My first Monarchs

13 years ago

They are about 3-4 days old now. There are 3 all together, but I only got a decent picture of these 2. They are very stubborn about moving onto the nice new leaves. Look at that crummy leaf they are hanging on to! I'm just leaving them alone, though.

I have 2 more EBS cats coming along, too--about the same age as the Monarchs. There were 3, but one seems to have vanished--perhaps eaten by the others. :( One was a little smaller.

Liz

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Comments (3)

ericwi
13 years ago
This is turning out to be a down year for monarch population, in most of North America. And yet, you have been successful in finding a few eggs, and now you have 2nd or 3rd instar caterpillars. So that is a hopeful sign-maybe we will see more monarchs next year.
Leafhead
13 years ago
Great work:) Sometimes cats take a day or two to move onto a new leaf, esp while they're in molt.They won't feed or move for 12-24 hrs and their heads will look very small. After they shed and eat their old skins, they will be very hungry for fresh foliage.
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docmom_gw
13 years ago
It does seem odd that they don't move. You can tell by the pattern they've eaten in that leaf that they don't find parts of it very appetizing. I get impatient and put the nice leaves directly on top of them so they can't possibly miss them.

Martha