{"id":5848,"date":"2017-12-27T23:32:46","date_gmt":"2017-12-28T07:32:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/everythingisnotblackandwhite.com\/blog\/?p=5848"},"modified":"2018-01-05T09:15:05","modified_gmt":"2018-01-05T17:15:05","slug":"a-new-little-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everythingisnotblackandwhite.com\/blog\/?p=5848","title":{"rendered":"A New Little Project\u2013Monarch Caterpillars"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I was away for a few weeks. When I returned, the first garden task was to cut the milkweed plants to the ground. I cut the first one. And just as I was about to cut the second plant I saw a small monarch caterpillar. Shouldn\u2019t really be here in December. The temperature was to drop to the high 30s, so I cut some milkweed leaves and placed them and the caterpillar in a small jar.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class='centered' src=\"\/images\/CatInJar_1.jpg\" alt=\"Cat in Jar\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class='centered' src=\"\/images\/Cat_1.jpg\" alt=\"Cat\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Every day I clean the jar. Then replace the dried milkweed leaves with fresh cut leaves.<\/p>\n<p>The caterpillar is still small, but I suspect it is twice the size it was when I found it.<\/p>\n<p>I hope that it completes the caterpillar part of the cycle before I run out of milkweed leaves.<\/p>\n<p><b>2017 December 29 Update<\/b><br \/>\nWhen cutting leaves for the little cat, I found another one. I brought it in. Now there are two.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class='centered' src=\"\/images\/Cats_2.jpeg\" alt=\"Cats\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>2018 January 02 Update<\/b><br \/>\nRan out of Milkweed leaves to feed to the Monarch caterpillars. Google search found several Monarch sites suggesting the use of slices of squash, pumpkin, and cucumbers as an alternative food source.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"centered\" src=\"\/images\/SquashJar_0788.jpg\" alt=\"Squash\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\">Sliced Squash<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"centered\" src=\"\/images\/SquashJar_0790.jpg\" alt=\"Jar Set Up\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\">Squash in New Jar Set Up<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"centered\" src=\"\/images\/CatsWithSquash_0795.jpg\" alt=\"Cats in Jar\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\">Caterpillars in Jar with Squash<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"centered\" src=\"\/images\/CatOnSquash.jpg\" alt=\"Cat on Squash\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\">An Hour in New Home<br \/>\nCaterpillar Tasting Squash<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><b>2018 January 04 Update<\/b><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class='centered' src=\"\/images\/20180104_Cats.jpg\" alt=\"Cats\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>2018 January 05 Update<\/b><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"centered\" src=\"\/images\/CatsSquash20180104.jpg\" alt=\"Squash Eaten\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\">Caterpillar Eaten Squash<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"centered\" src=\"\/images\/20180105_Cats.jpg\" alt=\"Fresh Squash\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\">Fresh Squash and Clean Room<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<hr class=\"hrVisible\" \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/texasbutterflyranch.com\/author\/monikamaeckle\/\" >Texas Butterfly Ranch<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.butterfly-fun-facts.com\/raising-butterflies\/tips-to-raising-butterfly-caterpillars-indoors\/monarch-caterpillars-butternut-squash\/\" >Butterfly Fun Facts<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.monarchbutterfly.org\/\" >Monarch Grove Pismo Beach, California\/a><\/p>\n<hr class=\"hrVisible\" \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was away for a few weeks. When I returned, the first garden task was to cut the milkweed plants to the ground. I cut the first one. And just as I was about to cut the second plant I saw a small monarch caterpillar. Shouldn\u2019t really be here in December. The temperature was to &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/everythingisnotblackandwhite.com\/blog\/?p=5848\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">A New Little Project\u2013Monarch Caterpillars<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,40,9,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gardens","category-insects","category-nature","category-plants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everythingisnotblackandwhite.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everythingisnotblackandwhite.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everythingisnotblackandwhite.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everythingisnotblackandwhite.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everythingisnotblackandwhite.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5848"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/everythingisnotblackandwhite.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5880,"href":"https:\/\/everythingisnotblackandwhite.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5848\/revisions\/5880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everythingisnotblackandwhite.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everythingisnotblackandwhite.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everythingisnotblackandwhite.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}