Monarchs

[pugle1]

I gave my sister in law a worm and it pupated and then she took it to work when it was black. Her and a few co workers watched it emerge. If you have a desk job depending on your commute maybe you could sneak it in to watch. Since it is hanging from cardboard a shoe box would be small enuff and room enuff for it to hang. tape the cardboard to the inside of the .6" x 6" side and stand it up lengthwise. Slip the box into a nylon without the lid. Place the lid on over the nylon. You can observe the emergence and the butterfly will have something soft to rest on when it moves away from the cardboard. After it emergers put the box under your desk... just a thought.

My office is to bouncy and jiggly ( it's a semi-truck ) lol. I'd rather not risk hurting it. But I am home daily... so I just have to keep my fingers crossed that I'm here to see it.

 

[sissy]

ok I have about 12 or more on my back deck tonight and some are about 2 or 3 inches big

 

[R.Rose]

I am up late trying to find a solution for the new problem in my pond....I think its anchor worm. I posted on a new thread I created.
Pretty moths.
Pugle keep an eye on the pupa once daily. Watch for the color changes as in pevious postings. Dark green and the next day black and butterfly emerges.

 

[pugle1]

Hi Rose. Well based on the info you gave about that photo I posted of a male monarch back on page one we're the proud foster parents of a pretty female. She emerged from her chrysalis today.
I wasn't home to see it happen, but my wife who was home missed it too. She checked this morning, and nothing, then she checked again this afternoon and voila! She'll release her in the morning when the sun comes up provided it isn't raining. Thanks for all your help, and now I know what I need to do. Sorry for the poor image quality (cheap cell phone cam). BTW Rose, that only seemed like 2 weeks, not 3 ? Actually, I just checked when I posted the chrysalis pic.... so it was actually 10 days Dang we grow'em fast around here

 

[addy1]

So neat and great job you two.

 

[pugle1]

Thanks addy Feels good to help nature is some small way.

 

[R.Rose]

Congrats on your first! Keep an eye out for her as she may hang around and lay eggs.
I may have not been accurate as to how fast they change to butterflies. I think it has something to do with how far we are into summer. There have been worms in my keep that at 1 1/4 inch pupating and supper large at 2 inches. My 24 worms are devouring almost a dozen large leaves a day. The largest worms 2 inches are almost ready to pupate. I will write a date on their box and see how long it takes. Its best to view the pupa daily to see when the color starts changing. If all goes well there will be 48 butterflies total released this year! God's speed to yours and all of them.

The pics: These worms are the largest and in the 2nd pic notice the x pattern on the worm to the right. I am curious to see if this shows up somewhere on it as a butterfly.

 

[Nepen]

http://onpoint.wbur.org/2014/08/20/monarch-butterflies-migration-climate-change
my in-law send this to me.

 

[j.w]

I hardly ever see any butterflies here anymore

 

[pugle1]

http://onpoint.wbur.org/2014/08/20/monarch-butterflies-migration-climate-change
my in-law send this to me.

I listened to that podcast... scary to be sure. I've only seen a few myself this year, and I seem to recall that as a kid I could see monarchs everywhere. Definitely not the case anymore. I wish you folks in the US could see The Nature of Things episode called The Great Butterfly Hunt. It's a CBC production and I think that in the US, it's not viewable. I did post a link to it in one of my first posts when I started this thread, but you may be able to Google it and see it on a player there in the US. You can Google David Suzuki - The Nature of Things - The Great Butterfly Hunt. Hopefully some of you can find it. I do know it's available as a torrent download.

On another note, my wife released our little female, and she didn't even hang around to say goodbye. As soon as the container was opened, she just took right off and headed out into the great beyond. Hope she makes it to Mexico.

Cheers! - Paul

 

[fishin4cars]

I went out this morning to check pond filters feed the fish and what did I find? The Monarchs are emerging, I found where most of them went they disappeared, under the eve of the filter room. So far I count 17 that have emerged and at least 7 that have not yet. I also have a second group of caterpillars on all the new growth on the milk weeds so a second batch should be following. Pretty cool, and I get to watch it 100% naturally but I think I would have missed it had it not been for this thread.

 

[j.w]

@pugle1 If this comes through and posts you can go to this site and watch the show "The Nature of Things - The Great Butterfly Hunt"
http://vidto.me/6wvzome128cn.html

 

[pugle1]

@pugle1 If this comes through and posts you can go to this site and watch the show "The Nature of Things - The Great Butterfly Hunt"
http://vidto.me/6wvzome128cn.html

Hi J.W. I've seen it several times. I was just trying to find a link to it that would work for the folks in the US that might be interested. I'm sure the actual CBC link isn't viewable down there for some reason, but thanks for the link Hopefully others can watch it there.

Paul

 

[pugle1]

I went out this morning to check pond filters feed the fish and what did I find? The Monarchs are emerging, I found where most of them went they disappeared, under the eve of the filter room. So far I count 17 that have emerged and at least 7 that have not yet. I also have a second group of caterpillars on all the new growth on the milk weeds so a second batch should be following. Pretty cool, and I get to watch it 100% naturally but I think I would have missed it had it not been for this thread. View attachment 74688 View attachment 74689 View attachment 74690 View attachment 74691

That's so cool! Great photos too Fishn! There was actually a small thing about monarchs on CBC radio this morning, and they were saying the count early this year near Point Pelee in southern Ontario was quite good this year. They were saying that last year monarchs weren't showing up until well into July but that this year they were showing up in good numbers in mid-May. So .... fingers crossed. Glad you found this thread. I didn't think it would create as big an interest as it did.

Cheers! - Paul

 

[j.w]

Yep pugle I just posted it so others that might want to see it could check it out.