If it were me I would keep them in. I never release my monarchs if storms or rain are in the forecast for release day. I had one yesterday that was due to release but because of to the cold weather (high of 57 yesterday) I kept him in and just brought some fresh cut flowers in for it.

Donna

They were extremely antsy about getting out of that cage, so we decided to let them go. Maybe they sensed the approaching storm and wanted to bunker down the way their instincts tell them to do. Both flew away high, unlike most other releases.

Tracey,

We've had some really bad heavy rains/thunderstorms/whipping winds go through here lately. Really freakish weather.

My daughter released three the other day, placing them on a potted tree she moved under the veranda so they wouldn't get wet since it was raining. They never moved from the area until the sun came out. One started to fly about, but kept under the veranda so she made a vase with flowers from the Buddleias and soon enough two found them.

Hanna will be affecting us as well on Sunday, and then there are other systems to worry about. I'm glad my cats are still way too small to be involved in any of the systems coming up at this time.

BTW, you raise your's from eggs, right? How do you handle those teeny tiny cats?? What container do you use? I'm just so used to bringing them in when they are about an inch long and I have a bunch right now that are so tiny I can barely see them.

I have 2 left in chrysalides and just brought their mesh hamper enclosure into the garage so it doesn't get blown away or drenched even with tarp over it.

One of them looks iffy on OE because it's gotten some little black spots around the cremaster almost beginning to obscure the "dots & dashes" at chrysalis top. I'll see how it emerges in a couple days.

Luckily, the 2 that eclosed this morning were more than eager to get out of enclosure even though they perched on tall zinnias to expel last fluid and get ready to fly off.

Good luck with storm, Tracey. I just went out and cut a bunch of Zinnias since they were leveled to the ground with last big storm we had...figured we might as well enjoy them inside since I'll have to dig them out of mulch and stake up after the pummeling they'll take.

Big male Eastern Tiger Swallowtail just loves the Zinnias and I got a great close up look at him this morning while I was watching Monarchs dry out and he was nectaring all around me at Zinnias on the deck.

We've had weeks of sunny and dry weather (getting a little too dry actually) so this hasn't been a problem for me so far. But wouldn't you know, I've got 3 that will be eclosing today - the most in one day - and we've got Hannah moving into southern New England! They are predicting up to 6 inches of rain possible today and tonight.

The first batch of rain started falling a little while ago which awoke me with a start and I had to go check on the chrysalides and read this thread for ideas. I have a glass aquarium I used to keep a butterfly in overnight because she eclosed at 6 PM one day this week. Three butterflies and maybe some flowers in there until Sunday...hmmm.

Don't these butterflies sense the change in barometric pressure or something? Guess I'll wait and see what Hannah has in store...

Read somewhere either in FAQs or a thread that you can put a little simple syrup (boiled 1/4 cup sugar to 1 cup water) or Gatorade on small piece of clean, well-washed out sponge from which they can nectar in a pinch.

Rain started just before midnight but it's stopped. Must be rain front you're getting now, Terrene. More rain on the way here according to local forecast. Neither of mine in chrysalides look ready to eclose today and tomorrow's forecast is sunny down here in Jersey.

Link is only thread I found in search but it's not one I remember. NOTE: there's less sugar in this "recipe" and it's not boiled.

Recipe I'm remembering may be what I use for homemade Hummingbird nectar so I'd go with what experienced butterfly tenders suggest.

Here is a link that might be useful: Homemade Butterfly Nectar

Hi newbie, apparently that was an initial band of rain that had broken off from Hannah. It's not raining now, the sun is even peeping just a little, and it's supposed to be intermittent today. The very heavy rain - 2-3 inches per hour!! and some wind are supposed to be tonight. Thanks for the nectar recipe, I've also got zillions of flowers in the gardens for the Monarchs to nectar on, if they want, should we all have to hunker down and wait out the storm for the night.

So any other opinions out there? Would you release butterflies when the forecast says that very heavy rain and some wind will be occuring on their first night in the wild?

