Yesterday one of the chrysalis changed color in a way I hadn’t seen before. It didn’t quite match the images I’ve seen, but it wasn’t darkening evenly. Odder still, the “cap” portion was still bright green. Continue reading “Guardianship update: 26th August 2018”
Tag: monarch chrysalises
Guardianship update: 23rd August 2018 #4
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”
Guardianship update: 23rd August 2018 #3
As I said in my last post (#2), all hell had broken loose for me at that moment. I was a failure. The not too distant memory of two daily releases of two butterflies per day sat in stark contrast with what I had before me. Continue reading “Guardianship update: 23rd August 2018 #3”
Guardianship update: 23rd August 2018 #2
This post picks up where #1 left off. Here I’ll talk about both mistakes and best case scenario based decisions that were made about the malformed chrysalis. Continue reading “Guardianship update: 23rd August 2018 #2”
Guardianship update: 23rd August 2018 #1
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.
Guardianship update: 16th August 2018 #2
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”
Guardianship update: 16th August 2018 #1
This week has been all sorts of lessons. The chrysalis I first noticed the faintest bits of orange through the green is still developing, but sometime in the last six hours, two nearby rapidly changed to the image below, which is the best shot I could manage at this hour.
Guardianship update: 15th August 2018
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…
Guardianship update: 14th August 2018
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.