So the chrysalis I thought maybe might be a late release yesterday still has not eclosed. I’ve read that after 48 hours of it being this clear, if they don’t eclose, something went wrong and they are likely dead.
Fourth female, and she will be released within a few hours, depending on when she is ready.
At last we reach the final installment of the sad day update. Continuing on from the last post, how are the five? One, I recently started posting about in another update, so here’s the rest of Junior’s story. Continue reading “Guardianship update: 23rd August 2018 #4”
Last Saturday was a sad day for us. One unexpected development with a malformed chrysalis led to mistakes that could have caused the loss of up to all six chrysalises we had at the time if I had done things in a different order and/or way.
I fretted a lot overnight. I kept checking the monarch disease pages, dismissed OE and pondered “black death” after one older site pic I found that had a pure black chrysalis. Nope…nope…behold!
What a difference! Continue reading “Guardianship update: 16th August 2018 #2”
Two firsts today: I happened to catch a J transforming into chrysalis. If I had strolled by sooner, I might not have realized it was that far along if not for the visually striking difference between larvae skin and sudden bulge of light green. Also, this happened…
We had a fake out. One of the 5th instar was on the screen lid on the side where all the chrysalises are. Later, I thought it fell, but it was happily munching on a leaf. I don’t know how folks keep track of greater numbers.
The temperature took a nosedive today, and it’s cool enough that I’m in jeans and a sweatshirt quite comfortably (My low blood pressure is helping that). The cool damp in the air instead of the humidly stifling feeling is quite a change! I’m wondering how much difference this will make for the larvae growth rate, as the forecast is predicting this will be the norm for a few more days until the temps start to hit low 80s F again. Continue reading “Guardianship update: 12th August 2018”
So much to my surprise, and with a twinge of guilt, at late suppertime yesterday (which was the 10th for folks pondering the time difference), I saw Junior poised in preparation for J already. Since the four older instar had been out of the incubator for a while, I really didn’t realize how big Junior had grown, especially since the last to form a chrysalis was the biggest 5th instar (and bigger than Junior). Continue reading “Guardianship update: 11th August 2018”
