According to my internet search, and Matthew's review of the dictionary, the plural of chrysalis is chrysalides or chrysalises. Boy, do we have chrysalides and chrysalises!
These little guys are amazing. They are on a mission, munching away until their biological clock says "time to shed your skin". Then they wriggle and jiggle our of their "pajamas" and underneath there is a new skin. They do this several times over 3-4 days, to accommodate their growing bellies (due to endless consumption of the milkweed). When Eric is alone in the kitchen in the morning he says the chewing sounds are loud.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
Finally, they crawl to the top of the cage (or stay on a leaf) and they make a little silk hanger from their bottom end, hang upside in a J shape. They become more and more inert, ending in a final shedding stage with a surprise green skin underneath, which is the Chrysalis. There are a few videos of this miraculous process, taken by Mary Alice.
We have done this before, but only with one or two caterpillars, never with 50+, so it has been a very interesting experience. With one or two, the stages are not so obvious, and with busy lives, running around, we would miss some of the timing. But with 50+, there has been a continuous observation period and the kids have been able to interact with them in a very personal and intimate way.
George, the first caterpillar, is ahead of the pack by about a week. He is just about ready to come out of his chrysalis, within the next day or so, so his chrysalis is much darker than the others. It's very cool.
This is the habitat, when it was fully stocked. The white trays are to catch the poops and they poop a lot. The kids have been in charge of clean up and in the height of the process it needed to be done about 5x a day. Now that they have entered the chrysalis stage, it has slowed down. Only 3 caterpillars are left in the habitat.
These little guys are amazing. They are on a mission, munching away until their biological clock says "time to shed your skin". Then they wriggle and jiggle our of their "pajamas" and underneath there is a new skin. They do this several times over 3-4 days, to accommodate their growing bellies (due to endless consumption of the milkweed). When Eric is alone in the kitchen in the morning he says the chewing sounds are loud.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
Finally, they crawl to the top of the cage (or stay on a leaf) and they make a little silk hanger from their bottom end, hang upside in a J shape. They become more and more inert, ending in a final shedding stage with a surprise green skin underneath, which is the Chrysalis. There are a few videos of this miraculous process, taken by Mary Alice.
We have done this before, but only with one or two caterpillars, never with 50+, so it has been a very interesting experience. With one or two, the stages are not so obvious, and with busy lives, running around, we would miss some of the timing. But with 50+, there has been a continuous observation period and the kids have been able to interact with them in a very personal and intimate way.
George, the first caterpillar, is ahead of the pack by about a week. He is just about ready to come out of his chrysalis, within the next day or so, so his chrysalis is much darker than the others. It's very cool.
This is the habitat, when it was fully stocked. The white trays are to catch the poops and they poop a lot. The kids have been in charge of clean up and in the height of the process it needed to be done about 5x a day. Now that they have entered the chrysalis stage, it has slowed down. Only 3 caterpillars are left in the habitat.
This is a caterpillar shedding it's first skin. Underneath it is a bright yellow, but his stripes appear soon after he sheds.
This is a top view of a grown caterpillar looking to make his J
This is a caterpillar hanging in his J shape
This is a caterpillar hanging in his J shape
These miraculous videos are of the caterpillar shedding the skin to the chrysalis underneath. Watch how they wriggle their bodies out of the skin, like taking off a shirt.
Make sure you watch to the end to see the "hula hoop" moves they do to get the "pajamas" to fall off. It's incredible. Mary Alice took all the video.
Make sure you watch to the end to see the "hula hoop" moves they do to get the "pajamas" to fall off. It's incredible. Mary Alice took all the video.
These are all the Chrysali and a few still in J shapes. It looks like something out of a Sci-Fi movie, like the Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
And this is George. You can see how far ahead he is.
Stay tuned for the hatching of the chrysalides!
