tbendl
T
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So pretty CE!
Raising Monarchs
- Thread starter CountryEscape
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Well, as if the first batch was not enough, I am doing "Take II"! I spotted a bunch of new eggs on the milkweed plants, so decided to watch them. Each day there were more eggs, and I even spotted a few baby caterpillars, and one that was almost half grown. When I didn't spot the larger caterpillar for 2 days, I decided to jump in and help them out ... again. 
So, I started out about a week ago with eggs, and a few teeny tiny caterpillars. This very small milkweed plant must be a favorite of the monarchs, because every day there were more eggs! I could not help but take a leaf that had 4 eggs on it finally. LOL I'm watching the rest of them closely, as the plant is behind the other larger plants, and more sheltered, so hoping other bugs and so forth will leave these babies alone.
Newborn caterpillar, less than 1/4" long. Adorable, huh?!
There are 5 baby caterpillars on this one leaf. Had to refresh the leaf supply couple of days ago to accommodate the "kids".
This is the largest of the above caterpillars, still less than 1/2" long.
This is the smallest caterpillar from the group of 5.
And, I could not help but grab some more leaves with eggs, while I was gathering leaves for food!
I'm no longer sure of my egg/caterpillar count, but there are about 15 or so, maybe more. Yikes!!! This is just a 10 gallon aquarium, may need to enlist the 55 gallon next year, to really have lots of space for them.
So, I started out about a week ago with eggs, and a few teeny tiny caterpillars. This very small milkweed plant must be a favorite of the monarchs, because every day there were more eggs! I could not help but take a leaf that had 4 eggs on it finally. LOL I'm watching the rest of them closely, as the plant is behind the other larger plants, and more sheltered, so hoping other bugs and so forth will leave these babies alone.
Newborn caterpillar, less than 1/4" long. Adorable, huh?!
There are 5 baby caterpillars on this one leaf. Had to refresh the leaf supply couple of days ago to accommodate the "kids".
This is the largest of the above caterpillars, still less than 1/2" long.
This is the smallest caterpillar from the group of 5.
And, I could not help but grab some more leaves with eggs, while I was gathering leaves for food!
I'm no longer sure of my egg/caterpillar count, but there are about 15 or so, maybe more. Yikes!!! This is just a 10 gallon aquarium, may need to enlist the 55 gallon next year, to really have lots of space for them.
Mmathis
TurtleMommy
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This is so exciting and so glad you're sharing it with us! What an awesome success!
My swamp milkweed just grows & grows [and falls over....], but no evidence of flowers. Haven't seen but a couple of butterflies in the yard all summer, and none were monarchs. Right now those little orange aphid-things are back, but not seeing any evidence of predator-bugs.... Maybe our yard is just not on the trail
My swamp milkweed just grows & grows [and falls over....], but no evidence of flowers. Haven't seen but a couple of butterflies in the yard all summer, and none were monarchs. Right now those little orange aphid-things are back, but not seeing any evidence of predator-bugs.... Maybe our yard is just not on the trail
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My swamp milkweed plants (I had two about 2' apart from each other, they grew like one big bush) were taken over by aphids, too. I counted 23 caterpillars of all sizes on those plants last week, and was sooooo tempted to bring them inside, but don't have space for that many. I worry those plants will not have enough food for them, as about 1/2 of the plants are dead from the aphids. Guess I will have to watch it closer next year, but no idea how to keep the aphids off, and still make the food safe for the monarch.
I have about 20 caterpillars in my 10 gallon aquarium, and they are really growing. have to feed them daily now. The biggest one is on the top, probably will get ready to go to chrysalis, but seems too small for that yet, so not sure. Others are only maybe 4 days old, so quite small. Will be hard to get them all hatched and outside, since on such a different time schedule this time. Probably will hatch over 2 weeks, instead of 2-3 days.
Last Thursday I couldn't take it, brought in 5 more infants. LOL So, my time frame is growing wider all the time! This is how I have figured out to move them to a new leaf without touching them, since I can't bring the leaves they are on, being covered with aphids. I try not to touch them at all, unless one of the tiny babies falls onto the floor of the aquarium. The bottom left baby is about 1/4" or less, probably newly hatched that day. Middle one is probably 2-3 days old.
Here are 3 that were close to each other, all different sizes. As a size comparison, that small one is about 1/2" long.
And, here's a baby, probably 3-4 days old. They seem to take forever to grow the first week, and then poof, they are HUGE!
I have about 20 caterpillars in my 10 gallon aquarium, and they are really growing. have to feed them daily now. The biggest one is on the top, probably will get ready to go to chrysalis, but seems too small for that yet, so not sure. Others are only maybe 4 days old, so quite small. Will be hard to get them all hatched and outside, since on such a different time schedule this time. Probably will hatch over 2 weeks, instead of 2-3 days.
