Tags
caterpillar, chrystalis, cup, frass, plant material, rearing
It has been a couple of days since the caterpillars have arrived and, man, can they eat!!!! They arrived in ventilated, 9 ounce rearing cups. Each cup contains 5-6 caterpillars, which is enough room for them to grow, eat and sleep. In between the cup and the lid is filter paper- the kind you use for coffee filters. This paper is used as an anchor for the chrysalis.
It is important to clean the caterpillar cup daily. The objective is to remove the frass (caterpillar poop) and dead plant material. If the caterpillars are “sleeping” on a leaf or stem, do not bother or touch them. Simply place the stem or leaf back in the rearing cup with the other fresh plant material. Be sure to inspect the dead plant material to make sure that there are no caterpillars hanging on it. (They are very small and easy to miss.)
Once the chrysalises are complete, you CAREFFULLY remove the filter paper from the rearing cup and into the rearing cage. You place the paper vertically up against the side of the rearing cage, in order to allow the butterflies to climb up the side of the cage and to the top. They will do this in order to hang upside down and dry their wings. It is VERY important not to bother the cocoons or move them around too much. This is a very delicate stage in their life and you do not want to disturb the metamorphosis process.
More on the pupal stage in future posts…
~Stephanie S.
Imagine Butterflies
LetsImagineButterflies.com