Week 2 Butterflies - The Chrysalis Stage

We have entered the third stage of the life cycle of our Painted Lady Butterflies.  According to the timeline, the caterpillars should form into their chrysalis stage between 7 - 10 days.  The timing wasn't great because day 7 coincided with the beginning of a three day long weekend and I thought they might change while we were away from school.  Mrs. Hensrud suggested that I bring the caterpillars home with me so I could keep an eye on them without having to run back and forth to the school each day.  With the cold and rainy weather I just wanted to stay at home and cocoon under some blankets :)

Right on schedule on Day 10, the first caterpillars formed into their chrysalises.  As the day progressed, more and more of the caterpillars changed.

Day 10

We checked out a chrysalis under our new magnifiers.  You can look from the top down or if you look through the bottom viewer you can see whatever is on display from underneath.  Very cool.

Thanks to Mrs. Hensrud for this link for a time lapse video of Painted Lady Butterflies.  Check it out. Butterfly Time Lapse video








Week 2 Observations:

• they changed into chrysalises
• they are brown-green
• they are hanging like monkeys do from trees
• the chrysalises have yellow-gold spikes on the outside
• looks like a zipper
• they are attached to webs
• they are sleeping
• we saw caterpillar skins
• one chrysalis was split open

So now we just wait---this stage takes 7 - 10 days too.   Sometime next week we should have butterflies.  I just hope that it happens on a school day and not the weekend.  We'll have to keep our fingers crossed :)