He's "J-ing!!!!!"

The Monarchs at the Gerald Eddy Discovery Center

On our recent mini vacation we visited the Gerald Eddy Discovery Center near Chelsea, MI. While we were their we got to see some Monarch Butterfly caterpillars. We were then told that if we could identify and bring back some milkweed plant we could adopt one of these little guys in their Monarch Buddy program.

Our new buddy!

Well by now you know that we here at MAD are some nature lovers and we could not miss out on this free and exciting offer! So we adopted out little friend and brought him home with us from vacation. I must admit, I never new how much a caterpillar poos. That’s right, no need to reread that, I said pooed. This little guy makes a lot of it for something so small!

We adopted him on a Thursday and six days later he has chunked up! When I went to empty all the poo out this morning I froze. The caterpillar was “J-ing.” He was doing what you ask!!?! “J-ing” is when they hang upside down and relax right before they make their chrysalis. This is VERY exciting, because at the Discovery Center they told us once he is relaxed he can make his chrysalis in under 20 minutes, so don’t blink.

So here I am this morning running around trying to get everyone ready to go to the little Fun Tester’s 4 month well baby check up all the while keeping an eye on Mr. Caterpillar. I so don’t want to miss the “magic moment.” I feel like I should be playing soothing music or something to encourage the caterpillar along.

I am sure Mr. Caterpillar looked at my calendar and planned this so he could be alone. I feel like he is just waiting for us to leave! *Sigh* He would pick today. Here’s hoping …..