BTW, we babysat ~50 Monarch caterpillars as they went from egg to
butterfly 5yrs ago, putting them on milkweed in "incubators" (20 gal aquariums).
It stated out innocently enough....I bought a 1 gal milkweed at a nursery.
When I got home, found the eggs on the leaves. Soon there were more
baby Monarchs than enough leaves.
So had to buy
more milkweed.
Eventually spent $$$ to keep the kids well fed.
But most made it, and we sent them off like proud parents, hoping they'd
make it down to Mexico. 🤞
🤞
I was even able to catch one of them on video making their chrysallis, and later
emerging, though others have done
much better videos. Hard to catch them in the act, as theyonly take ~15min for both events.
Now we just keep several milkweed in the garden, and if I see caterpillars, I make sure they each have their own stalk if possible, as they don't share well.
