July 25

Tired of my bug pictures yet?  :)  I just cleaned the caterpillars' box and thought I'd get a few more pics of them before they move on to the next stage.  (And, yes, I know this isn't a great pic).  Soon they will be forming a "J" from the ceiling, shedding their skins, and beginning to weave their chrysalis.  Hopefully I will be able to get photos of their different stages.  

This caterpillar thing has been a bit of a roller coaster ride of emotions for me.  I posted the other day that the little baby died.  :(  But then we found 2 more big ones.  :)  Well, the wind gusted yesterday and knocked the box down (again!) and we lost 2 more caterpillars.  :(  Literally lost them.  We looked all over and were unable to find them.  But Nick found another big caterpillar today.  :)  Perhaps it was one of the ones we lost?  I doubt it though.  Anyway, now we have 4 big ones (pictured here) and one smaller one who is living alone in another container.

I was reading online that monarch caterpillars in the wild have about a 10% chance of becoming butterflies, but in captivity they have about a 90% chance.  Of course, that isn't taking into account kids at the Vensel household.  :)