9 mature Monarch Cats - 2 new hatchlings

10 years ago

I was gifted with 9 Monarch eggs that are beginning to pupate, three lovely green chrysalides and two in the J so far.

While washing fresh MW for them three days ago, I discovered two more tiny eggs. If these two mature, it will be 11 more Monarchs heading toward Mexico.

I searched all the milkweed, but if there were more 'recent' eggs, I couldn't find them. It's a pretty slim count so far this year but happy to have been able to raise these little guys.

I'm really dismayed by the spotty sightings reported on this forum. I hope next year the spring weather is normal, all of our MW plantings come up on time and the remaining Monarchs have a successful journey north.

On a more positive note, I've had gads of Pipevine, Black Swallowtail, Giant Swallowtail, two generations of Spicebush and many other assorted little visitors, plus many Eastern Tiger's visiting every day. We must have their host growing somewhere nearby as they were abundant all summer. If only the Monarchs had been able to participate! :-(

Mary

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Comments (13)

Leafhead
10 years ago
Amen to that!! Here's hoping for a brighter future for the Monarch and other butterflies.
Mary Leek
Original Author
10 years ago
I'm finding more tiny hatchlings today so be on the lookout and check your milkweed closely! Even though I've not seen mama Monarch, they are on the move now.

Sandy, your method of keeping the tiny cats in a sealed container for the first few days is working beautifully. Of course, I replace their diaper daily and provide fresh food but they seem to be happy (and safe) as can be in their little container.

Mary
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I wasn't looking for eggs/cats before last week, but I found probably about 40 or 50 when I looked. I didn't bring all of them in to raise because I just don't have enough milkweed. I replaced all of my swamp milkweed with tropical milkweed in the spring and with the horribly dry and hot weather we had for a month, the milkweed plants were just barely hanging on; as a matter of fact, I probably lost about 1/3 of them. I usually raise hundreds of Monarchs every year but won't this year because of the sparseness of milkweed and also because I really have to get some other things done. I have so much weeding to do that I honestly don't have the time to raise a lot of cats. It's a Catch 22...I planted a ton of host and nectar plants for many different kinds of butterflies over the past 5 years, but now I have so much weeding to do that the caterpillars get ignored. I wish there were some wonderful solution to my weeding problem, but I know there isn't. I spotted my first Monarch of the year on June 24 but I couldn't tell if it was a male or a female from where I was. I hope more people start seeing Monarchs soon. Cathy
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I raise a small number of monarch cats every year, when they are available. There are very few monarchs in Madison this year, so I have only raised and released one butterfly this season. This is the method I use, which has evolved over time in order to minimize the chance of infection, and to improve the odds of a successful outcome. Each cat is raised in a clean one quart glass canning jar, with a small piece of fiberglass window screen material on the top, held down with a rubber band. To minimize cross-contamination, there is only one caterpillar per jar. The sprigs of milkweed are first rinsed under a stream of cold water, and then dried with a paper towel. I try to keep the end of the sprig, or leaf, in a very small thimble of water, so it stays hydrated. This is probably not necessary, but it makes me feel better. The glass jars are cleaned and rinsed when there is an accumulation of frass. When the 4th or 5th instar is reached, I add a small stick for the cat to climb up on. As a general rule, they climb to the top, and hang from the screen, when they are ready. There is a lot of handwashing involved, as well as glass cleaning. Since this is pretty labor intensive, you can see why I raise only a small number of caterpillars every year-typically around 10. Some years, 9 of 10 will eclose as healthy adults, and some years, it is more like 6 or 7. I know that some people are using disinfectant solutions to clean the milkweed leaves, but I am getting pretty good results with cold running water, so I continue to stick with this method. Be sure to wash your hands well after handling milkweed, and if you happen to touch your eyes with milkweed sap on your fingers, a warm shower will get most of the sap off your skin, and make a trip to the ER not necessary. Unless you have a severe reaction...I hope all goes will with your monarch adventures.
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If they are healthy, the cats will pupate, and hang as chrysalids. They will develop into butterflies in about 9 days, if they are kept at 80 degrees F, approximately. This would give them a jump on the long flight south, to Mexico. If the weather cools, to 60's and 70's, then the chrysalids might require 12 or even 14 days to mature into butterflies. With regard to your potted tropical milkweed, most people consider this plant to be an annual, north of the Mason-Dixon line. It might be best to start over with a new plant, come next spring.
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I just recently planted some Ruellia humilis (the native petunia up here) for the same reason! I want buckeyes to use my plant to lay eggs on! A small Buckeye was one of my first butterflies this year. Right now though, it's like there's a bubble over top of me...I see hardly anything. An occasional skipper or cabbage white...but other than that, nadda. Really weird. As for cameras, I used Amazon to read the reviews and took those with a grain of salt. IMHO, there's too many people that think a bad photo is a good photo and so give a good review of a not so good camera. There's also a lot of people that simply want it on auto, just point and shoot. It's also hard to find reviews about the macro setting on-line. I researched on-line, then headed to Best Buy. I went to Wal-Mart, but the majority of their cameras were really low end and didn't have batteries in them, so I couldn't play with them at all. The person in that dept. wasn't too helpful, not willing to put in batteries, didn't know anything about the different cameras, etc. etc. I wish you good luck in your search!
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docmom_gw
10 years ago
I'm so happy to hear that folk are seeing evidence of Monarchs heading back south, and continuing to lay eggs on the way. It already got really cold here, even frost, so I hope they are long gone from here. Thank-you for continuing the work of keeping them going. I'd love to see some return next year.

