On our dining room table is a paper plate. On the paper plate are milkweed leaves in different stages of death and dying. On the milkweed leaves are at least six hungry caterpillars.

This morning, after 24 hours of newly hatched monarch caterpillars, we observed tiny, tiny “eating tracks” along the leaves and tiny, tiny black grains of caterpillar poop lightly sprinkled across the white of the paper plate. Each speck of poop is so small that it is almost unnoticable. I would estimate the size at 1/20th of a grain of black pepper…maybe smaller. Almost unnoticable – but since there is such a quantity of it, it shows as a fine dusting of black sand.

As of this morning, we noticed one more newly hatched caterpillar and three to five eggs that have turned transparent in readiness to hatch. We can see the little black head caps through the eggs. One problem we have noticed is that every new leaf we bring in from outdoors to feed our caterpillars also is host to at least one more new egg. So unintentionally, our caterpillararium is increasing in population.