Somehow, he climbed down the side of the vase and disappeared inside the cottage.
Thinking as a caterpillar might think, we scoured the area near where he was last seen and then fanned out in a grid fashion searching everywhere, from waist-height down, looking for our elusive Morris the Monarch....and being ever so careful where we stepped.
We found him about an hour or so later under a dining room chair clinging to the underside of the seat. It was clear he was ready to find a spot to begin the next phase of his life, the pupa stage whereby he turns into a chrysalis.
We put some milkweed under the seat and he happily crawled onto it so now he and Martin reside inside a huge glass container with a screen on the top.
He has firmly glued his hind end - you can see the little white dot of monarch glue - to a leaf and now will hang in a 'J' shape. He's skin will start to split and he'll become a chrysalis. The process takes about a day.
It must be exhausting don't you think...hanging upside down while getting out of tight fitting clothing?
The girls and I did this...and wish we could find one for Lorelei to watch...let her see the miracle of life.
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