Thursday, May 27, 2010

Movin' on Up

"Movin' on Up. To a deluxe apartment in the sky-y-y!" - The Theme Song from The Jeffersons by Ja'Net DuBois As expected, our pupating pals on the patio have made the move. Somehow they know when the time is right and for the first of our two little buddies, that time was Sunday evening. Madi and Cami (who was visiting for dinner) caught him or her in the act, so to speak. ~on the move across the patio at around 6pm on 5.23.10 Still movin'. Now he's scaling the stones that edge the flower bed outside our kitchen windows. 5.23.10 ~The new digs. All the way across the backyard on a newly sprouted flower (possibly a black-eyed susan)5.23.10. Although the plant that he has chosen doesn't yet sport a bloom, it is this same type and will soon boast not only its own late spring/early summer colors but, a cool chrysalis too. Getting ready to change early morning (around 6am) 5.24.10. These dudes make a little silk safety line that goes around the fattest part of their bodies and attach their tails to a silk pad, as well. The next step...we'll get to that in a minute. ~Here's his old roommate/brother/sister back on the dill plant. Must be a late bloomer. 5.24.10 (6am). And the next morning across the yard. Caterpillar 1 has made a startling transformation. No, we don't know exactly how this happened because we were at Schlitterbahn getting jiggy. Hey, if you're so curious, you could have sat there and watched all day to see the details. Get a life losers! Or at least, go plant some dill! 5.25.10 The dill plant was totally empty when we got back from New Braunfels at like 8:45 p.m. and we couldn't find Caterpillar 2 anywhere. Not sure where he got to but, hopefully someplace safe to make the change. *Sniff* They grow up so fast! I'd like to say that we'll be posting pictures very soon of butterflies emerging from the chrysalisisisissisi but, it could take from 8-12 days and happen when we least expect it. We'll keep our eyes peeled, though.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

next stop, pupation!

Our black swallowtail butterfly caterpillars are growing and changing everyday! I'm really tyring to take a picture around the same time every morning in order to document the changes every 24 hours.

Here's a photo dairy of their progress over the last week...

~This was the first day. The day we found them. ~I'm missing a photo from 5.18.10, so this is day 3.

~4th day

~5th day

~6th Day

~Today (the 7th day) at around 6:45 am. A late instar caterpillar (without spikes) soon ready to pupate!

As you can see, the caterpillars are growing SO fast. And there's still more awesomeness to come!