Monday, August 28, 2006 - Chrysalis to Butterfly
Teeny is still in his chrysalis but our other two caterpillars have hatched. When the butterfly is ready to emerge the chrysalis will get opaque and you can actually see parts of the butterfly. It looks very black. Can you see parts of the wings?
We didn't name these two caterpillars. They have always been referred to as #1 and #2 and that kind of stuck. This was #1's chrysalis. We took those pictures around 11 am in the morning and our first butterfly hatched while we were doing school.
It's a girl! You can tell by the lack of a prominent dot in the middle of the wing. The book we have said that it takes about 2 hours for their wings to dry and not to touch them. She was dripping "juice" still here so we were very careful in how we handled her.
After more than 2 hours, she had her first photo session.
Here she sits on my pinky finger. She very shortly flew away after this picture. She was in her chrysalis for 9 days.
#2 was very black when I came down to get ready for church on Sunday. I should come up with a name that means stubborn or difficult or obstinate. #2 is the caterpillar that went missing from the box for a while, decided to make a chrysalis on the side of the jar instead of on the top, and decides to hatch on a Sunday when I'm not home all day. So we took it with us. It's another girl. She hatched on the drive to church so we missed this one too.
We put number 2 in the freezer for less than a minute to "stun" her so that she wouldn't fly away quickly. The freeze lasted for a good 30 minutes or so.
On my sunflower.
She flew away shortly after this picture. #2 was in her chrysalis for 9 days as well.
If Teeny follows the pattern of 9 days, it should hatch sometime on Thursday. I'm hoping to catch Teeny in the act.
Comments
Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by ruthatthestorycatdotcom
Hi there... I wandered in after seeing your post on the home page. Beautiful photos... I LOVE the last one! What fun.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - Love it!
Posted by Fiffi
Hi
What a great set of photos! I can't believe the butterflies are SO BIG!
I can see your having great fun! At the moment I am having fun planning a butterfly garden for our yard
Bye
Fiffi.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - :)
Posted by Sweetie
beautiful photos! How facinating it must be to watch this process!
Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - You have done a Amazing Job with this (0:
Posted by Canadagirl
I have REALLY enjoyed reading this with my boys !!! We just got a butterscotch coloured catapiller this morning. You inspired us (0; We will try to take some pics and share too. I tagged you and I hope you will do it .( only if you want my SSiC ) God Bless and I hope you are having a good day.
In Him,
Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Prncsstefy
Wow, those came out awesome!!!!! How neat!!! Cameron sure has a great teacher!!!
Wednesday, August 30, 2006 - From Heather S.
Posted by Anonymous
Danielle, great pics & descriptions!! I love that last one of Cameron & the butterfly! So cute!
