7 Signs You’re Addicted to Raising Monarch Butterflies
Hi, My Name is ____ and I’m Addicted to Raising Monarchs
If you’re reading this article, you might know somebody that can fill in the sentence above…that person might even be you? This article isn’t about judgement or shame, but simply helping people successfully raise monarch butterflies without letting it take over their life! 🙃
When I started raising monarch butterflies, I was awed and amazed by their life-changing transformation that occurred in just 30 short days. I couldn’t get enough of this exciting new hobby so I raised more, and more…and then even a few more.
I was up to my ears in caterpillars….and caterpillar frass (poop)! While I enjoyed the experience, there came a point when it started getting out of control, and it seemed as if there wasn’t enough time in the day to raise monarch butterflies and have a life outside the caterpillar cage…
So what’s a butterfly lover to do?
You can give in to every raising urge and be completely consumed by this potentially addictive hobby or…
You can set some raising goals and guidelines before the season starts, to make this hobby a happier and healthier experience for both you and your monarch guests!
7 Signs You’re Addicted to Raising Monarch butterflies
1st Sign: There’s 50 monarchs inside your raising cage designed to fit 20
Set Raising Limits
Personally, I stick to raising 10 monarch eggs and/or caterpillars at one time. I keep monarch caterpillars in a large mesh cage that can easily accommodate double that number. However, 10 (or less) keeps cleaning time to a minimum.
Once you’re at the 10 to 20 monarch limit, don’t scoop up more monarchs until the final butterfly ecloses (hatches from its chrysalis). Then, you can disinfect your habitat cage with a 10% bleach solution, and start raising again, if you so choose…
I promise you’ll enjoy this hobby more if you stick to raising a small number. You’ll also produce healthier monarchs that won’t spread disease to the wild population after you release them.
2nd Sign: You can’t walk by a milkweed patch without frantically looking under every leaf in case you missed an egg/caterpillar when you scoured the patch 10 minutes ago.
Don’t go out on milkweed patrol when your monarch motel has no vacancies…especially if you can’t say “no” when finding unclaimed eggs or caterpillars.
In this case, ignorance is bliss. Otherwise, the guilt of knowing there are monarchs outside is too much to handle for some, and that’s when you start getting into trouble. “I already have 20, what’s 20 more?” By now, you probably know the answer…
3rd Sign: It takes hours to feed and clean up after your caterpillars on a daily basis.
Follow a system that makes the raising process simpler
An example of a time-saving raising technique would be raising caterpillars on milkweed cuttings so you don’t have to switch out milkweed leaves every day.
4th Sign: You’re outside shooing away any monarch predator that gets within 5 feet of a milkweed plant
BREAKING NEWS: Monarch predators are not your enemy!
Yes, this may sound shocking and counterintuitive to your raising success, but think about it for a second…
A monarch female can lay more than 400 eggs. What if mama decides to gift you with even a quarter of her babies. If you don’t have 100 plants to feed those hungry monarchs then those monarchs will die for a different reason…because you weren’t able to feed them.
Or, worse yet, you’ll end up buying emergency milkweed that had been unknowingly treated with monarch-ending pesticides!
A healthy ecosystem is made up of both monarchs and their predators. Let nature work the way it was intended…otherwise, the impossible responsibility of feeding hundreds of monarchs will fall back on you.
5th Sign: You collected 50 eggs/caterpillars and you only have two milkweed plants
Did you know just 1 to 2 caterpillars can devour an entire milkweed plant during their two week life cycle? This not-so-fun fact is an extreme shock to many first-time raisers.
Establish several milkweed patches and types of milkweed before taking in more munching monarch mouths than you’re ready to feed.
Too many people want to jump into the raising pool without their milkweed life jackets. In order to support monarchs, you need to have established milkweed, or have access to a reliable patch close by… this means it’s not treated with pesticides and it won’t be mowed down over the summer!
Establishing 3-4 asclepias species that peak at different times of the season is a good goal for your garden.
A popular milkweed trifecta for both monarchs and their gardeners are common milkweed, swamp milkweed, and tropical milkweed. A suitable western substitute for common is showy milkweed.
