2 years ago I was honored with the gold medal of Monarch raising! One of my reared Monarchs made it to Mexico!!! Was a proud Mama when I found the tag# in Monarch Watch list. I raise mine in same netted enclosures in my 3 season room with windows open all season long. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
OMG, you are back to educate us! Because of your videos I raised and released about 100 last season. It was an epic learning experience and my husband was extremely tolerant of me raising the cats on our dining room table, hanging the chrysalis on our living room lamp shades (lol) and packing up my containers on a weekly basis as we move between two houses! Feeding and releasing them was magical. I have given your RUclips channel out to anyone who got interested because of my photos to encourage them to grow milkweed and raise their own. Many many thanks for your short, digestible video series on every single aspect of the process and how to handle the inevitable issues that can come up. You rock MrLundScience! Cheers from Ann in Palo Alto, California.
Those are strong complimentary words, Ann, and are very much appreciated. And I especially appreciate you considering them "short", as I know some may disagree. [insert winking face here] And despite the number of episodes...there's still many issues to cover. Perhaps more than I can, but gosh it's fun and educational to try! Thank you for all you are doing for the Monarchs. It's definitely contagious!
@@MrLundScience Short works really well for those of us with ADHD!! I think it would be way too much to try and cover it all in one long video. When an issue comes up it is easy to zip through your videos and get advice. Thanks again.
Because of Rich Lund, I ended up starting our own facebook group. His teachings have allowed me to mentor many members. Since July, 2021 we have grown to over 4,000 members including people from Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Hawaii. One life (Rich Lund) has had an immeasurable impact on the plight of the Monarchs. There are organizations such as MonarchWatch, etc., however, they do not provide the visual and auditory aspects of learning about the Monarchs Rich provides. There are no words adequate to express the depth of my gratitude to him.
@MrLundScience I have raised my first monarch in the Chrysalis outside as you showed in this video. The results were amazing. After Uno the Monarch finished drying his wings, he flew up into my neighbor's tree and within a 2 hours he was in front of our house on the Miss Molly bush with the five other monarchs including his mom that he was following. It was incredible to see them all commune together. My neighbor happened to stop by my house and was blown away by all the Monarchs flying around. This has been an amazing summer. Thank you for the outside pop-up tent idea. The bricks worked great as an anchor for my back yard and it was safe back there. Thank you very much! Great educational video for us who want them to migrate.
Glad to see more recent videos. My most successful season was 2 years ago, with 238 Monarchs released. I was collecting so many eggs that year. Thanks to all your guidance, I've released over 600 healthy Monarchs here in North Central FL. since 2017
I'm so happy to hear that a lot of you are finding caterpillars. Here in northern NH, I have only seen 3 Monarch butterflies so far this year. Fortunately 2 of them laid some eggs, but not that many. It is heartbreaking for me to see the population shrink so rapidly. I have planted tons of milkweed and lots of butterfly happy flowers. Love these videos. Thank you!
We are in Maryland and many of our group members are currently being egg bombed. Denise has 185 eggs, Rachel is pleading with members of our group to take some, which they are. Many are theorizing the Canadian wildfires may have played a role in this very odd year. Exit numbers were reportedly down 22% this year, then the smoke. People in our group who normally start seeing eggs in late May didn't find their first eggs until mid July. I so hope next year is a better year. In the meantime, we are helping every egg we find. Blessings to you.
I concur with Donna below, I'm hearing that the east coast is experiencing this, a low amount of Monarchs, and late arrival at that. And I'm also hearing speculation that it may have something to do with the smoke from the wildfires. I haven't heard any science on this yet, but it seems plausible that it would have an effect. We might have to wait and see if and how this might affect the fall migration.
We found your videos in 2019, after we went to a Monarch event at a local nature preserve where they gave us a caterpillar to raise and release. Since then, we've planted a butterfly garden in our backyard that includes at least 26 milkweed plants this year, and we have raised and released 148 butterflies since 2019! This year, we have released 4 butterflies already, we have 9 chrysalides, 1 j-hanging, 6 fifth instars that will climb to the top probably today, and 16 first-third instars. We also have 10 eggs. We live in mid-Michigan, your videos have been a huge part of our success! :)
That all sounds awesome! Thank you for devoting some territory to the milkweed. It is absolutely the best way to help them, the restoring of their habitat. And it seems that your gardening and other efforts are working! Congratulations on such success!
Good to see you again Mr. L.S.! You started me raising Monarchs in 2018. Usually 20-30 per summer. This year has been terrible. Very few Monarchs and Swallow tails in my flower gardens and I have found 0 Monarch eggs this year. I don't know the reason. Sad. Anybody else with the same experience?
