This morning there were five beautiful lime-green chrysalises up on the sides and top of the cage:
“Nothing to see here” yet as they’ve just started their amazing metamorphosis, but in six or seven days it will start to darken and a horizonal line show more prominently near the top, and then in eight or nine days it will become transparent revealing the soon-to-emerge butterfly within.
The year started on such a somber note, with no spottings of any adults, but then a late spike in activity and of course the egg laying noted in previous posts has made this a special year. A lot can go wrong yet but the riskiest part of their lifecycle is over – we’re now in sit-back-and-wait mode.
Well, mostly.
There are still three little crawlers, one in the 5th instar stage and two in the fourth, so they’ll be joining their older brothers and sisters in their beautiful little chrysalis stages shortly.
But…for those of you keeping count, that’s only eight. Weren’t there nine? Yes…and I have no idea where number 9 is. Possible snuck out of the cage and is quietly tucked into some corner going through its transformation, so we may wake up to a butterfly in the room in ten days or so.
To think I could be releasing eight (nine?) adult monarchs back into the wild in the next couple of weeks is…well, wild. If you had asked me to describe a good year a few months ago it would be just a repeat of last year: finding an egg and successfully raising it to adulthood. Eight? No way would I have called that – but I’m definitely not complaining!
Update 8/10/2026
All present and accounted for! #7 made a chrysalis tucked up under an edge of the cage top that I hadn’t noticed, so all 9 critters are safe. #8 is now up at the top and should be a chrysalis by the end of the day, and little #9 needs to fatten up a bit more so gave him/her some fresh milkweed, what should be the last feeding. Fortunately, I have a large crop of milkweed so food for them isn’t an issue.
