Raising Hope for the 2014 Monarch Migration
Raise The Migration 2014 Results
The raising season is coming to an end, so it’s time to report how many butterflies you released for the 2014 monarch migration…we’d also like to know what you’ve learned through this amazing experience!
If you’ve still got some raising to do, raise on! But please report your final results on the bottom of this page after you’ve released your last butterfly.
It seems like just yesterday, I was worrying about whether or not the monarchs would leave a final batch of migration eggs in our butterfly garden…
Migrating mothers eventually left me 20, after I had received 19 raise insurance eggs from Rose Franklin’s Perennials. Since the batch from Rose and our final eggs were two weeks apart, I am only including Rose’s eggs plus 3 caterpillars I found outside that are about the same age.
I raised the caterpillars inside a kritter keeper and later switched over to a mesh cage. You can check out both of these cages and find other raising supplies on the Raise The Migration Supplies Page.
I created Raise The Migration so I could share the raising techniques that have helped me to largely avoid monarch disease and death, so that you can raise healthier monarchs too! It’s my goal to help everyone achieve at least a 90% survival rate for raising monarch butterflies through both Raise the Migration and with my recently republished Monarch Raising Guide:
You can get more info about this guide or buy it here
Raise The Migration 2014 Results
Last year, the raise yielded a perfect crop of migration monarchs. This year, there were some minor complications…
Caterpillar Escapes
The two cages I use are pretty much escape proof. I did, however, cover the roof of the kritter keeper with pantyhose. Not even a day-old caterpillar can slip through those!
Caterpillar Disease
1. Frickin’ flies!
One of the chrysalides started to darken just a couple days after pupation. I isolated it by rehanging under a cupboard. A couple days later, a maggot was crawling around a container I had placed under it.
LESSON: If you bring in caterpillars there is always a risk of parasites. However, they are easy to dispose of and they don’t hurt your other caterpillars. I would say about 85% of our Minnesota caterpillars brought inside are tachinid-free. If you can’t handle the disappointment, than stick to monarch eggs.
Caterpillar Accidents
2. A Smashing Shame
At this point in my raising career, accidents are almost always the cause of caterpillar deaths, and this one was no different. I was moving around the cuttings containers. A caterpillar was sitting on one in plain view. About a minute later I lifted that container pressing my finger right into the caterpillar that had not moved an inch. He expelled a little green fluid, but I didn’t technically smash him…I was hopeful he would be OK.
Unfortunately, he never ate again after that and 3 days later I euthanized the poor cat.
LESSON: Pay attention to caterpillar location and don’t rush to clean the cage.
3. Four Foot Fall
One day, while I was cleaning inside the mesh cage, two caterpillars started pupating. I continued to clean since I was 4 feet below them and not moving the cage. The one right above me fell while I was cleaning. In 30+ years of raising, I have never had a chrysalis fall. Was there a problem with the caterpillar? Did I distract the caterpillar?
I scraped some silk from the top of the cage and stuck it to the top of the black cremaster. I taped the chrysalis by the thread (under a cupboard with a fluffy towel underneath) and let the monarch finish shaping and drying its chrysalis. It had some dark spots from the fall, but the chrysalis still formed normally. The next morning, I looked under the cupboard where I hung it, and it was totally sunk in. I took it down and euthanized. Even if it was still alive, the butterfly would not have ended well.
LESSON: If caterpillars ever start to pupate while cleaning the cage, wait until they are finished!
The final raise results are based on 21 monarchs. I don’t count tachinid fly deaths in the stats because there is nothing I can do to stop them except for leaving cats outside to fend for themselves. In the prior two seasons, there have been no monarch deaths by parasites.
Final Results
19 monarch butterflies hatched between September 7- September 14
14 of those monarchs hatched on September 8-9
The hatching began and ended with female monarchs…just like last year!
2 accidental deaths
9 healthy males
10 healthy females
90% survival rate
Most of these monarchs had a garden full of migrating monarchs to welcome them upon release. These are some of the migration guides that started them off to Mexico just a couple days later:
Minnesota Migrators Fueling Up
Even though my personal results were worse than the past two seasons raising migration monarchs, this season has been a huge success with the most monarchs I’ve seen in our garden since 2011. But more importantly…
Hi, I have a monarch that is in a chrysalis stage and one on it’s last caterpillar stage. We just had our first frost on November 1st. Will they make it to their wintering grounds in time? They’re indoors right now. I live in SouthEast , Kansas.
Hi Jessica, it depends on the weather…it needs to be at least 50’s and sunny for release. Hopefully the weather will stay mild for a little bit longer. You may want to feed them sugar water or hummingbird nectar dipped in cotton balls to give them some energy before their departure…good luck!
Hi, I raised around 700 Monarch caterpillars last year and 605 this year. Here is a link to some pictures. I start out with just a few adult monarchs that I raise from eggs. https://www.pbase.com/mlo3135127/monarch_butterfly
wow, sounds like you were slacking off this season Monte! 😉 Thanks for everything you are doing to help the struggling monarch population!
I asked this question in another part of the Monarch Butterfly Garden site but didn’t give all info so excuse me if I repeat a bit. (I LOVE THIS SITE So glad I found it).
My location is Toronto, Ontario Canada M3B 1Z7. I’ve been planting some milkweed for two years unsuccessfully and this year went all out creating new flower beds with butterfly friendly plants in a separate area from milkweed. We had dozens of butterflies including–thrilling—four gorgeous Monarchs here4 constantly since July.
I’m worried because two of the Monarch are still here and it’s late in the year. The temperature is warm all this week and sunny but the weekend will see a real drop into the low 40s. Southern Ontario butterflies usually gather at Point Pele National Park which is 221 miles from here (357 kilometres). The butterflies are roosting in the cedar trees and in spite of really heavy rains and winds they have been fine there. Should I cut back the plants to encourage them to leave? I’ll have more questions later about how to detect chrysalis but right now my concern is to help our plucky Monarchs on their great migration back to Mexico!
Hi Barbara, it has been unseasonably warm across much of the north. Yesterday it was 80’s F in Minneapolis. Today it was barely 60 most of the day. The monarchs are fine. They have been doing this for a LONG time and there are other environmental cues that will lead them south. It’s those in the deep south that need to consider cutting back plants because of disease and stopping monarchs from completing the migration. Congrats on your successful season!
