Monarch Butterflies

Well, my mom-in-law started a hobby of raising monarch butterflies. She enjoys it. I had no plans to do it but it happened.....by mistake. I got a plant to add to my collection. I didn't know what it was and don't care. As long as it lives I'm happy. One day my in-laws were over and my mom saw the plant and told me what it was. It is a host plant for monarch butterfly eggs and caterpillars. Every time they came over she inspected my plant for eggs. Then one day she saw a baby caterpillar! Holy shit was it adorable!! So tiny! She told me that I had to take the plant on my screened porch to protect it from being eaten. So here I am taking care of a baby caterpillar. Then one day I went out to check on it and there was another one! There were two but we missed seeing the second one at first. They eat the crap out of the host plant too. And they grow fast!

This is the one my mom-in-law found. It is so tiny. I was close to get the picture. But then took a picture of the plant so you can see how small the plant itself is.

The plant had a bud and was going bloom but the little burger ate it!

This is where they start the process to form the chrysalis. They hang and curl up. It is an amazing thing to see!

Here is the chrysalis.

This is the completed chrysalis, it has a gold band around the top. So beautiful!!

Then here they both are. Just out of the chrysalis. They need to dry their wings before they can fly. So I took the plants they were on outside.

This is them outside, still drying.

So it is an amazing and beautiful thing. Plus it helps as the monarch butterflies are endangered.

But it is a very stressful hobby! You always check on them to make sure they are on the plant and not in danger. Then there is a chance they could die in the chrysalis. Sad but it happens.