Sorry I'm posting so much, but one of the Monarchs eclosed as I was typing the previous post!! I went outside and cut a sapling with a few nice horizontal branches at the top for them to hang from. Great, now I have a small tree in the house along with all the other chaos!

I am still quite worried about the weather forecast for tonight, what if the butterfly(ies) have ants in their pants to get outside??

I'm glad I released mine yesterday. Still nothing here, just about 200% humidity! Christ is it hot out there. Plenty of fluffy clouds, dark & white, but no wind & no rain. I think they pushed the storm back to later on today. I went to Lowe's this morning and did manage to get a few clearance plants, but probably sweated off a few pounds while walking around (I wish...). I haven't even bothered to check the weather channel today. At least my remaining 2 monarch/3 BST chrysalids are protected. I even took my 3 5' potted swamp milkweeds and tied them to the posts on the deck. They're leaning very heavy, dang pods...

The heavy rains and winds started around 3PM. Red Salvia is laying on the ground and tithonia is snapped at ground level. Keep reminding myself people have it much worse with loss of property and even lives so it's not the end of the world if the nectaring bunch have to use staked up zinnias to eat!

Last 2 chrysalides I brought into garage are getting very dark. Just checked forecast for tomorrow (Sunday) and sun should be out by later in afternoon. After seeing more than a few eclose I know what the chrysalis looks like a day before...and they're going to pop tomorrow.

Gotta get them dried out and ready to fly as soon as the sun appears tomorrow. If they aren't ready during that sunny window before nightfall I'll have to "sponge feed" them until Monday when it's weather forecast is all clear.

It just occurred to me that I haven't worried about the power going out or some of the Chinese Wisteria choked trees coming down like last storm but it's the Monarchs I've been concentrating on since last night...LOL.

Come on, Tracey, spill about what plants you got on clearance at Lowe's! :)

I need to get my behind out to nurseries and garden centers to see what I can find on clearance that I won't kill over winter if I don't get to do the 24" deep amending thing again in less than ideal soil/drainage conditions even though I did that last fall. What does this clay want from me...LOL.

Well, all 3 of the Monarchs eclosed yesterday morning within 1/2 hour of each other. I cut off the top of the sapling and put them in the glass aquarium. About 5 hours after the first eclosed, they started to get very restless in the aquarium. They wanted out.

Yesterday afternoon was mostly dry, but like Tracey in NJ the humidity was about 200% here too. I was torn about whether to release or not, but decided to let them go and let nature take its course. I put the aquarium outside, took off the top and within 5 minutes all 3 had flown off.

We got about 6 inches of rain last night, and then some blustery wind in the wee AM hours. I worried about them ALL night long.

This morning 2 more Monarch eclosed, and while taking them out to release, I saw 2 of the Monarchs that I released yesterday in the garden!! The 2 males were flying about checking out the flowers. They made it through the storm!! Yippeeeee!!

Congrats on your successful release, Terrene.

My last 2 eclosed this morning and I took them out of the garage and right into the sunlight.

The nursery is closed for the season...unless some BST mama wants me to overwinter her babies for her!

Of course the rain started as I was in the middle of my Pathmark run, LOL. Winds finally kicked in sometime after 7pm, but they weren't that bad. Only one stem of my milkweeds snapped; anything tall was leaning severly, but no damage.

I didn't get anything all that exciting newbie; a "Sensation Rose" salvia ($2), "Sweet Dreams" coreopsis ($2) & an Ironweed ($5), which the skippers seem to love. Never seeing an Ironweed before, it just looked like something the butterflies would like. It's nice being right for a change, LOL. I also picked up a "Blue Boy" phlox at a local nursery for $2.50, a "Ballerina Blush" Guara and "Sunburst" Gaillardia for .25¢ each at Walmart a few weeks ago. Now all I have to do is find somewhere to plant them, LOL.

Don't think that nursery is closed for the season newbie. I found 6 monarch eggs last week that just hatched the other day. I also found 3 more tiny BST cats today on my parsley. My 3 BST chrysalids haven't eclosed yet; I'm thinking they might overwinter :(