2016 Saving Monarch Butterflies By Raising Caterpillars

[applestar]

Yeah they are so similar, aren't they? This is one I haven't seen yet. I have a smallish trumpet vine that I'm trying to keep small and not swallow the garden, but thats it. Probably not worth their attention....

We had three Monarchs eclose yesterday, then one more this morning. I included photo record of chrysalis labels in this collage -- we are up to #51. But we have two runts that turned into chrysalises on the paper towel without climbing to the top of the container. Not sure what's up with them so they are isolated. Sometimes, this happens if they decide there isn't enough food -- but usually, even then, they will follow through all the normal steps including hang in J.

First one out of the 9 chrysalises in the patio hamper eclosed.

Ready to eclose chrysalis glowing in the rising sun at 6:55AM this morning



I had to rush to release the butterflies today and the 4th -- a male -- that eclosed this morning in the inside cage wasn't ready. I had to gently transfer him to a flower where he could dry his wings and then get some refreshment. He did give me ample opportunities to get some good photos.

[applestar]

Bottom-left was released from the patio hamper early to make room for the three newcomers. I think it was a cool morning so I found a patch of morning sun on jewelweed. Inside cage also had one eclosed butterfly this morning. All four were released late this afternoon since they were very active.

[applestar]

Today, we released 4 boys and 2 girls. Two males from patio hamper, two more males from inside -- including last butterfly from the first chrysalis/eclosing cage and one of the runts that made chrysalis on the paper towel, and two females from the 2nd eclosing cage. The other runt on the paper towel was our first caterpillar/butterfly to fail to develop. Sadly it was unable to pump up its wings and died shortly after eclosing.



I've learned that a % of casualties is inevitable, and once your numbers start pushing 50, they will start to crop up. It's sad, but not a shock anymore.

[ButterflyLady29]

Yes, even under the best of circumstances there will be fatalities. Just one of the facts of life.

You've done a great job. Your set-up is an inspiration. I hope some of your babies make it to Mexico and back.

[applestar]

Thank you so much My hope is that by sharing my experiences, I am helping to demonstrate that it's NOT very difficult to do this, and it is very rewarding to see the butterflies you raised fly off.



...with no tagging there is minimal handling, but these caterpillars and butterflies behave predictably, and it is very simple to get them to climb onto your finger-perch, raise them up into the air and send them off.

Younger DD released yesterday's five -- two males and three females:


..and I released today's -- four females and one male:

We are up to 61st chrysalis

[applestar]

...I've slowed down. 50+ is enough, don't you think?

Last four of the big 5th instars in the containers made chrysalids yesterday, and we now have a little container of maybe 4 or 5 babies (eggs and 1st or 2nd instars) that were accidentally brought in on leaves for feeding the big'uns. I'm looking at two black ready-to-eclose chrysalids inside and I think the 9th and last in the patio hamper may or may not be eclosing today. Its been cooler for the last few days ... 61°F this morning.

Yesterday, I saw maybe six or seven 5th instars as wells a few 2nd and 3rd instars on the milkweeds outside that I RESISTED, and yesterday, there were 2 Monarch butterflies that were flying around BEFORE I released the eclosed butterflies. They could have been ones from the day before, but they might also have eclosed outside somewhere.

I'm having fun imagining a time-lapse video of our garden as seen from somewhere around roof-level, showing all the Monarch butterflies we grew and released this year fanning and flying outward.

[Susan W]

It's nice to think the adult butterflies are ones we nurtured through the early stages. But, often not the case! I have the invasion of black swallowtails (worse things could happen). I've had a number mature, and still have too many more coming along. When I see one in the yard, usually matured on its own. Just this AM noticed a fresh female and a male, different time and flower. One could have been 'mine' from recent release. They are maturing, going into chrysalis quite well on their own.

I've had a couple of monarchs stop to eat. There was one male that hung around, and the last couple days a female. She doesn't seem to be interested in the milkweed and egg thing, just eats! From my observations and reading, when they find an oasis be it flowery field or yard, may stop off for a couple of days to fuel and recharge.
I do have one or more monarch cats out on the milkweeds, and 8 in a mesh cage eating away.

[applestar]

That's true. When we were tagging them it was quite definite that it was rare for any of them to stick around once released. They have their own agenda. It's not like there are no nectar flowers or milkweed nursery for them to lay their eggs on here, obviously, but their first instinct seems to be to fly AWAY somewhere else, even when it's not really time to migrate yet. Sometimes they might wander back (maybe due to wind currents or something) after a few days, but then go on away again.

