4-26-07 6pm Caterpillar turn Pupa!

A few hours after I posted the blog, we saw them transform into pupa!

We have a longer footage of the caterpillar opening it's mouth and squeezing itself out of it's skin and then tossing it off! After a few days, they haven't moved and look the same!

Mar 26: Hanging Out

Adoption Day Number: 8

What do the Painted Ladies look like?
They have stuck themselves on the top of the lid using the last pair of legs on their body. They have curled the head up to look like the letter "J". The 3 pairs of legs from the front are all clustered together.

When I grabed the cup to take a closer look, the caterpillar began to sway around. We thought they were going to spin the web around themselves. Instead, I think they are going to dry up. Today they have not done much, all they do is just hang there.

We have completed their new butterfly home! We will place the branch in after I stick the painted ladies on the box top.

What will happen next?
We think the caterpillars are going to dry up and form their covering.

Mar 24: Building Blocks

Caterpillar Name: Butter Butt & Hot Wings
Adoption Day Number: 6

What does they look like?
Our caterpillars are huge! The fuzziness now looks like tiny cactus pikes. If we look close enough, we can see the face. The first 3 pairs of legs look like black thorns with candy cane stripes. The rest of the look like tiny suction cups! Four pairs are in the middle of body and one pair at the very end. The mouth kind of looks like a bunnies. The tip of the face has a tiny white stripe just above the mouth. One of the caterpillars presses his face against the cup and we can see him eating or licking the food from the side of container.

They have been forming their food into snowball shapes and stacking them like a pyramid. At 2:40pm, one of the caterpillars climbed to its lid and circulated up there. The suction cup legs keep the body from falling down! He swigs his body back and forth as if looking something. He tore off the webbing it had made just a few days before and we think he at it.

What do we think will happen next?
We think he is getting ready to form into the next stage!

March 21

Adoption day number: 4

What does your painted ladies look like today?
The one with the white dots on its back seems to be bigger than the other one. It seems that they lost the tip of the tail, but grew another one. There is a fuzzy thing inside each of the cups that does not look like the poops. We can see the legs moving around.

How have they changed since the last time you looked at them?
They are huge compared to just a few days ago! One of them is almost an inch long and the other is about half an inch. They are more active in the day than in the night. We didn't think they would get so big from one day to the next!

How do you think they will look next time?
We think they will continue to grow and eat more!

March 19, 2008

Adoption Day Number: 2

What does the Painted Lady look like?
Our Painted Ladies are still caterpillars. We can see more details in their bodies. One of the caterpillars has two rows of white dots on its back. We can also see lots of tiny feet marching along and keep the bugs balanced on the webs.

How have they changed since you last seen them?
They look just a tiny bit bigger. They have dug out more of their food. The web has poop dots and food chips stuck on it.

What do you think they will look like next?
I'm home the will spin up the web and turn into a chrysalis (like a cocoon).

March 18, 2008 Welcome Home!

Adoption day Number: 1

What does the Painted Lady look like?
Our Painted Ladies are itty bitty caterpillars! They are the about length of rice and about half its width. They look so furry and prickly at the same time.

What are they doing?
David brought them into the office in the after noon and they were just lying there not doing much. As the day went on, the sun began to set and the office became really warm. The computer monitors and as the other office equipment began to warm up, the caterpillars became more lively. They began to scrape the food from the bottom of the cup and also create a web- sort of like a spider. Tiny black dots began to appear- I think that is there poop! The caterpillars are suspended from their web.

What do you think they will look like next time?
I think they will be the same.