All punked out

A friend of mine recently compared these fuzzy little caterpillars to traveling mohawks which seems kind of apt given their crazy hair.  These little guys, like monarch cats, rely on milkweed for food during their larval stage.  Unlike monarchs, the Milkweed Tussock Moth lays her eggs in a large cluster on a milkweed leaf and the young stay together for all of their early instar stages, feeding in large groups while moving around a milkweed plant.  Once they get a little larger, they start roaming, usually because they've exhausted the initial plant where they were "born".  I relocated this one to a patch of dogbane, a milkweed relative that is a suitable host plant for these caterpillars (although NOT for monarchs).  Anyway, couldn't resist this as today's blip.  This guy is probably in his last instar and the details of all his fuzzy bits are pretty cool.

What's not cool about these, and many other fuzzy caterpillars, is that the spines can produce a painful rash in many people.  I've always been careful to keep my fingers away from the spiny bits, so I'm not sure if I'm one of the people affects.  Some things best left unknown.  

It looks like the Chrysalis Formerly Known as M may be about to debut as the Butterfly Formerly Known as M tomorrow.  Changes are taking place, faint hints of wing starting to become visible...  If you'd like to take a peek, I posted a shot HERE on Flickr

In other Monarch Chronicle news...I found 10 more eggs (yikes) all inside now waiting to "hatch".  I also found a largish 3rd instar cat out in the garden - I'm not sure how I missed this one in all my earlyier checks.  Anyway, given his size and the high risk that he's been parasitized, I will raise him seperate from the rest.  Fingers crossed that he's okay, time will tell.  I have at least 60 more chrysalids/caterpillars in various stages.  Please let me know if you want me to release one in someone's memory.  

Allergies giving me fits today.  But I can't complain - the weather is perfect, butterflies and hummingbirds are abundant in the garden, and things are okay in my world.  (Well, except in the White House, but that's another story...)

xo
Debbi