I have also raised Painted Lady catepillars, so far only one has eclosed, with probably 3 eclosing today!

Thanks for all you're doing!

~Laura

I'm mostly seeing red admirals, american ladies, and question marks that I keep mistaking for monarchs....what's with all the question marks this year???? (pun intended, but really!!)

I think the a large percentage of monarchs and swallowtails are enjoying some cooler weather in Canada. The migration should be one for the ages. Still a sauna here in Minneapolis! Tony

PS Christie, I think you're on to something with the monarchs knowing where to migrate north. They haven't missed our garden in twenty years!

Martha

These may be a combination north and south american species.

During a butterfly release at a local park my friend Harry Pavulaan went running through the field when he saw one of these Monarchs. He yelled "aberrant". They have white subapical spots.

I told Harry to stop that I had plenty left in my tent at home. I rear local butterfly species for conservation. I also try to save and create habitat.

I just saw my first 2 lovely Monarchs on July 2nd in the back garden tussling over the Echinacea - and one (or both) left me eggs. Now raising 24 cats/eggs with the oldest at 3rd instar.

Here it is about a week later I am seeing Monarchs everywhere. I have to restrain myself from collecting too many eggs, which is hard cuz there are some out in the garden right now on the small tropical milkweed and I KNOW they must be laying eggs all over the wild patches of common Milkweed. I am just insanely busy right now and don't have time to raise too many.

Up to 29.

~Laura

I'm a little more "hands on" than most but I rarely have issues with monarchs and have never had a disease outbreak in 30 years. Here are some things that I think are essential.

A good cage: for my small caterpillars I use this cage:

http://www.amazon.com/Kritter-Keeper-Large-Rectangle-Colors/dp/B0002AP ZOO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342038257&sr=8-1&keywords=kritter+cage (there are bigger and smaller sizes...my limit is 10 at a time in the large one)

for larger cats I put them in my large "caterpillar castle" to pupate...they could pupate on the lid of the other cage but it's easier to watch them in the castle and you won't disturb the chrysalides when feeding your small cats.

milkweed- common works best if you're picking leaves because it stays fresh longer. Thoroughly rinse the leaves with cold water for these reasons: predators, disease, the cats like to drink the water. (just make sure there's no standing water in cage that could drown a small cat)

give milkweed twice a day...when they're small you can re-rinse leaves at night if you are comfortable handling them.

each time you change leaves, empty frass from the cage then rinse with warm water, than wipe dry with paper towel. In the caterpillar castle, I just pick up the frass, then wipe floor clean with a wet paper towel

I usually transplant all cats onto new leaves by hand. If you're not comfortable doing that, just rip a small piece of the leaf around them and set on the new leaf.

I think water on leaves and a clean cage are probably big keys to success...good luck Laura! Tony

What is a caterpillar castle?

After finding an egg, I cut off a good sized piece or pick off the whole leaf that contains the egg, and lay them out on a damp paper towel with the egg side up. This helps to keep the leaf fresh. I usually spritz the towel every morning. Just be cautious that it's not too wet - the leaf can mold. The leaf may wilt a bit, but it doesn't dry up to a crisp.

It's easy to tell when the egg is going to hatch - they turn greyish/brown beforehand. When the little guy hatches, I also try to carefully transfer them to a sprig of milkweed. For the small ones, I always cut a tender growth tip and use that for food.

At that stage, one will occasionally disappear and they're easy to lose, drop, or smush, but most of them do fine, and they usually stay on their sprig of milkweed eating tiny little sections of leaf.

I don't use paper towels to line my cage (just dump it and rinse it out) or for the eggs (just pick up the leaf with egg and spritz it over the sink). I like the caterpillar cage I linked to above because I have never lost a small cat using it. The caterpillar castle is sold by live monarch...I have the jumbo castle.

Sherry

~Laura

It would be a good idea to put your vase/glass with the cuttings inside something like a Caterpillar castle so they can't wander away

~Laura

I watch the eggs and transfer new larvae because the tiny caterpillars will eat another egg if it close by. You can transfer them easily by using another leaf. Just scoop them on to the edge and put them into another container with like sized caterpillars. Similar sizes make better roommates. They don't eat each other.

So far the five babies I caught are doing well and eating. I have put both the tropical milkweed leaves and the common milkweed leaves in the container and they are feeding exclusively on the tropical and completely ignoring the common.

~Laura