There is an angel in West Chop.

Call her the patron saint of the monarchs. Angel Morris has been scooping up and raising monarch caterpillars which have been plentiful this season.  Concerned that they would be eaten or otherwise harmed, she grabbed a few and put them in a jar to keep them safe from predators. 

Hopefully other hungry, caterpillar-eating creatures such as ants, wasps and praying mantises that can consume this toxin-containing species have their own saint. And lucky for those predators, there are many more caterpillars to consume, since one monarch butterfly will lay up to 400 eggs in her lifetime. 

My involvement came with a concerned call for guidance. Is their jar habitat appropriate, do they have enough space, when will they emerge and how can we help them along? Consider this monarch caterpillar class in session, and an attempt to help those captured “cats” survive.

Angel did a great job: the jar had airflow, food, space and structure for the coming chrysalis. 

For caterpillars, food is a very important factor. Monarch caterpillars can only eat milkweed, so fresh milkweed and lots of it is a must. I often suggest putting the entire plant, roots and soil, in a pot. Water and care for it as you would a houseplant so the caterpillars have fresh leaves. Once dried up, the leaves are unpalatable for the growing larva. 

Food supply is paramount for caterpillar success. In the wild, female monarch butterflies only lay one egg on an entire milkweed plant to provide for their offspring’s growth.

If you are rearing these caterpillars, make sure that there is enough fresh food, since one monarch caterpillar can consume 200 times its birth weight in food during its 10- to 14-day caterpillar phase. 

To put that into perspective, that would equate to a seven-pound human baby eating 1,400 pounds of food. And all of that food will be converted to a copious amount of frass (caterpillar droppings). Remove the frass periodically from the artificial habitat, so the

caterpillar’s home remains clean. Their growth cycle includes five stages (or instars), after which the caterpillar will shed its skin in a process called molting.

Space is also important, as the caterpillar will need a flat surface on which to attach its chrysalis. You can tell when the caterpillar is ready to change into a pupa (for butterflies, also called a chrysalis), as it will often crawl to the top of its space, create a silken thread called a cremaster, and form a pre-pupal J-shape before it molts for the final time and become a pupa.

The pupa remains in its miraculous green and gold form for nine to 10 days. Angel’s chrysalises eventually became dark and she was concerned that they might be sick or dead. No, I told her, a dark chrysalis indicates that the butterfly will soon emerge. Though Angel was leaving the Island for a few days, she had a caterpillar sitter at the ready. The monarch butterfly will usually emerge from its chrysalis mid-morning, and hang upside down so that gravity can help it pump fluid from its abdomen to its wings, which will then expand and dry. If there isn’t enough space, the wings can fail to develop properly and the butterfly will not be able to fly or survive.

Angel’s butterflies hatched when she was off-Island. They thrived and were successfully released. Off they went on their next big adventure: migration. Mid to late August is the beginning of the butterfly migration to their overwintering grounds in Mexico.

On this long journey, there are enough perils for the monarchs to make it worthwhile, perhaps even crucial, for a guardian Angel to give them a helping hand when they most need it. And who knows? Their offspring may make it back to the Vineyard as adults and give Angel a vocation next summer nurturing the next generation of winged wanderers.

Suzan Bellincampi is director of the Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Edgartown, and author of Martha’s Vineyard: A Field Guide to Island Nature.