Hi Tony,
Just released the last one a healthy male this past Friday. For a total of 25 released up from only 9 last year. Was beginning to wonder if I would have any healthy adult males hatch for it seemed like a lot of the males had deformed wings and couldn’t fly and none of the females had this problem. Thanks for all your good advice and keep hoping that a bunch of our releases make it their over wintering site in Mexico. With it being so wet this year, there were really no aphid problems. The milkweed all performed well and looking forward to maiden bloom of prairie, purple, and speciosa milkweed. Will overwinter some tropical as I love the flowers and they did help the monarchs some. Looking forward to next year.
Brian from Ossian, IN
Hi Brian, that’s strange that it was only males that had deformities…I wonder if that was just by chance or something else was going on? No theories for that one.
Thank you for raising the migration and sending off 25 monarchs on a journey that will end with the start of the 2015 butterfly season!
Hi. This was my first try & though it started as a nightmare, in the end I’ve released 17 healthy monarchs with 2 left to go. I began my venture ordering caterpillars from one of the online monarch groups. I bought a kit with castle, milkweed & cats sent me via mail. All cats had problems, most didn’t survive so ordered some more with similar results. It was very heartbreaking. Milkweeds were thriving in 5 gallon containers. I thought my butterfly opportunity was over when out of the blue one day I noticed several tiny cats sitting on the plants munching away. I gathered them up & began another attempt keeping them alive in the castle. Brought in branches of milkweed they devoured. This continued until they were finally ready to form chrysalis. Finally some relief, just awaiting their emergence with fingers crossed. There were a few mishaps along the way but overall it was a successful experience this time. Ordering cats via mail was very disappointing, maybe getting eggs would have been a better way to go. Mother nature proved best & a monarch came along & laid eggs herself. It was an unexpected treat & hopefully maybe next year will happen again here in western NC.
Hi Sharen, sorry to hear you had problems with ordering through the mail. I put the breeders up as options for people that want to raise but aren’t able to find eggs/caterpillars locally, which seems to be many over the past few years. I agree that “gardening” for monarchs is the way to go. The majority of people I talk to have good experiences ordering, but I’ve had a couple other reports of problems too. Unless the monarchs are lab-tested there’s no way to know if the issues originated before or after someone receives eggs/caterpillars.
Hopefully, with all the milkweed patches planted, and monarchs raised this season, more people will have monarch eggs delivered directly to their gardens…BTW- congrats on all your healthy releases!
Did anyone see the story about a swarm caught on radar near St. Louis? Just another sign pointing to a big year! Though I hesitate to use the word comeback quite yet…
When can we expect numbers out of Mexico generally?
Hi Derek, I posted about this on facebook. There is a possibility it could have been something else like migrating birds or dragonflies…it makes a good story though. Regardless of whether it was monarchs, I predict it’s going to be a good year!
Ps…as for numbers, there is really no “avg” number as the population has plummeted over the last decade. Look for the count numbers to be released in late February or March…
Thanks for sharing so much great information and enthusiasm on your website! This was our first year raising monarchs at our Evansville (southwest Indiana) home. We brought in 24 caterpillars at different stages – 2 earlier this summer (mid-July) found on common milkweed in our hayfield and the others (Aug 18 – Sept 7) from swamp milkweed in the backyard – as well as one chrysalis found near the swamp milkweed. Neither of the 2 early finds survived; one caterpillar died the first night inside and the second had a crinkled wing after emerging from the chrysalis and couldn’t fly (Oe?). Of those from our swamp milkweed, we lost one caterpillar just before it went into the chrysalis (as a ‘hanging J’), and one had a ‘bad’ wing and couldn’t fly. But we successfully released 21 of 25 (didn’t keep track of male vs female), for an 84% success rate, with the last 2 released Monday 9/22 afternoon. So exciting and fulfilling to watch them fly off when released!
Hi Deb, congrats on a very good first year. The monarchs you released are making their way toward Mexico and will help to insure the 2015 season gets off to a great start. Thank you for raising the migration!
Hi Tony, I have 72 cats in my screened in cage. Plus ten eggs on the plants outside. I am so excited to have this many. To date this year I have released 29 butterflies. I am looking forward to this last batch to fly off in the next couple of weeks. I did see something I was curious about. Eight of the cats have already gone up to the top of the cage but they seem smaller than the previous cats from the last generation. I am a little worried that something is wrong with them.
Also here is a laugh for you. Last night I went to check on my cats and there was a green frog sitting on top of their cage. I laughed, I wondering if he is thinking he hit the jackpot of food but is trying to figure out how in the world he can get them. poor frog.
I’ll let you know in the coming weeks how my releases go.
Wow Jackie, what a way to end the season and raise the migration! Migration caterpillars are usually larger than their counterparts. Sometimes small caterpillars pupating can indicate tachinid fly parasitism…if this happens maggots/pupae will emerge from the hanging caterpillars/chrysalides. Just throw them out after they emerge. They won’t hurt you healthy caterpillars and chrysalides. Hopefully they will all be OK!
As for your friendly frog…This is what he is dreaming of:
Yet ANOTHER Monarch Predator
This is a great website! I was so excited to run across it. As luck would have it, the Saturday I started my vacation over Labor day weekend here in northern MS, I noticed a monarch in my backyard laying eggs on my swamp milkweed. This allowed me the time I needed to gather the tiny cats as they hatched, clean cages twice a day, and keep the cats well fed. My swamp milkweed (where most of the eggs were) flourished and multiplied this year due to our mild summer temps, but I also have tropical milkweed (found only 2 eggs) and common milkweed (found only 1 egg) in two other flower beds. Here are my results:
9/11- Released 3 females
9/13- Released 1 male & 6 females
9/14- Released 1 male & 8 females
9/15- Released 1 male
9/16- Released 5 males & 16 females
9/17- Released 3 females
Tons of females, which is fantastic for the monarch population. I raised a total of 44 monarchs this year. I started with 46. I had 1 chrysalis turn black and another chrysalis fell. I reattached with dental floss, but it must have laid there too long and eventually turned misshapen and blackened. This was a great year for me. The best ever. I didn’t have a single egg last year so I am hoping the monarchs will do much better this winter! With Tony’ s help, things are looking up. 🙂 Thank you, Tony! I am now busy cleaning my numerous cages with the recommended bleach solution in preparation for 2015. My favorite cages are those I found at my local Dollar Tree a few years ago. They have the mesh sides so that the newly emerged butterflies have something to cling to and climb if they happen to fall. I will be on the lookout again in the spring for more of them!
