I have monarch eggs!

10 years ago

I've only seen three monarchs this year :( Out of the three, one laid eggs on my milkweed!!! I've found about five eggs. To ensure the best survivability of the eggs, should I leave the eggs on the plants or should I take the leaves into my cage? I've raised monarchs before, but I've never brought in the eggs.

Thanks.

Comments (10)

butterflymomok
10 years ago
I bring in the eggs and keep them in an air-tight container until they hatch. This keeps the leaves and eggs from drying out.
BERGER123
10 years ago
Bring in the eggs because they will most likely fall victim to parasitic wasp
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badzoe
Original Author
10 years ago
I've collected 8 eggs and they have all hatched! And today, I saw another monarch back at my milkweed patch. I'm wondering if it is the same gal. Hopefully she laid some more eggs! By the way, do any of you tag your monarchs?
SouthCountryGuy Zone 4b-5 SE BC
10 years ago
Congrats! You are very fortunate to have such luck.

Keep us updated and pics would be great!

SCG
badzoe
Original Author
10 years ago
I checked for more eggs. I didn't find any eggs, but I found two cats that I missed the first time around. Yay!
Liz
10 years ago
Perhaps you should isolate them? Just in case they HAVE picked up any parasitesÃ¢ÂÂ¦
Liz
10 years ago
And I forgot to say congratulations! What wonderful news.
Liz
Leafhead
10 years ago
Hooray!! Every Monarch counts. Nice work:)
badzoe
Original Author
10 years ago
UPDATE: From the first sighting, I collected 14 eggs/1st instar cats and have released them all! I had 8 males and 6 females, with the last male being released today. Since the first time I have spotted the monarch on my milkweed, she must have been back a half dozen times, since I have collected an additional 32 cats. That's a crazy amount of cats for me to raise all at once, so I shared 10 with two of the preschool teachers at the school where my daughter attends (and have always raised some sort of butterfly every year we have been there) and have given one to a friend whose husband is a science teacher. I've felt overwhelmed with the amount of cats that I have currently but I have confidence in the people who have 'adopted' my cats. The funny thing about my milkweed is that it is a mess--leathery, aphid-infested, dirty leaves, so not the best breeding grounds for survival. My husband thinks that I should plant more milkweed (agreed!), so hopefully next year some I will have some future generations from the brood that I am raising. So, if all cats successfully become monarchs, the total will be 46!
hawaiiponder34
10 years ago
Yayy!!! congrats:-) you have a lot of cats? I know the feeling:-). its so overwhelming but makes you feel excited and happy:-) I have 16 cats now, and some are so ready to pupate...then I got like a dozen eggs in the Tupperware...Lol, I hope I have enuf food for them when they hatch.