Cool!

Fantastic, Randy! I love those spiral bands of color!
I've planted lots of different types of MW seed, hoping to get some native types - I'd love to be able to naturalize some on my property, like you have.
MissSherry

Aren't they cute? Tell us how Amber is reacting to the growth of her caterpillars!

I'm curious as to what kind of digital you use, Randy. I have a Sony Cybershot with a Carl Zeiss lens. But, your camera really takes some good shots.

Susan

Hi Susan

Amber is pretty excited. I think she would like them to grow a little faster to the point they were in the cage and on plants that she could pick up and hold.

My camera is a little on the old side now. It's a Cannon Powershot A80.

randy

MissSherry

I have an area planned much closer to the house on our property to get native milkweed established. All the milkweed now is bordering the road next to our property, technically belonging to someone else. He doesn't mind milkweed poachers and egg snatchers. :-)

randy

Hee Hee - isn't it egg poachers and milkweed snatchers? Just joking!

You're so lucky, Randy, to have those fields of milkweed! What I wouldn't give..........sigh.

Mowing the roadsides is what is destroying a lot of the milkweed, the caterpillars, etc. So, you're actually "saving" not only the plants, but the cats as well!

Susan

How's the cats, Randy? Are they growing??? Have you been the getting the rains lately that I have? One thing that I did not point out is that Monarch cats do not do well with wet, rainy weather and wet milkweed. It tends to give them a "tummyache", with diarrhea. When you bring in cuttings for them, be sure to try let the leaves "aidry" or dry off with a small fan, or ceiling fan before giving it to the lil "munchkins". Sometimes, if they get a "tummyache", they won't eat the rest the of the day, and may begin eating the next. Sometimes, they never seem to recover. If, they do become sick, try to isolate them from the healthy ones in case that they have a virus.

Always watch for bugs and spiders when bringing in milkweed cuttings.

If the rains and cooler weather keep up, I may have to see about setting up some growlights in the garage for my milkweed seedlings. :)

Are you finding any cats on the milkweeds in the ditches? The rain and cooler weather can't be good for them.

Keep in touch.

Here's a link that may be helpful.
Scroll down to How to care for butterfly eggs.

Here is a link that might be useful: Raising caterpillars

Hi Linda

Cats are growing and seem to be doing fine. One that hatched never ate anything and died. I did isolate it from the others when I noticed it wouldn't eat.

Our road sets much lower than the ground around it, so there really aren't any ditches. I think that's why there is so much milkweed close to it. This spot grows little of anything and has never been mowed that I know of. When they cut the pasture for hay, they leave this spot alone because it's not worth cutting. Guess that's been great for the butterflies.

I've not found any cats in the pasture yet, but there are a lot of eggs. We need to collect some when they are close to hatching. I need to run to the store and buy more plastic containers.

How big do the cats need to be before you move them to cages and out of the little rubbermaid containers?

randy

Checked the cats this morning and I was shocked at how big they are. They've almost doubled in size since yesterday and the milkweed is almost gone. I had one cat to one big leaf. Wow! Need to double that now.

randy

I don't know about Linda, but I usually move mine in the 3rd instar of growth.

I usually go to the Dollar Store and buy cheap little plastic containers similar to the Glad containers. Rubbermaids are too expensive for me. I also save containers I get salads or other food in, wash them in bleach water (10:1), poke holes in the top for air circulation, and use those, too.

For container ideas, I use those huge pretzel containers that you get at Sam's, for larger cats. I also have some mesh pop-ups as well. I also have cleaned out big water and juice containers and cut them down, cover them with saran wrap, poke holes in the saran wrap and rubber band them to the container. You could also use fine screening, too. Or, if you can poke holes in the plastic lids, that would work as well. You can be really creative with the type of containers used. Tdogmom uses styrofoam or paper cups, as I recall, too.

You're so lucky you have all that milkweed growing wild!

Susan

Randy, you can move them out of the small containers whenever you want. Judy (www.butterflynature.com)never takes hers out of containers, only graduates to larger containers. I just like to wait for them to get a lil size to them, so that it is easier to find them in the larger enclosures. The larger that they get, the more they eat, the larger the frass (poop), and the more they poop!

Are your milkweed leaves growing larger? You will need to get larger cuttings, and more of it, as the cats grow depending how they eat. When I move them to the larger enclosures, I put the mw cuttings in the ziploc containers with the water oasis inside the container, and drill holes in the lids to put the mw cuttings in. You don't want the holes too large for the cats to crawl down into the holes, and drown. :(

I like to set the containers close to the screen of the enclosure. The Monarch cats like to crawl onto the screen when they are ready to change instars (shedding their skin).

Sounds like you and Amber are doing an "excellent" job on 1st time raising Monarch caterpillars!!! Way to go!!! We thank you, and the Monarchs thank you. :)

I am getting low on native mw. I keep hoping that more will pop up any day. Perhaps, with the 70 degree days that they are predicting the next 3 days? I have found that the cats found on swamp mw are more willing to go to the Trop. mw once they get a lil size to them. The ones that I've found on the Showy mw have not adapted to the Trop. mw at all. They've been dying on me. Don't know if it has anything to do with the toxicity of it???

Keep us posted.

Thanks Susan and Linda.

I transferred everyone to sterile containers this morning since I need to resupply milkweed. One of the cats was on the mesh at the top of the container.

If you are needing more native milkweed cuttings, email me and I'll give you my cell phone #. You and Susan can come by and get some since you will be down this way today.

randy

Thanks for the offer, Randy. We just couldn't get things worked out for us to get together today. Would have loved to have come over and seen your setup, and wonderful place. I believe that you do not live very far from Elaine. I've been encouraging her to come over, so that she will learn to recognize native milkweed in a natural setting. I do plan to come, sometime.

Do you think that you'll be able to start some plants from some of your cuttings since you have quite the green thumb? I would love to have some viridis plants. :)

Linda

I've located a number of first year seedlings of viridis I'm going to dig up. I've collected a couple of larger plants and they seem to be doing ok so far.

randy

Thank you, Randy. That is so kind of you. Kuul!!!