Having several varieties insures there’s always viable milkweed available when the monarchs come calling…
6th Sign: All the cucumbers and butternut squash in your refrigerator are reserved for monarch emergencies.
If your confused about what this means, there’s still hope for you…
Milkweed is the only proven plant food that can be used to grow healthy butterflies through the monarch caterpillar life cycle. In case of milkweed emergencies, check out these options:
9 Options for when you Run out of Milkweed
7th Sign: You’re missing out on long weekend trips because no one can stay with your babies…and remain uncomfortably silent when your friends remind you that your “babies” are college graduates…
Planned Parenthood!
Many regions throughout the US and Canada have at least 2-3 generations of monarchs they could raise. What time of the spring/summer/fall works best for you and your busy schedule? When are monarchs in your region?
Plan to raise monarchs when you can commit to a 30-day period.
That doesn’t mean that you can can’t have a life for an entire month, but it means you shouldn’t be raising monarchs if you have to be out of town for two weeks.
There are raising techniques you can utilize, that would allow you to leave your monarchs unattended for up to a week, depending on the size of the caterpillars.
Now that you have some ideas on how to keep raising monarch butterflies manageable, it can be the fun and exciting hobby you always intended it to be…Happy Raising! Get more info on raising monarchs from tiny egg to beautiful butterfly:
Hi Tony, I live in Santa Monica, California and have been concerned that there have only been a handful of cats on my 30 or so milkweed plants (Asclepias curassavica yellow) since May this year. I have so many plants around my front and back gardens because they are always defoliated by the middle of summer by the cats and I add more to keep them fed, but this year has been different. There are always a few Monarchs flying around and I see them laying eggs, but I don’t go looking for the eggs. I have milkweed bugs, occasional oleander aphids and rarely ladybugs. But I wonder if you have any ideas. Thank you. I have a photo of some of my garden, but don’t know if it’s postable here.
Hi Pam, there are many factors that affect local populations. With the excessive heat and California fires, this may have moved some local populations to different regions. Since tracking only shows us ‘where they end up’, there’s still much to discover about seasonal flight behavior.
I just started this summer with a couple of different varieties planted from seeds this past Spring. Planted them in a warm sunny spot and they grew like ‘weeds’ and became a well maintained patch. I questioned the ability of any monarch to actually find us, but was pleasantly surprised when we discovered the first caterpillar. We now have between 30 and 40 devouring the patch. We are excited and watch them every day. But here’s our concern . . . the seed pods are breaking open and seeds are floating everywhere. How do you control the spread of milkweed into areas you don’t want it?
Hi George, cut off the seed pods prematurely or put organza bags over them to harvest the seeds:
Harvesting Milkweed Seeds
Another few signs?
#8: You can spot a patch of milkweed by the side of the road doing 70 mph!
#9: You have more milkweed leaves in your refrigerator than salad greens!
My adult kids enjoyed this post as they saw some of the above behaviors for many of the years they lived at home.
Your site is great. Thanks for sharing so much good information. So far this year has been a good one in New Jersey!
Thank you for the new signs Marcia and happy to hear of your success out east…
I have a question.
When I find cats or eggs on my pink Swamp Milkweed or “Asclepias incarnata” will they eat the leaves of the orange “Asclepias tuberosa”? So far I have found several at various stages on the pink but none on my orange plants. Every year I have raised them with my pink plants, but this year I have planted other varieties of milkweed. Do they prefer the variety that they hatched out on or will any milkweed do?
Hi, if they start on another variety, it can be difficult to get them to switch over to Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed). Otherwise, it’s easy to switch them to other varieties.
I was in a bind a couple of weeks ago when a trip out of town ( Minnetonka, MN) was coming up we were going to the North shore of Lake Superior. I had 5 “cats” that needed feeding and thought of the greenhouse (Tonkadale) near my home. They were so accommodating ….They let me add my poor little cats to their butterfly rearing cage which is out side of the greenhouse, safe from predators and rain storms. I will be forever grateful!