Martha
wifey2mikey
10 years ago
Yay Mary! If each of us can raise some, maybe that will help! I'm going to wish for more to come your way since you're willing! :-)

I have released 19 this week, and I have three large containers with approximately 20 caterpillars in each one. I need to do an official count. I included a snapshot of one I missed and later found out on the Oscar milkweed.

~Laura
MissSherry
10 years ago
Congrats to all of you!

I haven't seen a monarch all year. :( Still, I've gotten cats late in the year many times before, as a matter of fact, it's my most common time for cats. Milkweed's waiting!

Sherry
wifey2mikey
10 years ago
I cleaned and counted tonight... I have 74 caterpillars. I have separated them into 4 large containers - one batch of 19 is about to pupate. Some of them are very large!

On a sad note, I did find two in one container that were dead. No clue why. I thoroughly cleaned the container before putting the remaining ones back in.

~Laura
Tony G
10 years ago
Mary and Laura, great to hear you are raising and releasing monarchs for the great migration.

I just released my last monarch in Minnesota this week and am giving people raising tips in "Amazing Raise 1"...even if you weren't signed up, fee free to share how many monarchs you are releasing for the migration on the link page below.

Laura, I think the high percentage of cardenolides in the goose plant may kill some of the smaller monarch caterpillars. I'm not sure if a higher percentage of this chemical also helps to protect them more from predators? Can a predator sense the monarchs' poison content without taking a sampling?

Anyhow, most of our monarchs have headed south so be on the lookout for some Minnesota Monarchs! Tony

Here is a link that might be useful: Raising HOPE for the Monarch Migration
rickinla
10 years ago
We had a male Monarch visitor for hours today. I checked some plants and found several eggs. I've got 6 chrysalis and another 5 or 6 mature cats in my cage. They're on their way south and at least some have made it down to Mobile.
Leafhead
10 years ago
We still have some Monarchs in Madison, Wisconsin. Our milkweed is past, and the BFs seem to be interested only in nectaring and basking, in prep for the long trip South.
wifey2mikey
10 years ago
Tony- maybe it was the cardenolides, however; that has been the #1 plant in my garden this year for the Monarchs. More eggs, more cats, than incarnata, tuberosa, curassavica, etc.

Of the 74 remaining, I lost one yesterday - it was trying to pupate and it only made it half way through the process and just looks like a mess. The rest seem to be doing quite well - many hanging in "J"s, many already formed their chrysalis. I have about 30-35 still eating away.

I also released two more butterflies - 2 males. I'm keeping a spreadsheet of how many I've released each day.

~Laura
Tony G
10 years ago
Hi Laura,

goose plant is a top performer in our garden too...in fact, I found 6 large cats (instar 4-5) on it this season. I RARELY find cats that big in the garden. They were all healthy too.

Every once in a while, I find small caterpillars that are dried up on it. My theory is that the cardenolide levels might be too much for some of them since it has the highest % of all milkweeds...just a theory though.

I agree that the positive attributes of this plant far outweigh the bad.

Sounds like you are having a fantastic late season with the monarchs, congrats! Tony
rickinla
10 years ago
We released 4 Monarchs plus 1 Pipevine Swallowtall in south Alabama today. There are a few more cats and several eggs still to collect. I thought this photo was neat, 4 stages of the Monarch.
Leafhead
10 years ago
Awesome progression photo. Looks like something in a book:)

9 mature Monarch Cats - 2 new hatchlings

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Mary Leek
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9 mature Monarch Cats - 2 new hatchlings

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Mary LeekOriginal Author

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Mary Leek
Original Author