Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 36, 1 by mellielong

mellielong wrote:
Well, the weatherman said the rainy season has officially started in Miami, so let's hope it gets to Tampa soon. It's hot here and even the native plants are starting to wilt.

I saw some butterflies today but didn't have the camera. Plus, my caterpillars said they were jealous and wanted to show off, too. FYI, the second Monarch cat went into its chrysalis this morning and Mom got to see it. She emailed me at work and took some pics and stuff so I could see how it happened. But just now I was talking about it and Mom got all emotional and started tearing up and saying how it looked like it hurt. (Mom's bipolar and I think she's having a little depressive episode right now.) So I reassured her and talked about what actually happens and how it was good he made it all the way to the chrysalis because some don't get that far and some fail to make it into their chrysalis. Then, I remembered that you could tell the gender of the butterfly while they're in the chrysalis so I looked up how to do it (http://butterflymilkweed.blogspot.com/2008/01/how-can-i-gend...) and we figured out we have one boy and one girl. I think that distracted her; I also showed her where we could already make out the wing pattern.

Here's a pic of my Queen caterpillar showing off.