Toni, what a great way to end the season!I can’t believe how many females you had. I have been keeping track this year, and it looks like I’m going to release more females too. Like you said…that bodes well for the monarch population! Another good cage material for butterflies to climb is styrofoam, but I like the mesh cages because of the clear window. This was a good year for swamp milkweed up north too…it sure wasn’t last year. This is why I try to promote milkweed diversification. You never know whats going to thrive from year to year.
Have a fantastic off-season…you’ve earned it!
Tony,
I accidentally became a Monarch fancier this summer. Last year I bought one Asclepias curassavica, planted it, harvested many seeds. This spring I planted 70–100 seeds. I think they all germinated. I spread them around my garden, shared some with other gardener friends. I started noticing the caterpillars end of July.
I had a bike accident August 15 and broke my elbow and collar bone. I was unable to do anything but walk around and watch the plants and cats. Since that day I’ve become obsessed with these guys, discovered your books, looked at many other sites related to Monarchs. I’ve photographed everything: tiny eggs, each instar, my disappearing tropical milkweeds, eclosion, tons of adult butterflies, natch. Never thought I’d see any chrysalides but so far my husband and I have found 16; I brought a couple inside to watch them emerge. So far I’ve released four beautiful males and one female. Judging by the number of 5th instar cats I had at one time, I guess there are about 20 more chrysalides out there ready to open. Tomorrow a few more that I’m watching will open. I’m having a blast! We have to spend weeks at a time away from home so I haven’t started any inside projects. But next year I at least hope to try it. I also plan to tag some. I’ve already planted two more types of milkweed purchased at local native plant sales. But I think the tropical kind is the reason I had this beginner’s luck. As my sister-in-law says, “If you plant it, they will come.”
Thank you for the great info. I hope to really make a difference next year.
PS: I wish I could find out more about Spicebush Swallowtails. I have many various sized instars on my Spicebush; when they turn orange I NEVER can find them again, nor the chrysalides…
Wow Jennifer, I’m in awe! I’ve never even seen a chrysalis in our garden. You are very lucky there are no predators in your garden. The typical survival rate outdoors is between 1-5%…Let’s hope your butterfly garden remains a secret… Thank you for helping to Raise the Migration!
Hi Tony, first year for me here in Northeast Pa. Released 4 males and 10 females so far. I have 32 more in chrysalis and 14 more cats that I found munching on milkweed in the yard! I bought a little 6x5x4 ft. greenhouse and dug up some of my tropical milkweeds from the yard and put them in pots for the cats I found and they’re doing great! I prefer putting cats on potted plants then just the leaves in a container ( I have better luck this way) So far my boo boos are finding an escapey cat that was on my back porch that was stepped on, I dropped a chrysalis and it broke my heart…bothered me for days! Found two cats that died and was hanging from a leaf?? And one enclosed with 1 wing that did not fully develop. FYI…today was the best day ( Sept. 21st.) for seeing wild Monarchs in my yard nectaring in my flower beds, lost count after 59, all counted in just 20 minutes! Thanks for all your advice and to all your followers on this page…love the info here.
Hi Bernice,
a most excellent season you have had! Raising on potted plants really works well and makes it easy to avoid handling monarchs for the first week…which is when most losses and accidents occur!
Dropping a chrysalis is tough…I’ve done it before too and it’s not a pleasant feeling. The good news is, I bet you won’t do it again! I’ve taken precautions ever since and have yet to drop another. Raising is always a learning experience…
It sounds like you have migrators coming through…Enjoy!
Hi Tony,
Unfortunately, raising monarchs has been one of the most disappointing experiences for me. (I apologize in advance for the lengthy, bummer post.)
First off, I followed your Raise the Migration last year, which was my first attempt at raising monarchs. I live in Kansas. Last year I found 2 eggs on milkweed near my parents’ pond. I followed all instructions, cleaned/sanitized/dried cages, fed only fresh, rinsed, pesticide-free milkweed daily to the cats, misted them, was careful not to handle them, kept my washed milkweed leaves in baggies in the fridge, and so on. When the time came, one of the cats pupated normally, the other hung in a J and attempted to become a chrysalis, though it could not, and it died hanging there only partially green. The “normal” pupa darkened, but did not eclose successfully . The butterfly was alive inside but could not get out. Sadly, he went to the freezer. After these first 2 deaths, I did some research online about possible monarch diseases and thought they may have had Oe, though I never knew for sure.
Now, onto this year. I thought for sure I would have better luck on our second try. Again, I went egg/cat hunting at my mom’s milkweed patch – same as last year – and I found around 20 all together. I brought them home along with extra milkweed, and followed the same procedure as I had the year before, except with more cages this time. Again, I kept things very clean, misted the eggs/cats, cleaned milkweed leaves, etc… All seemed well at first, then a few of the small cats just stopped eating, crawled off their leaves and died. As this happened, I removed them and cleaned. When it was time to pupate, most of the cats ended up exactly like the first one from last year – they died hanging – part cat/part chrysalis. Another one would have been successful, but apparently during his twisting and turning, he fell because I found him at the bottom, only then it was too late to rehang as he was already dried and hard and misshapen. One of the cats – I had posted about him in another thread – appeared to be “dirty”. His stripes were not predominantly black, rather, it was as if he was smudged, his black ran into the other colored stripes. He looked dingy. When I noticed this, I moved him to his own cage and immediately cleaned out the other. He ended up being one of the cats that died hanging. I later did a little research on this and found that too, to be a symptom of Oe.
Now out of the 20 I found at my mom’s house, only 1 became a successful chrysalis. It darkened, and attempted to emerge. But, once again, the poor butterfly could not get out. I searched online and found that I might be able to help if I caught it in time. It looked like there was some sticky liquid on his butt and was sticking him to the top of his chrysalis shell. I pulled gently and tried to see if he would hang but it was too late. I think the liquid from his abdomen that should have been released to the wings had already come out as he was stuck, and he had to be euthanized.
While all of the above was going on, I happened to find some milkweed on our road while taking a walk. We live in the country. We checked the leaves and found 5 monarch eggs. I was hesitant to take them because of all of the problems we’d already had, but I took them and I raised them separately in different cages than the cats I had found at my mom’s house, nor did I feed them any of the milkweed that was picked from my mom’s house. Everything went smoothly. All 5 pupated successfully. One pupa did fall, but it was after it hung to dry and hardened. I hung it back up promptly and it appears to be normal. So far, out of the new 5, 3 butterflies have emerged. All 3 fell when they came out. The first I found too late. For this reason, I stalked the other 2 on the morning when they darkened, and as I feared, the other two needed help getting back up to the top to hang as well. For some reason, none of them could figure out how to climb up the sticks to get back up there. Now, I have 2 butterflies. One of them is a boy and has one bent wing and cannot fly. The other looks like a perfect female butterfly, however, she can only fly a little ways, then lands and stays on the ground.
