By Hannah Thompson
Program Coordinator, UNA Center
for Learning & Professional Development
Have you ever tried something new, got a little too confident and then were immediately humbled in the process?
If not – congrats! I could learn a lot from you 
However, if you’ve had that unfortunate experience then you are in the right place, my friend. Welcome to the club and may this next account allow you to feel better about yours …
This is a rather traumatizing yet hopefully educational story about the beautiful bug we all know and love — the butterfly.
About two and half years ago, in September of 2023, I was looking for a relatively simple yet nature-y-ish hobby to start all the while living in an apartment. After looking at some options, I landed on buying some caterpillars and a small enclosure and then watching them hatch. This first batch was simple – I bought a kit from Amazon that had 10 live caterpillars in a plastic container with all the food they needed. It really was more of a spectator sport for me those next few weeks as I saw them grow and form chrysalises on the top of their container. Once the caterpillars were all in their little chrysalises at the top, I moved the thick paper lid and safety-pinned it to the top of the habitat. After more than a week, they all emerged victoriously and were fluttering around in the habitat. These butterflies were called Painted Lady Butterflies and almost resembled more of a moth than butterfly – but they were amazing and I was fascinated by the whole process. My three nephews came over and we released them out into the open sky – how perfect, right? It seemed so easy and straight forward. I thought that next spring I’d be ready to graduate to hatching Monarch butterflies.
I was in fact not ready.
That spring, I quickly “added to cart” as soon as I found a website that sold Monarch caterpillars. I was excited for this next venture.
The first signs of trouble came after I ordered the caterpillars and was trying to find the plant I needed to feed them. Monarchs famously eat a particular species of milkweed, which I figured I could just pick up at a local plant nursery. Well, that proved to be more difficult than I had thought. After calling local nurseries, I found only one location — and it had only one milkweed plant. In hindsight, I think since it was mid-April in north Alabama, it was too early in the season. But the important thing was that I now had caterpillars and milkweed to begin the process!
Everything seemed to start off smooth. I purchased a little habitat to put the caterpillars in, and they were slowly eating the milkweed leaves that I placed in there every few days. As the caterpillars got bigger, they were eating more and more and going through the plant quickly. I started to get nervous as they were eating the last few leaves of the plant — I even stuck the stem in the enclosure to see if they would eat it, too. I called around again trying to find another milkweed plant but was coming up short. It was not until one day I got home from work that I realized how hungry they were …
To my absolute surprise, when I went to go check in on the caterpillars, I noticed that a couple of the smaller caterpillars were not moving and were tuned on their sides. Upon further investigation, I discovered that they looked like something had almost attacked them and part of their bodies were missing. It was not until I caught the culprit in the act on the side of the habit that I realized what had happened.
The caterpillars had started to eat each other.
Are you thinking “UM, WHAT?!! THEY DO THAT?!?!”? You are not alone, my friend.
To say I was horrified is an understatement. I was in shock and felt so bad for the little critters. After getting the one that in the process of chowing down on his neighbor away from one another, I cleaned out the cage and then went to the internet for answers – as one does 🙂
I found that this can happen when caterpillars are hungry enough. It’s because they naturally smell like milkweed since that’s all they eat. So if a caterpillar is hungry enough and crosses paths with another, they smell the milkweed and start chomping down. Nature is vicious. And I felt so bad – this was absolutely all my fault!
After finding this out, I was still faced with the issue of not having milkweed and I needed some that day! I quickly googled to see if there were ANY possible alternatives to milkweed to give caterpillars. Luckily, while not as good a milkweed, you can give them butternut squash and cucumbers. So I ran to Publix and purchased some that night.
Although my caterpillars ate the veggies, it was obvious that they preferred milkweed. And unfortunately, because the squash and cucumber were harder to chew into for the caterpillars, only the bigger caterpillars were able to be sustained by it long enough for them to form their chrysalis. It was more of a temporary fix than a solution.
Fast forward a few weeks and I had total of four out of 10 caterpillars that made it to the chrysalis stage. One unfortunately must have had a defect to it, because it looked a little deformed and instead of the beautiful green color that they turn, this chrysalis turned black. And then to make matters worse, one of the bigger caterpillars took a bite out of it – rude, right? So that brought me down to three. There was also one that fell from the top of the habitat. It was still in perfect condition but not hanging so I researched what to do in this situation and found an answer: glue dental floss to the tip of it and tie the chrysalis to the top of the cage! Worked like a charm – WHEW!
In the end, out of the 10 monarch caterpillars that I started off with, three made it to become beautiful butterflies. It was one of the most surprising, up-and-down experiences that I have ever had – truly a wild ride! And while being humbled in the process, I learned what to do and what not to do while hatching butterflies. And now the children’s book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” has a completely new meaning for me …
However, I can happily say that I’m learning to grow my own milkweed this year. The plan is to have a supply for my next batch of monarchs! Wish me luck … I’ll need it.
I hope this story helps you feel better about whatever has humbled you in the past. And if nothing else, maybe you learned a thing or two about some bugs – that works, too.
