Concord Village EarthLab

After discovering more Monarch caterpillars at the end of August, I put one in a new mesh cage.  Over the Labor Day weekend, she turned into a pupa.  That was about 12-13 days ago, and based on the timing, a new Monarch butterfly should emerge any day.  Her name is Greta, a nod to climate activist Greta Thunberg.

Stay tuned for news this weekend, and check out the habitat hanging outside the play area if you walk by.  The pupa is small, green, and near the top zipper.

With luck, we may be able to tag and release Greta this weekend.   This will need to happen within hours of the emergence; be ready if you want to observe her first flight!  — Denise

The fall harvest party will be held on the evening of Saturday, October 19th!

More details to come…

More info about tagging and releasing later today to come.

Thanks to everyone who offerred to care for this guy! Mila and her mom, Dana, have been doing a great job and it looks like the little guy is already moving into pupa stage.

Based on the interest, I will look into purchasing an additional habitat for future Monarch caterpillars. This would allow more families to participate in the raising and tagging of these very important creatures.

More info to come!

-Denise

Are there any volunteers to help care for the caterpillar over the next week and a half?  I will be traveling and I know I cannot refresh the cage with milkweed every day or so.

Wednesday July 31st Is the Last Day to Volunteer

Read on if you are interested. Thanks in advance for your consideration.  If we don’t have volunteers very soon, I will release the caterpillar Wednesday night so she can get all the milkweed she needs in the wild of CV. This means we will lost the opportunity to observe the transformation and tag and release the Monarch butterfly in mid to late August. To volunteer, post a comment or email cvearthlab@gmail.com.

You Can Help Care For Caterpillar Outside, Or Bring Her Into Your Apartment

The caterpillar habitat is outside, but if one person wants to commit to caring for this caterpillar until she goes into pupa (cocoon-like stage) over the next week or so, that person could care for the caterpillar indoors.  (Caterpillar shouldn’t be kept in super cold air conditioned room)

Care Is Easy But Must Be Done Daily

Care tasks include cleaning the cage everyday or so, which means replacing day old milkweed with fresh leaves (these are available inside and outside the play area), cleaning out the caterpillar poop and generally monitoring the caterpillars growth until she goes into crysalis/pupa/cocoon.  This will likely happen around August 6-9th.

Daily Care Tasks Will Only Be Needed Until About August 6th or 7th

Once she’s in pupa stage, she doesn’t need to be monitored as closely until about 1.5 to 2 weeks have passed.

Butterfly Will Be Tagged and Released Around The Week of August 19th

After she emerges as a butterfly, she will need to be released within a day or two.  By that time, around August 21-23, Benji and I will be back and can take over.

Benji and I got the tags from Monarch Watch and plan to tag her before releasing her as part of their citizen science project; Benji will likely document the process for an extra credit science project. Thanks!  -Denise

More information is here:  https://cvearthlab.com/2019/07/28/welcome-monarch-caterpillar-2/

https://cvearthlab.com/2019/07/14/day-10-of-monarch-chrysalis-butterfly-will-emerge-within-days/

Cucumbers!

Bush beans!

Arugula!

Watermelon!

And tomatoes are ripening!