The male hatched yesterday and I did give him something to eat today, and he ate it. The female hatched today. I have not done anything with them as my heart cannot handle anymore butterfly deaths. The other chrysalis I mentioned earlier, that I had to rehang, he is scheduled to emerge tomorrow morning. I dread this as tomorrow is church and when he hatches tomorrow around 10am or so, I will not be here. If he falls and can’t get back up to hang, he will not make it. I may stay home. I am just at a loss. After this one, I have one more chrysalis. Out of 25, I have released 0 and it seems I have done more harm than good, and I will not be raising any more monarchs in the future.
Thank you,
Kris
ouch Kris…this makes my hear hurt!
0 out of 25 tells me there is something serious going on. I wish I could tell you what it was. OE? dehydration? Tainted Milkweed? NPV? Cage Issue? It sounds like you are doing everything right on your end. But even if you weren’t, you should have had at least a couple survive from sheer luck. That’s why I feel like we’re missing something here. If you have any theories, run them by me and maybe we can figure this out. I’m sorry you have had so many problems Kris…I hope your final butterfly is healthy!
Kris, I found it useful to line the insides of my cages with window screen (or maybe tulle, as a former post mentioned above) to help any butterflies that might fall once they emerge. This gives them something to cling to if they are in a glass or plastic container….I prefer to use the mesh containers found at my local Dollar Tree but have had to resort to plastic containers with slick sides in a pinch. Lining those with screen bought from the hardware store seems to work. What type of containers do you have?
I did not find any eggs or cats on my milkweed this season. Could it be possible that the red fire ants and black ants might have got to eggs first before I noticed? What can I do to keep ants away?
Other than that I was happy to see two monarchs fluttering around my milkweed and butterfly bush this year. Normally only get to see one.
I live further north, in Winnipeg. The mosquitoes /city insecticide spraying did not help the situation either.
Hi Patricia, I usually recommend milkweed diversification (creating several separate patches and having at least 2-3 types of milkweed). Predators won’t be able to find them all. Now is a good time for fall planting milkweed plants if you can find some:
Milkweed Resources
If you decide to take action against the ants this borax recipe is supposed to work well:
Stopping Ants with Borax
Ants do eat eggs and caterpillars but so do a lot of other predators like wasps, spiders, assassin bugs, etc…I hope you are able to out-hustle the predators and find some eggs/caterpillars next season…Good Luck!
I’ve always concentrated on making sure that my hummingbirds thrived. I have four Anna hummingbird families that live in my yard and noticed that the plants that I grew for the hummingbirds were also attracting monarchs last year. So I planted Mexican milkweed outside in 8 large pots last year and watched from afar as 20-30 caterpillars turned into butterflies this year in my Southern California yard. I had no idea that anyone was raising monarchs indoors until two weeks ago, because we tend to have caterpillars from early May until November with the warm weather.
After reading your website and realizing that many of my missing caterpillars were being swiped by some bird breeds and lizards, I brought 3 small caterpillars inside and made an enclosure with a large plastic container and pantyhose. We were successful and released our beautiful monarchs days ago.
With all of the wonderful information on this website, I’ve learned that I need to plant another variety of milkweed and to cut back the plants that I have to prevent disease. Some two-year old milkweed plants are over 6 feet tall and make it tough when caterpillars venture to the flowering tops and then fall off.
Looking forward to preparing for and raising these beautiful creatures indoors next season.
Hi Cindy, I have had a similar experience. We started with monarchs, and then starting seeing hummingbirds too.You might enjoy this article about plants that attract both. Congratulations on your first successful year of raising monarchs!
5 Flowers for Monarchs AND Hummingbirds
Hi Tony. Out here on the golden coast of California we’re just starting. I’ll have some stats for you in the not too far off future, but the females in our garden are working the milkweed daily right now. Here at Monarchville we’ve been giving away milkweed and have seven people planting milkweed for our future Monarch populations. Your site has been wonderful for us to keep our heads in the game. I’ll be back here to let you know how our season went, but for now, I’m collecting more seeded milkweed and letting the mystery unfold.
Hi Lyne, we look forward to your west coast update!
I still have 49 to emerge and 4 to release here in central Minnesota. It’s taking close to 20 days for them. At this pace, my last one won’t emerge until almost the end of September. Is this because of the shorter days?
Hi Lynn, if your chrysalides are outdoors, cold temps slow down metamorphosis. In the twin cities, I put ours in a 3-season porch. If it gets low 50’s I close the windows. Colder than that, I bring the cage indoors. I usually release our last butterflies the first week of October. I would hope yours could be released in the next week. It really depends on your weather, which looks pretty good for at least the next week. Good Luck!
I had moved them to the greenhouse which doesn’t get too hot due to the trees now but I open it up if it does. I had brought them back into the house this past week. I had 10 eclose today (2 simultaneously!) and found another crysalis from an escapee so as of this evening, I am down to 36. I will keep them wherever it is warmer! If all emerge ok, my total this year will be about 70. I will submit my final results when they are all done.
My 2014 Monarch results:
Bought and received from Rose Franklin –28 caterpillars
My garden — 2 caterpillars
My neighbors yard — 1 egg
Released :
6 on 8/11/14
7 on 8/15/14
10 on 8/17/14
1 on 8/24/14
Total of 24 tagged Monarchs
7 on 8/17/14 untagged Monarchs
Raised 31 Monarchs in 2014
Fantastic results and a great contribution to Raise the Migration and the monarch population for 2015. Thank you Carol!
Hi Matt, typically I try to give butterflies 3 hours of sun before releasing, but 47 degrees won’t put your monarch in any danger. I would make sure the butterfly is in a place where it will get lots of morning sun. Congrats on successfully releasing your first monarch!
Tony, Thanks for your response and your incredible blog!
The monarch I released yesterday survived the night and was gone over lunch today when my wife released our second captive . We have 5 more chrysalis to go and one guy close to changing. The interesting thing is that 5 of the six chrysalis formed exactly a day apart and so far the two we’ve released were in a chrysalis exactly 10 days.
