Making a Cocoon

Our caterpillars have made rapid changes in the eight days that we have had them. They've gone from tiny little, almost cute, caterpillars to big, ugly caterpillars. Lots of words have been used to describe our critters in the last few days--words like gross, disgusting, and yucky. We've had them sitting on our kitchen counter so that we could easily watch them and not forget about them; however, in hind sight, maybe watching butterfly larvae while you are attempting to make a delicious dinner or prepare yourself an afternoon snack was not the best plan.

Here are our caterpillars on day six. They were making their way to the lid of the container they are kept in.

Here they are today--day eight. One little fellow is not a rule follower as you can see he made his cocoon in the middle of the container. They are supposed to make their cocoons on the lid for easy removal to the butterfly pavilion later.

Mmm... I can see that some brave soul may actually have to touch him to get him in the right place. We are also waiting for another caterpillar to finish making his cocoon before they can be transferred to their new home in the butterfly pavilion. Even though the larvae grossed us out, I have to say that new words are being used to describe the larvae in their cocoons. Cool! Neat! Wow! We are looking forward to the last stage in the butterfly life cycle!