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Butterfly Garden

Monarchs and black chrysalis

13 years ago

For the last 2 summers I have had some turn black. I am not raising these. They are on the plants by my front porch and some of the chrsalises hang on my porch and front door. Some of the chrsalises turn black. Some are ok. From what I read, the plants start fresh after the winter. I was wondering if that was correct or should I destroy them and start with new plants. These are in large pots on each side of my steps. They die back completely in the winter.They are growing back now.

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Comments (2)

butterflyman
13 years ago
It does sounds like a disease on the Monarchs, not the plants. If you get any more of the black chrysalises I would destroy those or throw them in the trash. I wouldn't worry about the plant.
tdogmom
13 years ago
I am assuming when you say the pupae turned black that you mean they did not eclose into butterfliesÂ

IF they did indeed turn totally black, then your pupae ended up with what is called 'Black Death.' These should be destroyed and should be carefully destroyed. If you should happen to accidentally drop one, be in for the most noxious odour ever! We actually have a lovely (no pun intended) info page on the FAQ section on this that you may want to read. :)
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Did you checkout Butterflyfunfacts? This is the website of a butterflybreeder I know. They raise thousands of monarchs and have some interesting information. First of all. Once the chrysalis is hard, gentle handling should not of caused this. However, if the chrysalis was not hard yet, it most certainly can be caused by handling. In fact, that is why I wanted you to check out the web site. It has pictures of chysalises with simillar damage caused by a punctures from the cremaster of another chrysalis. All of us have handled lots of chrysalises. The first few times it is scary. I remember. I thought for sure I was killing the butterfly. As long as it is hard you will not do any damage. Remember that there many farms around the world that ship chrysalises to butterfly exhibits in the US. They are handled many times and glued or pinned, where they then eclose just fine. After all they pay good money for them :)! -Elisabeth
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The monarch usually emerges from its chrysalis in 10 to 14 days. The chrysalis will become very transparent and you can see the black and orange wings inside. That's when you know it's getting close to emerging. I have a video on my blog of one of my monarchs emerging. My Blog
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That chrysalis looks pretty normal to me too - this summer I raised 20 Monarchs from mostly eggs to pupae. 19 out of 20 eclosed successfully. One had kind of a brownish tint to the pupa, and when it eclosed it fell to the bottom of the container and was there for an hour or so before I noticed it. By that time, the wings were all mangled and so I euthanized it. Interestingly, it was the only one that pupated on a stick and not on the top of the container, where I had taped across some paper towel. I think this one was sickly anyway (possibly OE), if it didn't have strength to cling to the chrysalis or the stick, and expand and wiggle its wings. Hope you get a beautiful Monarch or two from the chrysalides. For me, the most exciting moments are when they pupate, when they eclose, and then when they fly off!
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Nice! It’s fun to watch the various stages. We were watching one last year and managed to get the following pics. I had never realized it had all those gold markings on it
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