I too have noticed a drop in monarchs in my backyard this season, as well as a drop in eggs laid. I also have less milkweed this year. I don't know if they're related, but probably.
We are in Maryland, zone 7. I am the administrator of a butterfly group. Everyone has reported the numbers being down and many verbalized concern with regard to the late start of the season. I typically release around 800 per year. This year I have not released 100 yet. However, we have many members who are currently being egg bombed and am reaching out to other members of our group to foster the eggs, which they have done. I read exit numbers were down 22% this year, then came the Canadian wildfire smoke. Many theorize they diverted around the smoke. Let us pray for a better 2024. This has many very concerned.
From the comments on this video and the other recent ones, it does seem that many on the east coast are having a sparse year for the Monarchs. Some speculate, and I think it's a worthy speculation, that the smoke from the Canadian wildfires may have affected migration routes. I haven't seen any actual science on this claim, yet, but it would seem at face value to be a plausible explanation. I do hope it's just a hiccup this year, and not something repeated. Here's hoping you have some sightings when migration is in full swing!
I saw a monarch laying eggs on milkweed in my parents lawn last month, I scrambled to raise them and wouldn't know anything about the need for outdoor rearing if not for you. Unfortunately I lost a lot of them in the process, but the first two of the seven survivors started J-hanging today. Thank you for all your advice!
Here's to your seven that are under your care! If this is your first time rearing Monarchs, welcome aboard! It can be an exciting point when they first make it to J-hanging. You're almost there!
I was literally JUST talking about you and your channel today!! I was with my kid and a few of the neighbor kids at the local botanical garden. We are in NW Ohio and love this place. It’s called the 577 Foundation and they have a bunch of monarchs there to release and milkweed growing as well as sings and trails to interact with. It’s a great little place for us to walk over to. They’ve got a community garden and book and hangs as well as a pottery barn too. For pottery, not home furnishings 😂 Anyhow, the kids wanted to “get some monarchs”and raise them themselves. I have found an occasional dropped chrysalis before, each one worked out after tying them up with dental floss and making sure they could eclose safely. However, I’ve never done wild sourcing!! I can’t believe you’re posting this now! The kids just went home but I’m going to show them this tomorrow because I didn’t have concise answers and ended up talking myself in circles and I said “there’s a guy on RUclips who I watched when I found the first one I took in…he’s a teacher, he’s great, I think he’s in the Midwest…” and I couldn’t recall your name and I couldn’t find your channel even though I’m subscribed!! You are the best teacher and due to this serendipity I’ll NEVER forget the channel name again. I’m truly gobsmacked. The odds of this video coming out not 45 minutes after the very discussion is like one in a million. Thank you Mr. Lund. I can’t wait to show the kids tomorrow because they all love nature and they all understand the importance of good stewardship. I do my best to teach them to do their research, err on the side of caution and never lose sight of the fact we are to help, no harm. We want to leave things better than how we found them, it’s imperative to not ignore things we see that we know are wrong. Also mentioned the road to hell is paved with good intentions and had a heck of a time explaining that to six kids between the ages of 5 and 12 😂 In the neighborhood I’m the adult they all come to with critters and fossils and shells, they’ll leave sticks on the porch they think I’ll like. Kids are the best and you do such a great job teaching. Thank you for what you do!! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
I'm very pleased to supply a weird coincidental moment! So cool that you are training some young scientists to practice the skills of research and ethics in science. The 577 Foundation sounds pretty cool! And to your door fossil delivery? Sounds pretty awesome indeed!
I really enjoyed this! Thank you so much Mr. Lund for all your videos. I am new at raising Monarchs and found your videos on cleaning leaves and eggs wonderful. I agree outdoor rearing makes so much sense. I was putting mine outside just so they could be out in nature and glad my instincts were correct! You are right on target and thanks for backing it up with the study from the University of Illinois.
Oh Rich. Absolutely brilliant. I cannot tell you how validated I feel, especially coming from you. I have no words to express my gratitude. I have left other butterfly groups for being ridiculed when this topic was brought up. That is what led us to forming our own group and prohibiting the use of glass or plastic habitats for the eclosing butterflies. I must confess, at first when I viewed the vinyl on the top I was puzzled. Our habitats are mesh on all sides, no vinyl windows because of the issues addressed in this video. Our butterflies are often seen climbing all over the habitats while their wings are drying. While they will not be able to grip the vinyl on the top, they certainly can climb all over the tulle you are using to hang your chrysalides as well as the other four sides. I LOVE the concept of keeping rain water out, which can loosen the silk which can lead to a J hanger or chrysalis falling. The vinyl on the floor and the fact that you have it elevated with bricks, preventing standing water is brilliant! The bricks ensure the habitat does not blow away in wind as well. I honestly like the idea!! The only question I have is your thoughts on chrysalides hanging in direct sunlight? In the wild, they attach to the underside of leaves which provide them shade. I typically drape the top with a cool cloth like an old pillow case and secure with clips around the sides. I thought I read somewhere the direct sun could affect the chrysalides. Do you have any input in that regard? Thank you for the recognition at the end. You're the best.
