Ready...Set...Pupate!

I barely made it off the deck at all this morning.  There were 15 caterpillars J'd in my big enclosure when I went outside and for roughly three hours, caterpillars were pupating right and left.  It was crazy.  I'd be watching one, then realize that another one was starting.  I finally managed to set up my iPad and get a time lapse of one of them which you can see HERE on YouTube - it's about 20 seconds, condensed from 3.5 minutes.  

This one, which I just took still photos of, had formed his J on the side of the enclosure which really isn't a good place to pupate as the chrysalis can be damaged.  So, I carefully removed it and taped in onto a stick while it was still in the J position.  Made it easy to photograph.  Once it's had a couple of days to harden up, I'll attached it more securely.  

And if you are interested, here is what is happening in each frame:
Upper Left:  after hanging upside down in the J position for 18-24 hours, held in place by a silk "pad", the caterpillar slowly straightens out.  You can see that it's attenna are withered and the skin has taken on a dark look, meaning that it has loosened enough to be shed.
Upper Right:  the skin slowly starts to split at the head (which is on the bottom since its hanging upside down), revealing the bright green chrysalis underneath
Lower Left:  the chrysalis has now managed to wriggle out of almost all the skin.  The dark mass at the top is the empty, shed skin.  From this position, the chrysalis wriggles with frightening strength until the shed skin drops to the ground.
Lower Right:  the chrysalis at this stage is very soft and vulnerable.  If you look closely at the bottom half of the chrysalis, you can see the attenna and legs as well as the wings under the exterior of the chrysalis.

I now have, as of this moment, 42 chrysalids.  And, there are another 5 big cats getting ready to J.  Add that to the 12 that have already been released and that brings me to 59.  And, that doesn't take into account the two enclosures with small cats and eggs.  Well, I might just beat last year's personal best of 85 released butterflies after all.  So far this year, I've lost 2 caterpillars - one failed to J properly and fell, sustaining fatal damage and another 3rd instar just crawled off and died for some reason.  I hate to have any losses, but at least I've not lost any to parasites this year.  The trick has been to gather eggs or very early instar cats.

The AC repair people are coming out tomorrow to fix the AC upstairs.  Fortunately temps have cooled down today so it will be pleasant to sleep with the windows upen tonight.  What won't be pleasant will be the repair bill.  Oh well.

Had a wonderful time at dinner with our friends last night.  Many laughs, as always.  

Happy Hump Day.

xo
Debbi