Hi Tony,
I released my first captive raised monarch after work today. He is positioned about three and a half feet off the ground on a past flowering prairie blazingstar stalk in my garden. It’s supposed to be around 47 degrees for a low temp tonight. But I assume he’ll be fine?
I still have six chrysalis and one guy still feeding on swamp milkweed leaves.
Tony, thanks for all your great information. I too have squashed a couple of cats by accident, not realizing where they were.
Lesson learned. And once I put on my reading glasses without seeing the 5th instar caterpillar chilling out on the bottom rim.
Ever had a caterpillar on your cheek? (He was not hurt, fortunately.)
Question: does it make a difference if butterflies are released 20 miles from where they were raised? I’m taking my chrysalises
to work so I can releases the butterflies when it’s nice and sunny in the middle of the day. I just let 3 of them go in a meadow full of flowers,
far away from my marauding cats and the busy highway by my house. I’m just wondering if this throws off their navigation system.
I still have about 10 left to go. Mine were late bloomers.
Terry, they should have no problems navigating from your work. If they can make it all the way to Mexico, I don’t see how 20 short miles would even phase them.
As for your glasses, it sounds like you had a “Cat’s Eye View”….sorry, couldn’t resist 🙂
You’re a real card, Tony!
Hey, don’t miss the Science Museum movie about the Great Migration.
It opens Oct. 3 if you haven’t heard.
p.s. The people in my office were so excited today when 2 butterflies eclosed, and
they were full of questions. It’s amazing how things perked up around here thanks
to the monarchs.
Thanks for all of your help, valuable information. Location: Oshtemo, Michigan 49077 — Released 22 healthy butterflies. Lost: one chrysalis, one butterfly died while emerging, and one deformed wing butterfly, which I tried to save, but eventually passed. 22 releases, 3 losses… All cats were found on my swamp milkweed. Some of the cats were eating my swamp milkweed pods. First cat discovered on August 9th. Last released butterfly on September 16, 2014. Thanks again Tony,
Excellent news Marsha! Our swamp milkweed was also very popular for egg laying this season. It’s amazing how long swamp stays viable when you get adequate rain. Thank you for Raising the Migration!
HI! I happened upon you page last night while I looking around for what might have been coming out of my Chrysalis that wasn’t a butterfly. Well….I found my answer, and a way to share what we did this year. My 10 year old daughter has a fascination with the whole process of cat to butterfly. We are lucky enough to have a pesticide free farm field behind my moms house, and it has flourished with milkweed this year. We took in over 300 caterpillars over the course of a couple of weeks. Like most projects, you do the best research that you can and go with it and hope that it works. We got 12 OZ plastic cups, tulle, and rubber bands, and started our ‘caterpillar farm.’ Each cat had its own home, and was fed leaves that we picked from the plants in the field. Once they made their Chrysalis, I then gave them each a # and dated them, and then pinned them to a cork board. We watched patiently, and in 8-10 days we had butterflies! We ended up with 303 either attempting to, or finishing making a chrysalis. We kept pretty accurate data on which ones died once in a Chrysalis, and when they hatched so we could figure out length. I didn’t find out about tagging till the first of my butterflies were about to hatch, so I was only able to tag about 100 once they got here. I had to keep them in my bathroom , since I didn’t have tags, and my butterfly enclosure was getting crowed with almost 70 butterflies. So far, I have had what hatched of 291 chrysalis released here in PA. We have 12 more to Chrysalis that we are waiting on, and then we will be done this year. We definitely learned some things, and are getting ready to start a milkweed garden at our new house!
I didn’t have any trouble with the wild milkweed for my cats, and the leaves stayed fresh in a zip lock bag in the fridge. We cleaned each cat out once a day, and fed them twice a day depending on size of cat. We raised everything from eggs to large cats that made a chrysalis in a couple of days after finding it. We are already starting our plan for next year, and getting everything ready so that we can raise just as many, if not more.
wow Crystal, you and your daughter really dedicated yourself to this awe-inspiring project! And it sounds like you had fantastic results too. Keeping the leaves in the refrigerator definitely helps save time when you are using individual leaves. Cuttings and potted plants are also options you might want to research as you plan for next season.
If you are looking at other cage options these are the ones that have become my favorites after years of experimentation…the only thing I need to update is the legs of the pantyhose are now cut off:
Monarch caterpillar cages
Thank you for Raising the Migration!
You really took the monarch plunge Derek, and your year 1 efforts have really paid off…Congrats and than you for raising the migration!
25 here. Our last nine are still enclosed with 3 due out today or in the morning. Not bad considering 8 months ago I didn’t even know what milkweed was. Finding a community garden space nearby and some swamp milkweed cuttings at the farmers market made this all possible. Could have had more but I left the first two generations outside (where most if not all perished) as I didn’t know how easy it was to raise inside and I was very nervous about it.
All signs point to a much better 2014, most definitely. I saw multiple ones in the air 30 stories up in downtown Chicago last week. Apparently that hasn’t really been the case in many years, say coworkers.
This to was my first year, the first batch was very successful we released 15. I did squish one on the pot and dropped one chrysalis. The second group there were was only 5 and I was struggling with my milkweed only 2 of those made it. I found a large cat and now it is a healthy chrysalis should be ready this weekend. I have a million milkweed plants popping up all over so next year should have plenty grub. I am planning a small butterfly garden for next year very excited.
Hi Carmen, I’d like to commend you on a fantastic first year of raising. As for your new butterfly garden, I will be posting soon about fall planting…it should help to give you a head start on next season. good luck!
3 monarchs released – 2 female and 1 male. One I brought in as an egg, 2 I brought inside as cats the same morning they hatched. This was my first year at finally attracting monarchs to my yard. Next year I will do it bigger and better. The kids in my daycare had a blast – charting growth, drawing pictures in their journals, keeping track of how many butterflies we spotted in the yard, and also helped in cleaning the cage. One of my daycare kids came home the other day with a book on butterflies he checked out at the library (a 2nd grade boy) – I love it! He was reading the section about butterfly predators and he was telling me about them and then asked me if that was why I brought the caterpillars in the house – he’s a smart kid. Our adventure this summer was small scale but I was able to capture the interest of some kids which was pretty awesome. Thank you Tony for your guidance, couldn’t have done it without you. Hugs to you!
