RAISING TIPS

First, it is a good idea to have a selection of containers to keep your caterpillars in. What I have always used were five quart and one quart ice cream containers. Then I would have a little container off to the side (like the ones you'd get in the deli section of your grocery store from buying a 1/2 pound of potato salad) to contain only the eggs I would find.

 

Poke holes in the lids to the bigger containers first. The container that will hold the eggs (if you so choose to collect them) should have holes as tiny as you can possibly make them, as a newly-hatched caterpillar is the size of a thread. You don't want to make the holes in the lid too big, since the newly- hatched caterpillars are extremely good escape artists and -- even more so -- excellent hiders after they've escaped the containment area. When poking holes in the smaller container's lid, use just the tip of a pen and do not go beyond the point of it to make a hole -- just as long as there's an air-way through each of the holes in the lid.

The larger caterpillars are most content in their containers, just as long as they have enough to eat. Also, keep in mind that when you're in the process of collecting caterpillars, it is usually best to keep the larger caterpillars separate from the smaller ones so they do not fight. In addition, make sure the eggs are not present in the same container as with any of the other caterpillars, or the eggs will become part of a zesty feast to the seemingly so famished caterpillars.

 

Caterpillar/Egg hunting!! This has always been a fun expedition for me since it seems as though you're playing hide and go seek with the caterpillars themselves. However, "cheating" can work by first looking for milkweed plants with little dark green pellets on them -- those are caterpillar droppings and they usually give away a location if the caterpillar hasn't moved onto a different milkweed plant.

Caterpillars normally like to stay shaded from the sun and will usually be on the under-side of a leaf, along the stem-line of the milkweed plant itself or within the tiny gathering of leaves at the top of the milkweed plant. On rare occasions, you may find one here or there exposed out into the open. But generally they like to be shaded since direct sunlight, for a good period of time, can kill them.

Eggs are the easiest to find and can be found on the under-side of the milkweed leaves. Again, sometimes you can find eggs on the top side of the leaves but the monarch normally lays eggs underneath the leaves unless the butterfly is disturbed or feels rushed along for one reason or another. You can rip off the section of the leaf that has the egg on it and set it in the smallest container. If the egg falls off the leaf, it is not salvageable so, please, be careful.

 

As you find caterpillars, pick the leaf off that they're on, set it in the container and re-seal it. I've already made the mistake of keeping the lid off during my collection of caterpillars. I'd keep count as I went along, seal up the container when I felt I've gathered enough, only to find a couple of them had escaped while I was out in the field collecting them.

Personally, I would suggest you keep five to seven caterpillars in the five quart and one quart containers at a time (having the larger caterpillars in the five quart container and the smaller caterpillars in the one quart container). That way they do not fight with each other.

Until you get a general idea of how much they consume in one day, I would suggest keeping two leaves, to one caterpillar, in the container.

 

Before you leave to go back home with your newfound family, gather various sizes of leaves to take home with you. A lot of large leaves, some medium leaves, and some small leaves. I usually find raiding three milkweed plants of their leaves is a sufficient start. You don't want to take too many leaves from one plant or it will die. Keep the leaves off to the side because you'll want to take them home, rinse them off with cool water, store them in a freezer size zip-loc baggy (get as much air out of the baggy as you can) and store them in the refrigerator.

"Why rinse the leaves and store them?", you may ask. Rinsing them will get off any other insect eggs that you may not want hatching in your home and the extra water on the leaves will help keep them fresh and crispy in the refrigerator.

If you have milkweed plants in your back yard or just down the block from you, then you can go picking at those as you need them. If that's the case, then please try to keep an eye out for new eggs on each leaf you pick. From there you can decide whether you want to keep the new eggs you find or let it become part of a natural raising process on it's own.

 

When first starting out, please keep in mind that this "job" of raising monarchs is not an extremely leisurely one. The larvae should be given fresh leaves every day, and they will need your attention at least twice a day. The adult caterpillars need more attention than the newly-hatched -- since they eat above and beyond their own size (generally up to two large milkweed leaves a day). Also, keep in mind that they practically eliminate as much as their intake. Therefore, when you check on the adult caterpillars, for feeding, it is a nice gesture to clean out their container a couple times a day too.

When it comes to feeding, understand that the bigger they get, the more they will consume. The newly-hatched caterpillars will make small impressions, or very little holes in a leaf, throughout the entire day. A larger caterpillar will consume a large leaf in less than three to four hours.