Last Thursday I couldn't take it, brought in 5 more infants. LOL So, my time frame is growing wider all the time! This is how I have figured out to move them to a new leaf without touching them, since I can't bring the leaves they are on, being covered with aphids. I try not to touch them at all, unless one of the tiny babies falls onto the floor of the aquarium. The bottom left baby is about 1/4" or less, probably newly hatched that day. Middle one is probably 2-3 days old.
Here are 3 that were close to each other, all different sizes. As a size comparison, that small one is about 1/2" long.
And, here's a baby, probably 3-4 days old. They seem to take forever to grow the first week, and then poof, they are HUGE!
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Nice job CE I have not seen any this year.
JBtheExplorer
Native Gardener
I had one remaining monarch caterpillar in my garden and it was getting big so I brought it in today. I'll see how it goes as far as raising it. I don't expect to have it for too long since it's so big already, so I thought this would be a good chance to try raising it. It also gives me a chance to get chrysalis shots.
JBtheExplorer
Native Gardener
Here we go!
JBtheExplorer
Native Gardener
It waited until after I went to bed to shed into its chrysalis.
JBtheExplorer
Native Gardener
I released my male Monarch Butterfly today! Here's a short slideshow showing its progress:
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Good job, JB! I sat for over 2 hours 2 weekends ago to get a video of one of my monarchs coming out of the chrysalis! Two had emerged that morning, and I was sure there were going to be 5 that day, and there WERE! I missed the 3rd one, going to the bathroom, and forgetting to look! Within 5 minutes, it was out. So, I parked a chair, tv tray and computer, me and my camera and sat and waited and waited! FINALLY, the 4th one emerged, and I was super excited to get it on video. Silly me, I had all the time in the world to prepare lots of light, but didn't even think of that. So, the video is kind of dark, but you will see the beautiful monarch emerge even so. I hope this works copying and pasting my FB page!
https://www.facebook.com/patti.krue...0000381412826/992218240800880/?type=3&theater
I hope this works copying and pasting my FB page!https://www.facebook.com/patti.krue...0000381412826/992218240800880/?type=3&theater
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And, here are some photos of #17 before and after the video above. To date, I have had 32 monarch I have released from the second group I took in, plus 6 in the first group. I have 5 more chrysalises, but I think one of them is "dead", so hoping for 4 more butterflies to release.
Also, something kind of interesting, I listened to a documentary about monarchs, and learned that shortly after a monarch caterpillar goes into a chrysalis, if you carefully open the chrysalis, it is ... goo! Yep, not still a caterpillar changing to a butterfly, it's wet goo! Funny, huh? I had no idea!!!
So, here is the "before" picture of #17, before the video was taken.
Then after the video, here are a few pics, the last of which was taken only about 5 minutes after the video was taken! They open their wings up really fast! Not positive, but think #17 was a female. Enjoy!
Also, something kind of interesting, I listened to a documentary about monarchs, and learned that shortly after a monarch caterpillar goes into a chrysalis, if you carefully open the chrysalis, it is ... goo! Yep, not still a caterpillar changing to a butterfly, it's wet goo! Funny, huh? I had no idea!!!
So, here is the "before" picture of #17, before the video was taken.
Then after the video, here are a few pics, the last of which was taken only about 5 minutes after the video was taken! They open their wings up really fast! Not positive, but think #17 was a female. Enjoy!
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Great photos 
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Was anyone able to see the video? Just wondering if it worked. It did for me, but maybe because it was my own FB page!
Yup! I could see it just fine! Very cool!
Here's a word of warning to anyone who is growing milkweed in your garden - watch the pods. Decide just HOW MANY PLANTS you want springing up in your garden (and your neighbor's garden and your neighbor's neighbor's garden...) and judiciously control how many of the pods you allow to ripen and burst forth with their billions of airborne seeds. Because they WILL germinate. Everywhere!
I planted a tropical milkweed variety last year in my bog and wasn't at all concerned about the seeds floating delicately all over the yard. It's tropical, right? Well - yes. The parent plant won't survive our winters... but those lovely, delicate seeds WILL! We have milkweed EVERYWHERE! Luckily they are easy to pull up when they're tiny, but they are legion! And the only other positive is the new plants that I did allow to grow don't appear to be producing seed pods. Maybe they need a longer growing season? Anyway, I was smart enough to cull the pods from my native milkweed (just harvested another grocery sack full yesterday!) but didn't consider the tropical variety!
You are FOREWARNED!