Now for something a bit different--one guy can only take so much desert at a time. My back yard is crawling with at least a few monarch caterpillars, which will consume copious amounts of milkweed and eventually turn into beautiful monarch butterflies. This critter was still pretty young, maybe an inch long, looking to munch on a sweet spot in the leaf. See the butterfly conclusion of this little guy. ¤ ¤ ¤ Monarch metamorphasis: 1. The eggs are laid by the females during spring and summer breeding months. 2. The eggs hatch, revealing worm-like larva, the caterpillars. The caterpillars consume their egg cases, then feed on milkweed, and sequester substances called cardenolides, related to the cardiac glycoside digitalis. During the caterpillar stage, Monarchs store energy in the form of fat and nutrients to carry them through the non-feeding pupa stage. 3. In the pupa or chrysalis stage, the caterpillar spins a silk pad on a twig, leaf, etc. and hangs from this pad by its last pair of prolegs. It hangs upside down in the shape of a 'J', and then molts, leaving itself encased in an articulated green exoskeleton. At this point, hormonal changes occur, leading to the development of a butterfly. 4. The mature butterfly emerges after about two weeks. -from Wikipedia paulomernik.com