When Skip and I headed out of town on Monday, I picked four milkweed leaves that had monarch eggs on them and brought them in a house. I stuck the ends of the leaves in a glass of water to keep them fresh until we got home.
Sure enough, when we got home yesterday, the leaves were still fresh and all four eggs had hatched. I put each leaf in its own jar with a fresh milkweed leaf.
This afternoon, I was out looking for some more eggs and noticed some chew marks on one of the leaves. On closer inspection, I saw a caterpillar!
It appeared to be about the same age as the ones I already had in the house. This is the first time I've ever seen a caterpillar on my milkweed. I assume all other ones that have hatched out there have been consumed by another critter.
So now I have five larvae - each in its own jar.
I will continue my daily search for eggs and keep these little fellas well fed with fresh milkweed leaves.
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