A great start to your raising career…congrats! Kudos for getting the daycare kids involved and sparking their interest in nature and conservation. It can take a little while for monarchs to find a garden, but once they do they’re usually an annual event.
Good job Karyn. Spreading awareness as well.
Hi Lee,
thanks for your kind words. I’m happy to hear you have had such a successful first season. I’m not sure where you’re located , but if it’s starting to get cooler I would raise the monarchs indoors (especially at night) to insure they develop quickly enough to escape the cold. Good Luck!
We have been raising the caterpillars we find in the garden in an enclosed nursery with potted milkweeds. Just released 3 newly emerged Monarchs this morning making our total so far 12!
Congratulations Chris…Thanks for helping to Raise The Migration!
My official number of released from being reared is 37. Thirty of those were tagged. This is the first summer of tagging, so it was VERY exciting for me. I did have one chrysalis with OE, but the rest hatched! I am sad that my season is over because it is what I love the most about summer. I cleaned and packed up all my stuff for next year. I want to plant even more milkweed this fall, so I can’t wait for your next article!!
This is my first year raising monarchs and I had a blast doing it. It was a bit more work then I thought it would be but I wouldn’t change a thing. I have released 8 female monarchs and have 6 more in chrysalis that look healthy. They have a few more days till they are ready. So unless something happens it looks like I will have 100 percent survival rate. I didn’t have as many as others but hopefully with the thousands of seeds my swamp milkweed gave me I can plant more and have a bigger impact next year. I found two eggs on my milkweed plant this morning should I raise them or is it to late for them? Tony thanks for all you do and the great info you give us. The monarch population will do great this year in part because of the great ideas you give us in order to greatly improve their chances of survival. Thanks again.
My 3rd summer of raising Monarchs was not as good as I had hoped. My goal was to top my last year’s release number 17 and 70% survival rate. It looked like I was going to achieve my goal up until end of August, when my caterpillars started showing symptoms of disease, they stopped eating, started hanging from the cage weirdly and leaking fluids. Symptoms matched NPV aka black death but not 100% sure. For the first time some of the chrysalises started turning black too. I lost at least a dozen cats and chrysalises to the disease and I have now released only 14 Monarchs and one healthy looking chrysalis is left. So my number will be 15 this summer, which is a slight disappointment to me.
One of the mishaps that happened was that I moved a small container from the cage to the table, and one 3rd instar cat fell from the side of the container on the concrete floor. It either was not holding on tight or it dropped itself as a defense to sudden movement. Luckily, it appeared ok and continued eating after a while. I am not sure if it turned out ok in the end, since one cat looks very much the same as the next:). After that incident, I always prevented them from falling by putting a hand underneath just in case.
Another unfortunate incident was that out of four eggs that hatched at the same time, I could only find one cat the next day. They were in small plastic container inside a large mesh rearing container. I looked everywhere inside the container and outside but could not find them. I have seen small cats leaving their food source before but only to the edge of the plastic container and I have always caught them before. This time I had no clue what happened. I will have to secure them better next summer, perhaps use Tony’s panty hose trick. I do have a similar critter box to use as well.
I have four rearing containers to use, but one of them I used only for pupas, not caterpillars. Cats can escape from it (it’s an outdoor picnic mesh), it was a lesson learned from previous summer. I will buy another 12×12 mesh cage so that I can keep different patches of eggs and caterpillars separate to avoid diseases. They are also easier to wash with bleach than large containers.
I did one statistical experiment this summer. I collected eight four instar caterpillars and put them in one container, separate from all others. Seven of them died of parasitoids and only one turned out to be a healthy looking Monarch. I had already figured that it’s best to collect eggs or very small cats only but this proved it to me again.
I also raised couple of dozen black swallowtails, which is only 1/4 of the total amount last summer. I did not find any eggs, only cats on my dill and those were almost all healthy. I still have about eight BST chrysalises and I have put them on the porch in a plastic critter box, so that they can be exposed to real weather and make an ‘educated’ decision, whether to come out now or overwinter in my garage. Next year’s goal is to double this summers Monarch amount by collecting more eggs and avoiding diseases. I will sterilize my containers better between patches to keep my cats safe. I will also need to sow more dill and parsley seeds and rue seeds, I did not have enough. Thank you for all the great advise this summer!
Thank you for this thorough report Tuire!
I’m sorry to hear you took a slight step back this season but I think this may be a good thing because it already sounds like you are planning to make some changes to improve your system for next year.
I don’t think most people can believe that a newly hatched caterpillar can crawl so far…so quickly! I have found two 1-day caterpillars crawling on the pantyhose when I removed the lid. They’re truly escape-proof!
Your caterpillar experiment had extreme results! Perhaps there was a tachinid convention in Iowa? lol I brought in lots of caterpillars this season. About 15% had parasites. I guess it’s best to stick to eggs and small cats if you can find them. Otherwise tachinid larva/pupae are easy to dispose of.
You still had a successful season, so congrats! and thanks so much for Raising The Migration!
Dawn, what a fantastic season you had! I’m even more excited you are adding to your milkweed collection. Milkweed diversification has been a key component of attracting more monarchs to our garden and getting them to stay. Thank you for raising the migration!
This was my first year and I wasn’t as successful as the others reporting here. I started with 10 cats off my outside milkweed and probably 50% died of parasites. Got 5 to the next stage.
I had a little better luck raising eggs. Probably 90% of the eggs hatched. I tried 50 eggs- so 45 became cats. With the other 5, I had 50 cats – all different ages. But through out the process cats died when thy reached the 1/4 to 1/2 inch mark. Not all of them were on the same plant or in the same enclosure nor did all of them die. so, I’m not sure what was/is causing the deaths. I’ve probably lost 20% from the mystery disease. So I had/have 40 cats reach the next step. Then I lost 2 cats that hung, fell and weren’t viable. I smashed one moving a container. Two eclosed with deformed wings. They had to be euthanized. Leaving 35 at this point (if my math is right).-only 58% success.
In all I’ve released15 monarchs I have 5 monarch chrysalides and I have 4 monarchs ready to hang. And 11 cats of various sizes. I am also still collecting eggs and i have 10 eggs. In California I’m not worried about the cold, but I am cutting back the milkweed in hopes of avoiding disease. (I’ve raised queens as well primarily by mistake, but I’m only counting the monarchs)
I also need to reassess whether I’ve done more harm then good,with a 58% success rate and if I have the heart for it and if I continue next year. Each loss was hard to take.
Probably to much information.
