About a week ago we purchased a Monarch Butterfly rearing kit from a nearby Butterfly Conservatory. It’s a pretty interesting kit, includes 6 caterpillars, a milkweed plant, a cage and all you need to learn about their life cycle and how to tag them, so they can be tracked, usually as far as Mexico.
I should mention that I am usually uneasy around any type of bug or insect, so if someone had asked me if I ever saw myself with pet caterpillars, I would definitely have said, “No way”
Picture of our caterpillar on the milkweed plant in our cage, getting ready to change into a chrysalis.I agreed to this undertaking for the benefit of my boys and the children I provide care for, especially since I have mostly boys in my care, I figured this was something they would totally get into, and I was right.
What I didn’t expect is how much I would get out of this undertaking. They are like our little pets, and now they have provided an opportunity for all us to appreciate God’s design for all His creatures.
I am sure most of you reading this know the life cycle of a butterfly, however, if you are like me, perhaps you haven’t given this process much thought. The Monarch egg hatches after 3 – 5 days, and the caterpillar will eat its egg shell. The caterpillar will shed its skin four times, this is called molting, during its 10 -14 days as a caterpillar. When the caterpillars are ready they will attach themselves with silken threads and will hang upside down in a “J” position, very soon they form a chrysalis or pupa. This pupa easily camouflages as it is the same colour as the milkweed plant. This stage will last another 10 -14 days. The butterfly will push itself out of the chrysalis and will hang upside down and it will pump fluid from its abdomen into its wings, which causes the wings to grow in size, in another 2 -3 hours the butterfly is ready to fly away!
What I marvel at is the transformation stage. How the caterpillar has everything it needs to be a caterpillar, and then somehow, instinctively knows what to do, positioning and all, in order to undergo the transformation into a chrysalis and then to a butterfly; at which time it has everything it needs to be a butterfly.
For me this is another affirmation of God’s perfect design; his awesome attention to detail!
The 4 and 5 year old boys I care for are marvelling too and their innocent questions like: How do they change? Why they change? When they take the position and hang like the letter “J” do they know what’s going to happen next? These questions led me to point them to God as well.
I am sure there are countless creatures we could examine to discover more about the mystery of God’s creative design, for now I’ll enjoy discovering it through the life cycle of a butterfly and through the eyes of a child!
Watch this awesome video for a time lapsed view of the process.
