It's 65 degrees and it's been drizzling on and off. Mom said it was pouring rain at her church this morning. I tell ya, going from 85 to 65 is quite a change. I have a headache and poor Dad just got a nosebleed!
Speaking of weather changes...I think some of y'all we're talking about overwintering chrysalises. Some people keep them in a cool place like a garage or basement to discourage them from emerging and to keep them in similar weather to outside (without all the pesky snow and stuff). I just wanted to add that some people mist their chrysalises throughout the winter to keep the humidity high enough. Because they do get rained and snowed upon in nature. Humidity really isn't a problem in my house so I don't tend to do that, but it might be necessary for others. Let us know if you mist your chrysalises!
Bad weather didn't stop more Phaon Crescents from emerging. There were four today. You know, I see them outside and some are more faded than others and I always chalked it up to the usual age and wear and tear. But as I've been releasing them, I noticed that some just come out that way. I wonder why that is?
And if you forgot what the caterpillars look like, here's one that was on the cheesecloth.
I managed to feed everyone in between the rain so that was good. And while I was feeding the Polydamas, I noticed the one was making its chrysalis! Naturally, I took pictures. A few things first. I taped him up to the side to keep him out of the way and because I was throwing out the old food he had he had attached himself to. So that's why there's tape. I'm going to post these in order so you can click through them and see the process, but I'm going to break in with a few factoids along the way. First, you can see where he splits in the back. It always makes me think of a little mountain peak. Also, check out how the container is covered in silk!
Okay, here's where I point out that you can see some of the structures of the butterfly when they make the chrysalis. You can see where the eyes are going to be, and the line that goes straight down the middle will be the proboscis. The two things that are draped around either side like pigtails are going to be the antenna.
Back to the show!
Now that it's finished, the chrysalis thrashes around to try to dislodge the shed skin. Remember, it's trying to hide so having the dead skin around would alert predators to its location.
Whew! What a process! True story, Mom once cried when she was watching one make a chrysalis. And it wasn't the first time she'd seen it happen. I asked why she was crying and she said it looked like it hurt. So then I had to reassure her that I'm pretty sure it doesn't hurt and that this is what we want the caterpillar to do because otherwise it will never become a beautiful butterfly. Mom is a sensitive soul.
By the way, that yellow color on the back generally stays even as the chrysalis hardens. It's one way to tell a Polydamas chrysalis from a Pipevine.