Butterflies that were released late in the day may still be around next morning, and sometimes a male might decide to make this his territory for a couple of days. But only time we had a tagged butterfly that stayed for several days ...almost a week... was when we had a wing-broken-and-mended butterfly that apparently was not equal to flying off. It stayed flying all over the garden, but didn't fly away and eventually, I found it had died without seeing the rest of the world.

[applestar]

[Susan W]

Just dropping down to say Hi and See you later.

[ButterflyLady29]

I found some today!!!! 2 large final instar caterpillars and either 5 or 6 (forgot to keep count) first instar caterpillars! There was evidence that there had been more but apparently the predators are eating well. Hubby found a ground wasp nest and I saw several wasps of many species hunting for food in the patch.

So now the large ones are in a mesh hamper and the little ones are in the finer mesh butterfly habitat. I ended up bringing a bunch of tiny tiny baby ladybugs along. The holes in the mesh are large enough for the ladybug larvae to crawl through but too small for the caterpillars.

[applestar]

Yay! You'll both be raising migrating butterflies at this point. Good luck!

[applestar]

A male and a female today:



...Patio hamper crysalids have all eclosed...

[ButterflyLady29]

Well, I didn't have things closed up as well as I should have. The 2 big ones escaped, one last night and the other this morning. I hope they are hiding in the Turks cap lilies that are right next to where I had the hamper.

[applestar]

Well, hopefully you will see freshly eclosed Monarchs in your garden in a week or so.

[applestar]

DD released these two today -- a female and a male



She also released the Monarch butterfly #53-female yesterday.

[applestar]

Over the weekend --

2 on Sat.



5 on Sun.


...Another one out of the isolated three was unable to pump up its wings. It had to be euthanized in the freezer.

[ButterflyLady29]

Now that they have become large enough to see easily I did a recount. There are 6. They're going to need a new plant soon. The leaves on the original 2 are being devoured.

Thank you for starting this thread and sharing your idea. I'll have to do some shopping to find more butterfly habitats because this is working so well. The hamper just didn't work as well.

Just checked the site for the brand I bought years ago but used the first time this year. Oh my the cost is high! $30 for one! I know I didn't pay that much. Guess I'll have to check the local stores to see if they are on a seasonal clearance.

[applestar]

I love it! So glad you are getting into it again

Did you see the habitats I used back in 2010? ... maybe I posted this link in this thread already....?

Subject: Our 2010 Monarch Project is well underway


...I'm looking for my other threads. not all of them show up in the related topic list below. Hope it's OK to use this as placeholder for links

Subject: 2012 butterfly project commentary

[Susan W]

I was checking the cats/chrysalids on the deck. One swallowtail eclosed, and will set it free shortly. Ms Monarch was busy egg laying on some tropical milkweed pots on the deck, and eating in between egg laying.

Yesterday I had a friend over. 3 swallowtails had eclosed, and I waited until she got here to release. She was thrilled as hadn't seen this part of the life cycle before. We let one out a bit early as it wasn't strong enough to take off and fly away. We set it on a plant up on shelf on deck to finish drying, pumping wings etc. In due time it took off just fine.

[ButterflyLady29]

I missed that thread. Wow!

I didn't know what OE was so I did a search and found this wonderful site:
https://monarchbutterflygarden.net/commo ... revention/
Good info. There is one parasite I've had problems with that isn't mentioned. It's a fly but it comes out of the chrysalis as an adult.

All this information was not available when I started raising caterpillars. And there was no good interaction with other people who raised caterpillars. I don't think there was as much research going on about Monarchs way back then either. I'm thrilled to see that other people are interested in helping this unique butterfly.

[Susan W]

FWIW, 2 cats worth, I'm on the Monarch butterfly garden e-list. Tony the butterfly guy sends out informative stuff. When I figured out laundry hampers were not working well for the cat houses, ordered a cage from Tony. More than the monarchs, the swallowtails are houdinis when getting ready to pupate! Anyway, got the 15" cube, and he puts in a few of those plastic flower picks. As the population of swallowtails and monarchs was growing, got 4 more cages (free shipping bonus!).

Another source I like is the Texas Butterfly Ranch. Is informative and has good links.