Good to hear Judy, these are on my local resources list:
Minnesota Butterfly Garden Resources
Hi Tony,
So my boyfriend came in from outside and told me we lost a chrysalis. It wasn’t disease; it was those big red wasps. I apologize to everyone here, but we went on a swatting spree. I got really upset and we put together the large raising cage that came in the mail yesterday. We hung it under the porch. I clipped milkweed and stuck it in the floral tubes. We gathered up two caterpillars that were on the side of the house and put them in their new home. We have four healthy chrysalis and we have been outside every hour in 100 degree heat scouring the area for those darn wasps. Question: Can the chrysalis be moved? They are about a week old. Beautiful color. I don’t want to lose them. Thank you for your website and the awesome support you give everyone. Tim says you rock. Lori and Tim from Houston TX
Hi Lori, it’s impossible to effectively patrol the garden for predators…especially when many come out at night. Yes, chrysalides can be moved. More info here:
Rehanging Chrysalides
PS…you and Tim rock too. Thank you for making a difference!
Can your first caterpillar become addicting? Appears so . I live next door in Edina and have long raised milkweed transplanted from our Iowa farm. (Our grove of trees by the barn sometimes hosted thousands of monarchs migrating through.). My sister gifted me with one of your large cages. Found a caterpillar a couple weeks ago and started on a big learning curves. Beginners’ luck perhaps but each stage was exciting and yesterday the butterfly (christened Amelia) flew off into her blue skies. Why was it a bit sad? Now I’m guessing it means I will be trying to find another caterpillar or maybe an egg or two. ?Appreciate this new adventure and your helpful info as we do our part to preserve a piece of our beautiful world.
Hello neighbor ? you still have time to raise monarchs this season if you have viable milkweed. We typically get eggs through most of August so keep looking!
As a first-time monarch fosterer, I am so thankful for your website! So many of my questions answered already – thank you! (And yes, I think I am addicted!) I do have one question I couldn’t find an answer to yet… If I find a monarch caterpillar that’s only an inch long on a non-host plant, should I relocate it to a host plant? I did so today but then had “mover’s regret” and thought maybe I was over-helping! Your guidance would be so appreciated. And next year, I am buying some of your nice mesh containers! With thanks, Julie in western Massachusetts
Hi Julie and welcome! Caterpillars sometimes move off plants to molt (shed their skin) and then crawl back to milkweed when they are done. If there’s milkweed close by, you can leave them unless you want to raise indoors.
Hi Tony – thank you so much for the reply! The small one I relocated did end up forming a chrysalis outdoors OK, although on the milkweed plant itself. I’ve got seven chrysalides indoors in makeshift mesh containers so far. Limiting my indoor group to 12-15 (based on your good advice!) and expecting to have more form outdoors. Bumper crop here in western MA!
I left Karaoke after singing just 2 songs, because I had to go home and make sure my caterpillars had enough milkweed.
Who leaves their caterpillars at home for Karaoke? ?
I admit I am totally addicted to my caterpillars. I’m sure I am not the only person that talks to the caterpillars. I
put my caterpillars different containers according to their size. They all happy.
My granddaughter and I went to New Orleans a couple years ago. I carried a bunch of containers with me. The caterpillars were various instars. No way they could stay stay home alone. My granddaughter doesn’t like caterpillars at all. We stopped to get soething to eat and I was getting one container up front to check on them…oops I accidentally dumped all the caterpillars on her head. She wasn’t happy but I couldn’t stop laughing just looking at her face. All caterpillars were find.
Thank you Tony for your book and all the helpful info you have provided. This was my first attempt at raising Monarchs, but we have had a wonderful season. We began in April and out first release was on Mothers Day. Since, we have had 256 successful releases with two Chrysalis left to go. I have been harvesting the seeds from our established Milkweeds and are raising new Milkweed plants like crazy. We are up to 6 separate habitats and I believe in generation 4, but it’s hard to tell here in So. California since they really don’t migrate. It’s been such a wonderful experience, but I couldn’t have done so well without your help. So again, thank you!
Hi Margo, I am happy to hear you are having so much success…congrats!
