Well, I am sorry to report that we have our first chrysalis defect issues. The first picture is a chrysalis that formed while we were away and there were other caterpillars in the enclosure at the time. My thought is that there was some interference/curiosity from another caterpillar but I cannot prove that. I did do some research on www.monarchwatch.org and one forum post showed the same kind of photo and she also had other caterpillars in the enclosure. She said her butterflies hatched without issue so I am going to leave the first one alone. I also researched on this website http://www.butterflyfunfacts.com and she had some great pictures of damaged chrysalides, how they hatched and noted defects found, very informative. So, I am going to let it be and then note any defects I see.
The second one formed it's chrysalis while we were away and again there were other caterpillars in the enclosure, but this one almost looks like some other issue was to blame. I am going to remove this one from the cage and throw it away, we don't need any bad juju.
Wow, butterfly defects...that is interesting. So what exactly was defective (since I don't know as much about the butterflies as you)? Was it the color? In the main photo that I see..the color is green while the other chrysalis appear to be clear.
ReplyDeletein the first picture a piece is hanging out - surface should be smooth.
ReplyDeletein the second one, the chrysalis is smashed. The clear ones are chrysalises that have already emerged.