When dealing with the newly-hatched, they are very tiny and very susceptible to being permanently hurt by careless movements on our part in moving them from one leaf to another. A good suggestion may be to put the edge of the new leaf up to them and very gently, with your finger tip, roll them onto the new leaf instead of trying to pick them up and transferring them that way. This "rolling method" is good for two reasons; it keeps the caterpillars from getting permanently damaged or accidentally killed and it keeps you from losing them accidentally since they are attach themselves to the leaf with their own silky threads. The reason for them doing this is to keep from getting blown or knocked off the leaf if they were in the wild. They have a tendency to stay attached to a thread when they're transferred by hand. When hanging from a thread, they can either swing back on it and dangle there or drop off almost anywhere and quickly crawl away from the most logical place you'd look for them. No matter the size of the caterpillar, you will have the same situation with the silky threads and them not letting go of a strand. It's their "safety net". However, it's much easier to find a larger caterpillar, if it happens to swing back and drop someplace compared to one that's a couple days old.

A good thing to know is why caterpillars climb the sides of the container they're in. In the process of growth, they will travel off the leaf and adhere themselves to the side or top of the container so that they may shed their skin. I strongly recommend that they should not be bothered in these stages because they are vulnerable in this state and cannot defend themselves from another caterpillar. They shed their skin and "face mask". While they're shedding their face mask, they can't eat anyway. Not to worry, as they'll find their way back to the leaves when they're finished shedding.

In addition, when the caterpillar reaches adulthood, it will crawl to the top of the container and weave a little nub to hang from so it can get ready for its next transitional phase, a chrysalis formation. DO NOT disturb the caterpillar at this crucial moment or it can destroy the process about to take place. From the time it reaches the top until the time it actually hangs will take approximately 24 hours. From the hanging position until it transforms into a chrysalis will take another 24 hours or so.

Just keep in mind that the hungry caterpillars will come down from the side or top on their own to eat, and you can let them do whatever they have to without disturbing them much. Hold the lid steady with one hand while, with the other hand, remove the old leaves and dropping, and put in new leaves.

When the transformation takes place, from a caterpillar to a chrysalis, it is important to know that the chrysalis is initially like a jelly substance and should not be touched for any reason or it will damage the chrysalis and permanently stop the life process. It should sit for yet another 24 hours before you can touch the chrysalis at all.

The chrysalis is minty, green in color with gold and black specks and will hang up to two weeks or less before it starts to turn transparent. You will be able to see the butterfly inside and the wings. The monarch butterfly will usually hatch during the morning hours. Times may vary according to the weather, but they generally hatch in the mornings. If it's raining outside, the hatching process is slowed (that has been my own personal observation).

When the butterfly hatches, its abdomen is quite large and their wings are very small and curled. Because of their abnormal size, if they happen to fall, it will bring certain damage or death because they do not have enough strength or agility to recover unless physically helped back into a hanging position. They normally hang from their chrysalis and turn from side to side; this helps them to strengthen their legs and dry out their wings as they pump the fluid from their body into their unfolding wings. The whole process is very quick, taking close to fifteen minutes for them to become of normal size.

Although it may take fifteen minutes for them to look normal, they are still frail and cannot fly or hold themselves in an upright position. The monarch butterfly will spend the next hour or so relaxing their wings and then squeezing them together for strength.

It's a good idea to wait until the butterfly eliminates all of its bodily fluids, initially red in color, then clear, before taking it outside for their first taste of freedom. If the butterfly has problems holding itself up, set it on a tree branch so that it's hanging upside down, and can build up it's strength in it's own good time and be in the environment that it belongs. Then the butterfly can take off whenever it pleases to start up a new family cycle.

If the butterfly is kept in a container or out in the open house, they have a greater chance of getting hurt or lost. If they're kept in the container for a long period of time, they will try flying about in this small environment and damage their wings. If they are "hanging out" in the comfort of your own home and decide to take flight, you may have fun trying to find them. Either way, it can cause damage to them or, if you can't find the free butterfly in your house, it will bring death since there is normally nothing in our homes on which the butterfly can nourish itself.

I hope that if you decide to raise these beautiful creatures on your own, you have fun in the process. This is a great way to increase the population of monarch butterflies and a most excellent learning experience for children.

As an addition, I will be keeping tally on how many monarchs I release each year.

2003 ~ 122 monarchs, in total, hatched and were released. We had 64 females and 57 males who were in excellent condition. Only 1 female hatched deformed, and could not fly, but was released a day later as she was too frisky to stay in the aquarium.

2004 ~ 1 monarch. Had a bad season since the roofers next door went and destroyed 85% of my milkweed crop by dropping shingles down on top of them.