Hi Shari, the first years can be tough while you are developing your system and we’ve all been there. In warm regions where OE is common, more health issues tend to rear their ugly heads. But keep in mind, the survival rate outdoors is only 1-5% so never question that your 58% is having a positive impact on the monarch population.
I’m not sure how much you were rinsing your milkweed, but that will definitely rinse off some OE spores the caterpillars would otherwise ingest. If you are continuing to have disease issues, you might want to keep your numbers down to concentrate on raising healthier monarchs. The more you’re raising, the more difficult it is to keep their enclosure clean. Congratulations of all your successful releases and than you for raising the migration!
Having raised dozens of Monarchs in the past I choose to introduce it to my 8 yr old daughter this year. We searched milkweed on the roadside and on a local lake for cats and eggs. Unfortunately on August 2nd all we found was a single egg. You barely see them in our area anymore. Well we watched “Mylar” hatch and grow. We showed him off to everyone! On the 30th she emerged as beautiful as any. We will surely do this again but I think I will order eggs as well search again. Austintown, Ohio
Hi Barbara, every monarch makes a difference these days so I’m happy to hear you were able to successfully raise Mylar! It was a slower year out east, so lets hope there are more Ohio monarchs in 2015. Otherwise, buying from breeders is an alternative option and I have had a good experience the past two years purchasing from the ones on my supply list.
I released four monarchs in mid-August. They are my first. I am unclear on whether they would be part of the Great Migration. Maybe it is only those emerging in September that are? I also don’t know if they were males or females because at that time I didn’t know you could tell the difference.
Tony, I found your information to be extremely important to my efforts; things like covering the top of a kritter keeper with pantyhose and being careful not to put leaves with any other eggs on them into the cage.
Thanks for all the great info. I expect to be able to raise even more next year using your tips. I don’t think I’ll try for Holli’s record — kudos to Holli! — but I will have the confidence to go for a lot more than I did this year.
Hi Nancy, those were likely the mothers/fathers of the Migration Generation, but without them the migration generation wouldn’t be possible! I’m glad you liked and applied the pantyhose technique. (Once you lose a day old caterpillar, it’s gone forever!)
Thank you for participating in Raise the Migration, and I’m happy to hear you will continue raising next season…
Hello! I have SO appreciated your emails and helpful information. Last year, my daughter and I raised nine caterpillars. Two of the chrysalises didn’t eclose, so we ended up releasing seven, and were determined to try again this year. So… we kept reading and learning and preparing. As we began finding caterpillars, we decided to share. I had given my niece a butterfly raising kit for her birthday, but I don’t think my sister ever sent for the Painted Lady caterpillars, so I asked her if she’d like some monarch caterpillars. They were happy when I gave them a little “starter jar” containing four cats, a sprig of milkweed, and a hand-drawn label. Since they were so excited about that, my daughter and I decided that maybe some other friends we knew might enjoy raising monarchs at the same time as us. We asked a couple of people, who were really excited, especially since their label had my phone number and I said they could call me with any questions they had. Motivated by the enthusiastic responses, I got bold, and posted an offer on my facebook page that if any of my friends would like to get involved and raise some monarch caterpillars to release butterflies, I would be happy to provide them with a “starter jar” of three cats, a sprig of milkweed, and personalized coaching as to what they would need to know. I was blown away by the response. I was out “scouting” for more cats on a daily basis, and thankfully I never had to tell anyone I was out. I had no idea when I got started that the project would grow to such proportions… I provided “starter jars” to 74 people (some came back for seconds), and gave away 240 caterpillars and 9 eggs. I’m still gathering info as to the final tally of releases. My daughter and I raised close to 20 at home, and I had 35 in my classroom. I purchased 25 tags from Monarch Watch, so we tagged 25 of those upon release. I started a facebook group for participants called “Friends of the Monarch” and was delighted to learn that some of those folks enjoyed the experience so much that they also began finding and sharing cats in similar “starter jars” to additional classrooms and friends. It has been a GREAT year for monarch-raising! 🙂 Thanks again for your good work and for sharing your experiences in such an engaging way. My business class is actually taking on the cause of the monarchs as the central focus for Project-Based Learning this year. Lots of possibilities!
Amy, congratulations on your successful season. What I like to hear most is that you’ve introduced so many others to this amazing experience. The more people that get involved, the more success we will have going forward. Raise On! PS…I look forward to hearing more about your project!
This is my 15th year of raising monarchs in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. This year I raised and released 400.
Anita, what an amazing accomplishment that will go a long way toward helping the monarch population recover. Thank you!
I’ve always been interested in the Monarch migration, I worked out side all my career and someone commented that those are Monarchs, so I’d look forward to seeing them each year. This Spring I read that Monarchs were in trouble and was asked to join” Saving the Monarchs”… I ordered some milkweed seeds, not knowing a thing about milkweed, and raised about 8 decent size plants. I watched them grow all summer, they never bloomed. Not knowing what to look for, I would occasionally see Monarchs in my yard visiting my blooming Zinnias and other flowers. Then around Aug 15th I found my first egg, learned this from you site, Tony.
I bought a butterfly cage, dug up 3 of the plants, no eggs on them, and put them in the cage. I removed the leaves with the eggs and put them in a separate container, again Tony’s advice and as the cats grew, I moved them to the plants in the cage. One day I found 2 almost full size caterpillars on one of the outside plants. I moved them on to the plants in the cage. These tow cats were the first to hang up on the roof of the cage and turn into Chrysalis’. A few days later, I noticed the “white threads” coming out of one of the chrysalis. I immediately knew, again from Tony, that the fly had gotten to the cat, probably before I brought them to the cage. Of course I destroyed it.
So far I’ve released 6 butterflies, 4 females 2 males. I’ve lost 2 butterflies after they emerged, one had deformed wings, the other just couldn’t fly, although it looked perfect in form…Here, then middle of Sept., almost, I have 8 chrysalis’ and 6 juvenile cats still eating on my remaining tropical milkweed.
Just a note: I had to bring in my last milkweed plant, it had 6 eggs on it and I knew I was running out on tropical milkweed for them to eat, I did experiment with some “common milkweed” that I found on the roadside, here in Mo., and I have to say, they will eat it if that’s all that they have. Thanks Tony for your advise, I’m looking forward to next year, I plan on planting several varieties of Milkweed, including the common milkweed so I have plenty for the cats. I’m also going to purchase 2 more cages to I can separate and isolate as needed.
wow Poppy,
I’m inspired by everything you’ve accomplished your first season…and you’re already planning to improve your process for next season. I have no doubt you will regularly be raising with an over 90% survival rate in no time!
