I Just Wanna Fly

Well, you read about it in books, and you see it on TV, but I guess until you see it with your own two eyes, you never quite believe it will happen. But it really does. Caterpillars really do turn into butterflies, as Heimlich proved this morning.

Last night, we noticed the chrysalis was becoming somewhat darker, and that the butterfly features seemed to be more defined.

Still, it wasn't until we woke up this morning to find this that we realized that
our time with Heimlich was definitely growing short:

Heimlich has always liked a little privacy for his biggest tasks, and this final one was no exception. In the time it took us to pour a bowl of cereal, Heimlich the butterfly had emerged.

The fluid from his body was already being pumped out to fill and expand his wings,
a process that continued over several minutes.

After the wings were fully expanded, he spent several hours hanging from the remains of his chrysalis, slowly expanding and contracting them as they strengthened.

Finally, he dropped to the ground and stretched his wings, ready for flight. It was then we discovered... Heimlich is actually female. How can you tell? The hind wings have no dark spots indicating male scent glands, and the black lines are thicker.

So, having renamed Heimlich Henrietta,
we removed the cover of the jar and urged him her to take flight.

She flew up into the nearby palm tree (that dark spot in the picture above is her) and stayed for another hour or so. Finally, she took off for good. She'll most likely live 2 - 4 weeks, long enough to mate and lay eggs (maybe on the milkweed in My Florida Backyard!) so the cycle can begin again.

In case you missed the story of Heimlich, here's a slide show of his life, beginning with when we collected him as a caterpillar about 2 weeks ago.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
We hope you've enjoyed following Heimlich/Henrietta's story here on My Florida Backyard!

Band of Gold

Heimlich is still secure in his chrysalis, working hard to transform. While he prepares to greet the world again, I've been reflecting on the unbelievable event that's taking place inside, one that's unlike anything else in the animal kingdom.


Consider first the chrysalis, waxy green and flecked with gold. It is in fact these gold flecks that give the chrysalis its name - the Greek word for gold is chrysos.

The monarch chrysalis must be one of the most beautiful in Florida, but it's nothing compared to that of the Common Crow butterfly, which lives on the other side of the world. Its chrysalis appears to be made entirely of gold - check out some pictures here.

Of course, there's no real gold in a chrysalis. It's merely a trick of the light. That's probably a good thing - can you imagine the fate of butterflies if their chrysalises were worth their weight in gold?



To begin with, a chrysalis is full of quite a lot of, well, goo, in non-scientific words. When the chrysalis forms, the body of the caterpillar inside breaks down, and the resulting goo is used rather like building blocks to assemble the parts of the butterfly.

(Click here if you'd like to learn more about the process of holometabolism.)

When a chrysalis first forms, it's soft and vulnerable. If it's dropped or damaged at this point, some of the goo may leak out. If this happens, it's unlikely the butterfly will have enough of the building blocks to work with, and will not survive the metamorphosis.

As I mentioned the other day, the chrysalis is actually clear. As the butterfly takes shape inside, you can see the development if you look closely. Note the obvious wing shown in the picture to the right.

Essentially, Heimlich is involved in one of the most amazing transformations imaginable. He's breaking down his entire body and rebuilding it into something completely different. It's one of the most complex processes in the world - and it happens millions of times every year. We here in My Florida Backyard are glad we can be a part of it.

"Oliver wondered how he had lived so long without paying any real
attention to caterpillars. It seemed a terrible oversight."
-Elizabeth Enright, Then There Were Five

Gimme Shelter

As expected, Heimlich pupated overnight, and we awoke this morning to find him inside this beautiful green chrysalis:

Although we didn't get to see it happen, the process of pupating is very interesting. Many people incorrectly believe that caterpillars "spin a cocoon" and climb inside to await metamorphosis. In fact, the chrysalis (not cocoon) forms from the inside out. While Heimlich hung upside-down last night, his chrysalis was actually forming underneath his cool striped skin. When he was ready, Heimlich's skin split open and he basically wriggled and danced his way out of it, leaving it discarded on the floor of his jar. His chrysalis would have been fairly soft at first, hardening into the shape you see above. Interestingly, the chrysalis is actually clear - as Heimlich begins to transform into a butterfly, we'll be able to see wing patterns and so on through the chrysalis.

NOTE: Even though Heimlich has passed some pretty big milestones, we here in My Florida Backyard are aware that the biggest challenge is still ahead. Florida monarchs are especially susceptible to disease, possibly because they don't migrate like other monarch populations. Monarchs frequently suffer from Oe, a parasitic infection. Heimlich could have it even now - there's no way to know. If he does, he could emerge from his chrysalis not fully formed, or even not emerge at all. However, we're not going to borrow trouble - right now we'll just hope that Heimlich is healthy and develops as he should.

Get Ready

Heimlich's had a busy day. After eating a record 12 milkweed leaves in 24 hours, he decided enough was enough. This morning, we found him hanging around near the top of his jar, surrounded by silk threads he had been making. If you look closely, you can see them in this picture.

I don't know if he was practicing or what, but by a few hours later, he had moved to the top of the jar and was working busily to create a tightly woven silken pad, which is circled in red in the picture below:



After working on this for a while, he rested, then laboriously turned himself around and hooked his tail-end feet into the silk pad. Finally, bit by bit, he released his other feet from the fabric on top of the jar until he was hanging upside-down. He curled his body into a "J" and settled in to wait for what comes next.





We've had Heimlich with us for about a week now, and by my estimate, he's about 10 days old. I had expected it to take a few more days before he was ready to pupate, but I guess he knows best.

Over the next 12 - 24 hours, he'll shed his last layer of skin and emerge as a chrysalis. We may not be able to catch this transformation on camera (we do generally sleep at night), but if we can, we'll definitely post those pics.

P.S. We've been referring to Heimlich as a "he", although you can't tell gender in a caterpillar. Once he forms his chrysalis and starts to transform, we'll have a better idea. Any name suggestions if he turns out to be a girl?

Waiting to Grow

Just a quick Heimlich update...

He's been living in his glass palace for four days now, and by my estimate, has more than doubled in size. He chows on milkweed, eating a leaf or two every day, and he's definitely eating more as he grows larger.

He is also a champion pooper, as you might expect from one who does nothing but eat all day. Caterpillar waste is called "frass", and you can see some scattered around on the bottom of the jar. I clean it out daily, because who wants to live in their own poo?

If you're worried about him getting enough exercise, you'll be glad to know that he sometimes takes a stroll in between snacks.

My guess is, at the rate he's growing, it won't be long before he needs to shed his skin. With luck, I'll be able to catch one of those molts on camera.

Keep checking back for Heimlich updates!

A Bug's Life

Somehow, I never got to participate in that classic elementary school classroom experiment: watching a caterpillar grow into a butterfly. I've been experiencing it somewhat in the butterfly garden in My Florida Backyard, but lately we've had a wasp problem. Wasps, you see, eat caterpillars. This is great in a garden where you don't want caterpillars eating your plants, but since one of the main purposes of my butterfly garden is to produce more butterflies, it's pretty frustrating to watch the wasps prowling my milkweed in search of new tasty treats.


So, following some internet directions, I found myself a jar, filled it with some milkweed leaves and a stick, and fastened some lightweight material over the top with a rubber band - voila:

That being done, I found myself a resident:

I've decided to call him Heimlich, in honor of that great Disney caterpillar. I'm going to follow his progress, and I'll keep you updated here on My Florida Backyard!