Bill_de Loc: US

Of the 4 caterpillars only one successfully made it. The 2 I left outside got blown down in a storm. One of the ones in the garage fell when the leaf the chrysalis was attached to died and fell. The only survivor hatched before the sun was up this morning. I checked on it very early because the chrysalis had started to darken late last night. I changed the background a couple of times while shooting. Hatched at 7:00am and flew out of my garage at 1:00pm. I never had an enclosure for them.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

Outstanding, Bill.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Fantastic work, Bill.
--Bob

SkipGWV

Beautiful set!

rlaugh Loc: Michigan & Florida

What an excellent set!!

sundar Loc: Charlotte, NC

Awesome set !

Cwilson341 Loc: Central Florida

Congratulations on a successful launch!

angela k Loc: Long Island

Bill, Congrats on your first monarch boy!! Wonderful job documenting his birth... sorry to hear about the others, that's why only 1% usually survive outside, they're very delicate while in chrysalis.

donb17

Great set!

vonzip Loc: cape cod

good job

Bill_de Loc: US

Thanks everyone for taking a look. A special thanks to Angela whose work with and photos of her Monarchs are what prompted me to give it a try.

I forgot one picture. The caterpillar hangs in the shape of a J before the chrysalis stage. It happened over night.

angela k Loc: Long Island

Bill, I got a video of one of my cats turning into the chrysalis.... so amazing!!!

Swamp-Cork Loc: Lanexa, Virginia

Excellent set Bill, and glad that one made it.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Good for you!!!!!!

I am doing 50% so far this year. One cat disappeared while I was cleaning the old bird cage I use to raise them and the Chrysalis I found on an Iris (next to a potted milkweed) emerged and was released a couple of days ago.
My area of So Calif has a lot of parasitic flies and wasps, plus a couple of fugal problems for the various life stages. Last year of about 18 cats of different sizes I saw in my garden I was able to get about 14 to the pupa stage (one was fly larva infected, two with fungus and the first one I found was smashed when the wind blew the potted plant over before I could get the cage out of the garage and clean it. Of the 14 that made a chrysalis 10 had fly/wasp larva infections that killed them and 4 emerged, 3 were released and one emerged over night, lost its grip on the chrysalis husk and fell while the wings were still folded, soft and wet. It was apparently ill anyway because it did not stand up, it lay there and when I found it in the morning the wings had dried still partly folded. I followed on-line directions for feeding it but it did not feed on its own and died not quite two days later.

Leicaflex Loc: Cymru

Excellent series of photographs.