood...so I thought I would help out, you know become a butterfly foster parent so to speak.  The way I see it, the milkweed only attracts butterflies twice a year (Spring/Fall) so really it's not like we will have them year round and it is educational for Ahli.  Plus it is really a cool experience watching a caterpillar molt... I am hoping to catch the cocooning process and the end when the butterfly breaks free of the cocoon, spreads it's wings to dry and just waits to be let free....amazing I tell you, amazing!  

They start out so little and fragile.  When they are small like this I would not dare let Ahliana touch them.  I actually caught her petting the one she was holding when she was wearing the orange outfit above....oops.

Then they get big and they eat you out of milkweed leaves.

Stay tuned.  Catty has emerged.  Is our butterfly a he, as I suspected, or a she?  I should post the follow up either this afternoon or tomorrow morning.