[Susan W]

The 3 that were in J hanging 10 days ago

[ButterflyLady29]

These guys/gals are growing so fast! All look to be in their final instar and are eating milkweed as fast as I can put it in their habitat. I gave them a large plant this morning. I'll have to go out and look for another plant later. It's up in the high 80's again today.

[Susan W]

New baby! Yesterday while checking a couple of milkweeds (tropical) on the deck, noticed an egg. Seem to have missed a couple of others I thought I remembered seeing. Anyway, brought leaf with egg in, put in the flower pick, on the counter. With aid of a glass, saw the black dot, indicating getting close (it's the black head of cat). (This was pointed out at the workshop I attended a few weeks ago). I kept checking. Well, the tiny cat hatched! (missed The Moment) Within 2 hours had gone back to eat the egg shell, and was working on the leave. Today walking around, grazing and growing.

[applestar]

#62 and #63 eclosed today -- both males.



--they made their chrysalises on 9/11 so, not surprisingly, they are slowing down since our weather has cooled down some.

...all we have left in the cage are #64 and #65, and they look like they might come out tomorrow.

I have been looking but have not been able to spot where all those outside caterpillars made their chrysalises. Hopefully they are simply well-hidden. I have been seeing at least one Monarch butterfly almost every time I look out the window and when I go outside, so they are eclosing out there.


It may be taking them longer since they are subject to the overnight low temperatures.

[ButterflyLady29]

I now have 6 chrysalises in the habitat. I saw one butterfly a few days ago but no others.

I also noticed there are NO milkweed plants at all in the back yard! I had dozens last year. There are not as many plants in the front as there were last year. I wondered if the winter application of ashes to the back were the reason for the die off. But I never applied the ashes to the garden area which was full of milkweed last year but has none now. Then I was watching a video recording of the wildlife in the front and saw rabbits eating the milkweed plants! One sat on the pathway and ate a foot long branch from a milkweed plant in just a few minutes. So now that I know why my plants are vanishing I'll have to save some seeds and fence some plants off so the rabbits won't eat them.

[ButterflyLady29]

As of this afternoon we had 6 butterflies eclose and fly off. But my son found the wings of one female laying in a path. We suspect a mantis ate her. It's so very sad but that is the cycle of life. Those Carolina mantids were unseen here until a few years ago so we have been thrilled to have them around.

There is one more chrysalis yet to eclose. It will be several days as it hasn't begun to show any color yet.

[applestar]

Sounds like they are pushing their luck. I hope the weather holds. I remember one year we had frost and we kept the eclosed butterflies for a few extra days with Gatorade and wildflowers until it warmed up again.

I found this under a squash leaf while inspecting for squashbugs and stinkbugs

[Susan W]

My last monarch that was enclosed eclosed yesterday. We've had some chilly temps, down to low 50's at night, and it took a bit longer than the earlier ones. I had it in the net cage for a few hours, pretty sunny day. By fortune, the g-son (7) stopped by with his Dad, and we let it go. He watched it flutter on up to a big oak and figured it was good to go!

Total I think I had 12 go through the cycle. 2 more didn't eclose right, perhaps OE.

The other day I saw 4 in the yard, well on blooms. They were working them hard, and I'm thinking they were fueling for next leg of trip. That was probably the peak of migrating ones stopping by.

[ButterflyLady29]

My last butterfly eclosed yesterday. It was a female. I told her to watch out for cars and have a safe trip. I don't think she'll send me a postcard though.

Now I need to gather my seeds and get my pots ready. I want to have them planted before it gets too cold to work outside. Most milkweed seeds need moist stratification and I want to give them every chance to get what they need.

If any come up I'll have to make sure they are fenced in so the rabbits don't eat them. I had no idea rabbits fed on them so much until I got a wildlife cam set up and saw them in action.

[ButterflyLady29]

I know it's now 2017 and the Monarchs are probably still wintering in Mexico but I had to comment on this. I was at a thrift store today and found another butterfly house in the children's toy section. It was only 90 cents! Woohoo! I am excited and anxious to see caterpillars this year.

Also, I did some research about the tropical milkweed, asclepias curvassica. According to my findings it's not toxic itself. The problem is the potential for accumulation of oe protozoa and the lush late season growth. For northern populations it's not that big of a concern. For southern populations it is suggested that cutting the plants down mid-season will reduce the chance of oe infection. Then cutting or removing the plants late in the season will keep the butterflies from staying late and breeding out of season.