Even More Caterpillars

As we were admiring the chrysalis Caterpillar Number Two had made Wednesday morning, and encouraging Number Three to get a move on and attach so we could finally clean the wilted vegetation and accumulated frass out of the cage, we noticed, oops, another little caterpillar.  And then another one.

The Monarchs currently frolicking in the butterfly garden in the front yard must have deposited some eggs on the new Asclepia leaves we had put into the cage on Monday.  And now they've hatched.

These two are only about an inch long, so they are probably in the fourth stage, or instar.  That means they've probably got at least another week to go before they will be ready to attach and form chrysalises, so we'll need to figure out how to get even more Asclepia leaves into the cage for them to eat.

With Numero Uno's chrysalis so close to the zippered door, that makes it a very delicate operation to open the door, take out the old plant leaves and put in new ones without dislodging the chrysalis.  Number Two attached close to the zipper but not on it, and now Number Three looks like he's going to attach a little further over from the zipper.

We may try to move the first chrysalis to a branch or something.  It's currently hanging from the zipper by some of the silk from the silk button the caterpillars form to keep them attached to whatever they've chosen, so we're thinking we might be able to wind some of the silk around a branch or something.  I have no idea whether this would work, but we're going to have to do something soon to get more Asclepia leaves into the cage for the new guys.

It's amazing how much these caterpillars can eat.