I collected eggs after the butterfly visited my milkweed on 5/7. I put the leaf pieces into a container with paper towel as shown in your pictures and have kept it moist. It’s 7 days today and no sign of hatching yet. How long could it take? It’s been pretty cool here, just beginning to warm up, could this be the reason? How long should I wait before giving up?
Hi Sonja, 7 days is usually about the limit…are the eggs still light colored? Was there too much moisture in the container…do you see any mold?If the eggs still look ok, you can give them a couple more days to see if they darken and hatch…
Those droplets of hardened milky juices can really be confused with eggs until you have experience.
This is the second year we’re trying to raise Monarchs. The first time, the nursery in Stuart, FL gave us lots of cats of various sizes and we bought lots of milkweed plants to feed them. Much success and releases, although I found a few of them deceased on the floor of our screened in patio (rainstorm victims?). I took the denuded branches and placed them into water, rooted them and then planted them on the east side of our house in a protected location. We got new milkweed plants and were delighted to find cats of all ages crawling and forming crysts. Imagine my excitement when I was putting in new tomato plants near the milkweek “survivors” and I saw a female monarch flutter over to the plants, hover and deposit eggs. An investigation later that day showed about ten eggs, but I’m sure there are more. We have two adult monarchs on the screened in patio now and will release them when I get home from work.
congrats Judy on your successful start of season 2!
Ok i must know… Gatorade, cucumbers, and butternut squash? #whydontiknowthis #yesaddicted
Hello, gatorade is often used to feed adult butterflies if you have to keep them due to inclement weather. Butternut squash and cucumbers can be used in emergency situations to feed large instar 4-5 caterpillars. There’s not any known info about how this effects them, but some raisers have used these alternative food sources to successfully get them to the next stage of metamorphosis…
Awesome. Thank you so much, Tony!!
It is the leaves of the plant or the fruit of the cucumber & squash that you use to feed your monarchs?
it’s the actual fruit, and this is recommended as a last resort if you can’t find milkweed.
Can milkweed leaves be frozen then thawed for use?
I had over 50 caterpillars this spring, saddened to say, I was going out of town for the weekend and bought a few plants from Lowes to get them through the weekend. The plants must have been sprayed. All died but one, I was heartbroken and felt stupid. I bought plants before from there with live caterpillars. Looking forward to the next batch. And planning ahead.
Hi Robin, sorry to hear about your caterpillars. I am starting to hear more of these stories again now that the season has started. It’s frustrating that this is still an issue…especially with milkweed that is most often purchased specifically to feed caterpillars. Glad to hear you are planning ahead for the next batch. Things typically go much smoother when you don’t have to find an emergency milkweed run. good luck!
Hi Tony- so glad I found your blog. I live in Southern CA and had 2 milkweed plants on my 3rd floor patio (7’x7′ space). I now have about 30 cats which just appeared one day. I thought I’d get maybe 4-5 being up so high. So I scrambled and bought 7 more small plants (BT free, I made sure) because they stripped those 2 in about 10 days. Anyway I have plenty of food for them now but I’ve noticed that some seemed to have formed their chrysalis too early and they’re very tiny, and I have others that just keep eating when they appear to me to be way past the point they should pupate. Is this due to overcrowding? They did run out of food for half a day before I could get to the nursery and buy them more. Maybe it’s a reaction to that? Thanks for any input you may have. 🙂
Hi Heather, it’s hard to say what’s going on without seeing your entire set up. I can tell you, running out of food can screw up the metamorphic process, but I think most can recover if they are healthy. I am not sure where you get your milkweed, but many people have bought what they though was pesticide free milkweed…only to find out it wasn’t. If you have a garden, it’s always good to try and establish your own supply before getting into serious raising.
If some of your caterpillars are too small to pupate, you could also have issues with tachinid flies. Here are some common monarch health issues:
6 Common Monarch Diseases and Caterpillar Killers
I’m going away for a few weeks and I knew it would be cruel to leave my cats and eggs in the “nursery”. It’s driving me crazy to let nature take its course 🙁
I know it’s hard Lee, but once you accept that you can’t save them all, it will give you some peace of mind. Just think about all you’re doing to help. If you can’t find someone in your area to take them off your hands, I would suggest spreading them out around the yard so that hopefully a few will be able to avoid detection.