I’m glad to hear you are diversifying your milkweed too. The more you have to offer, the likelier you are to entice an expectant monarch to drop off her kids in your milkweed patch. Good luck with your remaining caterpillars!
I released 170 so far, and I have three in chrysalis to be released this week. I am very grateful to you, Tony, for having great information for me to use, and for the occasional email answers you provide to me. I never raised so many, and this is my third year. I think last year I released around 20. It is a wonderful experience, and a lot of work, but so worth it. Thanks for all your help.
Pat, thank you for being part of the MBG community…this has been a season to remember. I am happy to hear that the info here has been helpful….congrats on a successful season!
I live in Southern CA, so I’m not sure if my stats count? I originally brought in 30 eggs from my backyard milkweed Aug. 19-22. Almost all of those hatched around August 26th and 27th. I found another 10 caterpillars along the way that either I missed the eggs or they were deposited later. I had 5 cats die from parasites. One got squished in the zipper of the hamper. Lesson #1, always check the zipper for lounging cats. I currently have 34 chrysalids. They should begin to eclose around September 23-30. Lesson #2 Always check for snakes when going to check your milkweed sprouts. (eek)
p.s. All of the chrysalids look very green and healthy!!!!
Hi Stacey, since no one can say for sure where a certain monarch will go, every monarch counts! And even if you have more generations this season, your monarchs will be the parents or grandparents of the migration generation. In the future, you might want to consider a side opening cage…it’s much easier to avoid zipping accidents. Sorry to hear about your parasites, but happy to hear the majority were healthy! Thank you for all you’re doing for the western monarchs…I hope the population out there continues to rise like last year.
As for the snakes…I knew there was an advantage to living in Minnesota 😉
I raised 5 from eggs early August and released released August 25th, 2014, 3 males and 2 females not sure if they will part of the migration but I sure hope so. Late August I purchased 10 cats from butterflybushes.com 2 died, but I did have 8 healthy butterflies 6 were released today 4 males and 2 females and have 2 more that will eclose tomorrow. Here’s hoping they make to Mexico and survive the Winter. This is my first participating in the raise the migration. This is my 4th year raising Monarchs. I one thing I learned is it is easier to start with a small potted plant when you first have the eggs hatch because the cats are so tiny to see.
Hi Leo, I also used the the plant that came from Rose Franklin’s perennials. That’s why I try to get them to lay eggs on our potted milkweed. It’s almost effortless when you can start them off like that! It sounds like you had a very successful season. Thank you for joining us to raise the Migration!
I’ve added up all the eggs, caterpillars and butterflies that have went through my hands this year (this was my first year breeding too) and it’s well over 450!! I personally raised 340 myself.. I still have 41 cats yet to make a chrysalis.. I have some to release today, and still have chrysalis that will eclose next week.
Wow Holli, I am amazed at what you’ve accomplished. You are sure to have quite a positive impact on the 2015 population. Thank you for Raising the Migration!
What the—!!! Where do you keep 390 caterpillars? How do you feed them?
This was my first ever attempt at raising monarchs, so the entire experience was a lesson. I brought in 3 eggs and two newborn caterpillars…all 5 became beautiful, healthy butterflies (2 females, 3 males). I can’t wait to do it again next season, and I think several friends will join me as well!
Congratulations on your perfect season, Carolyn. What a way to start off! I’m also happy to hear you are also getting more people involved next season. Thank you for sharing the joy of butterflies, and helping the struggling monarch population!
I’ve released eight Monarch butterflies this month, and will release the ninth one today. I have another 14 chrysalises, so it’s been a good season. I found far more eggs and caterpillars in my garden than I could handle so I gave away 15 cats and 15 eggs. It’s been a much better season than last year, and I hope 2015 will be even better. I doubled my patch of Milkweeds this year and will probably grow even more next year.
Vineeta, it sounds like you were rewarded in monarchs for increasing your milkweed supply. Thank you for Raising the Migration!
Tony thank you for your wonderful, useful Monarch raising information. I think the Monarch community should name you an honorary Monarch butterfly! There were many more Monarchs in my urban Chicago garden this year than last. I only raised four–one is still in a chrysalis but looking good and due to eclose in the next day or two. The weather is very cold right now, so I’m hoping that this will happen tomorrow or Tuesday; Tuesday is supposed to be sunny and in the high 60s, with little wind. I lost one caterpillar, who hatched but didn’t eat or grow and in a couple of days fell off his leaf. I used two Styrofoam coolers with cheesecloth tied over the top. I have tons of common milkweed, which is where I found the eggs (which I identified thanks to you), although I also have butterfly weed and swamp milkweed. Next year I’ll try tropical milkweed, as it sounds like you found it useful. Hope I can find some! My garden is a native plant garden, but for Monarchs I’m willing to compromise. Thank you again; I hope to raise lots more Monarchs next year. Good luck and thank you to all the Monarch raising community.
Hi Diane, thank you for your kind words. That’s great you were able to use your common milkweed so late in the season. I’ve never used a styrofoam cage but I hear its a good option in case your butterflies fall, they can easily climb up the sides. I’m sure there is tropical milkweed located at a nursery, or plant sale in your area. You can also search it out online on my milkweed resources page. You still have plenty of time to release your butterfly…it is warming up in the upper midwest this week. Congratulations on a successful first season!
Milkweed Resources
First try at raising monarchs. Released about 15. Released 9 tagged monarchs. All were females! Two cats were squashed. Two pupae didn’t make it. One cat just got sluggish and died. Ordered eggs from Rose Franklin. Learned a lot. Need about a month or so to go from egg to butterfly. Hopefully made a small difference in number of monarchs in my area.
Great experience.
Congratulations Mike…with all those females, it sounds like you will be contributing to an eggs-citing start for 2015! I’m glad you enjoyed the experience.
I raised 30 or so successfully–only one stopped eating/growing and eventually died. There were also many outside on my balloon plant that I had to leave outside because I ran out of milkweed. I know that at least a few of these successfully turned into butterflies because I found their empty chrysalises around my yard, I am in Florida.
Hi Seana, that is great news! I’m happy to hear that some of the ones outdoors made it too…I have never found a chrysalis in our garden before. Enjoy those Florida monarchs. You still have plenty of season to go!