I've got caterpillar poop in my laundry room

"Droppings" is probably a nicer word.

And "frass" is what it is technically called, I believe.  (Lest you think I'm that smart, allow me to introduce you to Google. It's amazing what you'll learn when you are looking for something else.)

Either way, I didn't realize monarch butterfly caterpillars needed to ...... ummmm...... relieve themselves in that way.....that much.  Maybe there's a lot of fiber in milkweed. And the stuff - the frass, not the milkweed - is like teeny, tiny rocks. Apparently, whatever "milk" is in the milkweed is absorbed and used because no moisture is finding it's way to the frass (what a great word, really).

It all started when I spotted them at the park - two fat little monarch caterpillars munching away on a lone stalk of milkweed growing in a crack in the cement by the bathrooms. I wanted to show my kids the pretty things - so much more charming than the disgusting, hairy army worms we find here and there.

I didn't want to disturb them from doing what is their primary mission in that stage of their lives - eating, eating, eating nothing but milkweed, and I realized this was the opportunity I had been looking for to watch with my kids the monarch butterfly metamorphosis. So I pulled up the whole stalk of milkweed and excitedly pointed out the chunky striped creatures to my kids and the friends they were playing with.

After a few close encounters, we managed to get the helpless larvae home without killing them; they even survived multiple fingerings from eager preschoolers.  I then rigged up a monarch caterpillar/butterfly home. I didn't want to buy a monarch kit/home thing (and I didn't realize how little time I actually had left of the larva stage), so a suggestion of a friend who shares my frugal thinking had me retro-fitting the husband's travel laundry bag. It turned out quite well, and hung nicely in the laundry room - hence all the droppings there.

Before very long, and in a much shorter time than I thought (I was worried I wouldn't be able to supply them with enough fresh milkweed), we had 2 beautiful little green chrysalises, and that's how they stayed for over a week.....

......when I realized one night before falling asleep that we were leaving on a family business trip and would be gone when they would likely hatch. I would either have to take them with me or find a sitter........ for my pupae......so the new butterflies wouldn't starve to death.

Really. The things I get myself into.

The morning of our departure arrived and I knew the husband would think I had completely lost it if I tried to pack along my chrysalises. So off to my mom's they went (so now it's just my dad that thinks I'm nuts, which is much better than my husband thinking I'm nuts - or more nuts than he already does) and sure enough, morning two of our trip found the first one hatching ...... and my mother likely over-caring for the poor thing.

We're hoping to catch the hatching of the second one before I return my husband's laundry bag to him...after I clean out all the frass of course.

{Wouldn't this post be better if I had taken some photos?}