Raising monarchs for the last 5 years. Last year was a new record-150. Multiple cages, lots of available milkweed, plenty of time to devote to raising them. Had a wedding to go to four hours north, so the remaining cats went to a friend and I took the remaining chrysalis with us. They traveled well, emerged and where released with no problems. Now I have to plan my hobby more because of upcoming travels this season. Our weather is real cool right now and I’ve only found 6 eggs last week, and sighted only 1 female .
Hi Matt, it sounds like you have really embraced your new hobby and are also helping to get the monarch population back on track…have a fantastic season!
Hi Tony,
My first wave is done. I learned a lot from your book I downloaded, answered a bunch of my questions. I raised 27 cats, feeding them by hand ( work ) and lost the first 5 as they eclosed. I was heartbroken so I put the mesh cage I bought closer to the window and as soon as the chrysalis got more light , success! The next 22 all flew, some better then others. I released 7 males and 15 females.
I am now trying putting the potted milkweed in a cage ( not the one I used for the butterfly’s ) . So far I’ve raised 4 cats ( 1 is a queen butterfly, it’s chrysalis now ) and 3 monarchs, one still a cat. They stripped a $30 milkweed plant. When it looked like they were ready to form a chrysalis I put them in a container where i could hand feed them for the last few days as a cat and they could hang in peace. Less hassle for me to move them from the cage. I now have plenty of milkweed plants so no more stress looking for food and the stripped plant is recovering nicely.
Tony, thanks for your booklet and advice.
Jerry
Jerry, nice to hear of your success and that you now have a sufficient supply of milkweed…milkweed shortages make for stressful raising! Have a great season…
Hi Tony,
I have to admit, our family is addicted to raising monarchs. It seemed like everyday last summer, our girls would somehow find one more caterpillar to bring in. In the beginning, we fed the caterpillars individual swamp milkweed leaves. However, we felt bad when the caterpillars tried to crawl under the leaves for protection. Plus it was difficult to find them, and a pain in the butt to go out everyday for new leaves.
Then someone suggested stem cuttings. We were surprised to find that if you put your swamp milkweed cuttings in water right away, the leaves stay fresh for weeks (or at least until the caterpillars eat them). It’s hard to do because everyone loves flowers, but when we collect stem cuttings, we always give each caterpillar a flower bud right before it opens. They absolutely love the buds (once they can fit it into their mouths) more than they like the leaves.
So if you haven’t raised monarchs on stem cuttings, give it a try. You save time not having to run outside everyday finding fresh leaves for the caterpillars, and it’s lots of fun to watch the caterpillars crawl all over themselves eating the flower buds. It’s also cute to watch as two little filaments appear out of nowhere from the underside of the leaf as the caterpillar gets ready to eat the leaf.
Hopefully this will be a great year for raising monarchs.
Hi Brian, thanks for sharing your experience and tips. We use both potted plants and cuttings to save time, but I’m starting to use cuttings more because sometimes small predators stowaway on the potted plants…have a great season!
What a great post for Mother’s Day! I can relate in SO many ways!! It’s getting me excited for all the other “children” that will be entering my house in a few months (and the endless feeding, cleaning up frass and sending them off into the world that monarch parents must do….because I don’t already have enough of that with my human children!) Already working on lining up babysitting for when we’re on vacation in August (the things we do for these insects!)
Happy Mother’s Day Katie! Good for you for making those “babysitting” arrangements well in advance. A little planning makes this exciting hobby even more enjoyable, with less stress…
Here’s another: You experience Empty Nest Syndrome when your last monarch of the season flies off to Mexico.
Last fall I had a large group of late-season monarchs hatch at the same time but cold weather made it impossible to release them. My wife and I put up our screened camping shelter in the living room, added a vase of flowers from the garden and let the butterflies safely fly around inside until the weather warmed up.
Definitely Steve, I’ve done that a few times myself. That’s an important part of raising the migration generation though…you’ve got to give them the best chance possible so they can reach their overwintering destination, and return next spring to kick of a new season of magnificent monarchs.