I brought two chrysalis' inside as they were in a bad location, one normal green and one white. I had never seen a white chrysalis survive before, but thought I'd give it a try. On July 12th the green chrysalis hatched and I took the monarch outside and placed it on a milkweed plant where it dried it's wings and took off. I was thinking the white chrysalis simply didn't survive but decided to give it a couple of days. On the morning of July 14th a healthy monarch hatched out of the white chrysalis and I took it outside, where he flew away just a few minutes ago.

In my experience, usually around 24 hours, sometimes more like 36, although as you know often this happens when nobody is around so we don't know. But if you really have to move the lid to feed the others, if you do it slowly and carefully the j's will be ok. (remember out in the wild they'd be getting all kinds of jostling by wind, critters, etc.) I've certainly had to (gently) move an object with a J on it on many occasions, and they usually are fine. Just watch if they are really close to the edge of the lid and their silk could be on the lid AND the container side.

My ten that I have released for this season all took between 10 and 12 days from pupation to eclosion. The trend was to noticeably darken after 8 pm, have obviously visible wings in the morning around 7 am, and emerge between 9 and 10:30. This morning I had an early-bird who was out when we came down at 7:30 for breakfast. I don't know if it is relevant but is a substantially warmer morning than we have had recently. I hope you and your friend have a lovely time. Meredith

In my experience, a butterfly should emerge within 7-10 days of the chrysalis (generally, on the 7-day side if the weather's warm). Again, I'd just keep watch -- within the next few days, either a butterfly will emerge or (more likely) the chrysalis will slowly turn a dark brown...not good. A healthy butterfly/chrysalis will be almost jet black (with bits of orange -- the wings! -- appearing) right before the butterfly emerges: Fingers crossed!