Life of a Monarch

Last summer, our friends gave us a Monarch butterfly egg so we could observe the process of the caterpillar hatching and turning into a butterfly. It was such a neat experience and I was anxious to try it again this summer. Monarchs lay their eggs on milkweed plants so we found the plant and collected a few eggs earlier this summer but they never hatched. My friend Jamie - who is pretty much an expert at raising Monarchs - found another egg for me and finally - success! It hatched and the process begins...

This isn't the actual egg that our caterpillar hatched from - but this is what it looks like, usually a little more creamy colored.

Here is our hatched caterpillar - about two days old. It was even smaller than this when it hatched. It is amazing how much it grows each day!

I will continue to post on this process and hopefully we can make it to the end - it's incredible!

If you want to try this - it's not that difficult (although we have only done it once). You have to first find some milkweed - to make sure it's milkweed - break a stem and see if a sticky, milky substance drips out. It grows almost anywhere - most commonly next to fields or even along the freeway. Carefully search the plant (mostly the underside of the leaves) for cream colored, sort of conical shaped eggs - a little bigger than the size of a pin head. Try to pick the stem with the egg (don't try to remove the egg from the leaf) and several leaves and remember where you got the egg - you may need more milkweed after your egg hatches and you have a very hungry caterpillar! Keep the stem in water and check your egg everyday. It's very tiny when it hatches - it can be easy to miss. But you will see where it has started to eat the leaf. Then you need to just watch and wait while the caterpillar grows.

Stay tuned for more! Kip - I bet you have milkweed growing near your house. You should totally try this!