I'm very pleased that you found the video to be, well, what I had hoped. I think the topic you brought up was an excellent one, and fit in very well with wanting to focus more on the idea of outdoor rearing. While the news broke in 2019, it can certainly take time to become common knowledge (or at least, what can be considered "common" knowledge in this very specific hobby). Concerning direct sunlight on a chrysalis, perhaps this can help a bit... For starters, while I would agree that the caterpillar will often choose a somewhat shaded or secluded spot, there's many examples of Monarchs choosing locations that for portions of the day do receive direct sunlight, and without any noticeable ill-effects. Next, there have been times when I needed to travel during the summer and would not be around for the eclosing of some adults. At those times, I've relocated some chrysalides to a fully outside hanging location (instead of the screened in porch I had) where they were receiving direct sunlight. When I'd return from the vacation, I'd come back to only empty chrysalis casings. With that in mind, knowing direct sunlight isn't an ultimate deal-breaker, it may alleviate concerns to know that in the pop-up tents, while the outside of the tent may be receiving direct sunlight, the chrysalis inside the tent is not, and is instead receiving a little more than half the light intensity. The mesh, while white, is blocking a good percentage of the sunlight that reaches it. White is a pretty ideal color, too, as it's reflecting the maximum sunlight it can (rather than a dark material that would absorb it as heat). Also, when I first purchased the tents and was figuring out my outdoor rearing setup, using an infrared thermometer I checked the internal temperature of the tent compared to the outside temp. Left in direct sunlight for a while, the interior of the pop-up tent was actually one degree F cooler than the outside temperature. (The plastic terrarium was about 5 degrees F warmer than the outside temp, showing an amount of greenhouse effect that they have.) All together, since inside the tent the chrysalis is having a good portion of the sunlight blocked by the mesh, and since the pop up tents (or at least the brand I have) don't have a heat build up issue (greenhouse effect), I don't suspect sunlight would cause the chrysalis any types of problems. I certainly hope that helps, and of course, welcome what follow up questions you might have. Thank you again, Donna! Your commitment is admirable!
I've found a fallen chrysalis before! Thanks to your videos, I made sure that it was close to a safe bush that it could climb to pump it's wings. I monitored it, and also relocated it when it got to a spot where it looked like it didn't have enough room. It survived! ❤
Had an old birdcage, I lined/sewed in some mosquitoe netting fabric from the fabric store and put the cage outside on the front porch to raise the Monarchs. For the smaller caterpillars, I used plastic take out food containers and cut out a "window" which I covered with the netting fabric taped over it and for the leaves inside wrapped with a wet paper towel, I lay the paper towel ends into plastic lids from drink bottles - recycle, reuse! I must admit, last year I did go buy the pop up tents because the old bird cage plastic was falling apart and duct tape just didn't work anymore - LOL.
Loving the innovation! I purchased the pop-up tents originally because they were very similar to what was used in the 2019 study, and in the making of the video, I wanted to try and recreate their set up the best I could. But certainly, it is just a mesh cage in the end, so an innovated mesh cage will do it too! Awesome tip!
Such great timing for a topic I've been wondering. I have grown the occasional monarch over the years but this is the first time I've decided to try to rear as many as I can. In door set ups are so much easier to control but the part of making sure they are getting the proper light ques (know when its time to migrate) is what I've been wondering.
We have 8 habitats on our front covered porch at the moment. I do worry about a chrysalis being in direct sunlight but agree it is best for them to be outdoors.
I raised Monarchs this summer and it was very rewarding, lost some but for the most part I can say I released over 50. I will take your tip keeping 8 or 10 in one container. I had a tent but it became to crowed. When I cleaned the silk was very thick. I need to prep more, Milkweed became very difficult to find I was running out of food. I plan on planting more Milkweed this winter. Thank you for the tips!
Thank you for briefly mentioning wasps - I co-rear black swallowtails with monarchs in a screened outdoor enclosure and those pesky tiny chalcid wasps devoured 7 of my black cats before I realized what had happened. So far all my monarchs are safe, but I missed a few chrysalises while they were forming. (I covered them with organza bags temporarily). I’m changing my entire method to your outdoor method to reduce the risk of predators and disease for both species. Plus I’m moving all my potted milkweed into the ground so I can pick leaves next season. Thank you for continuing on with your series!
Great video. Thanks you for always relaying information in an easy understood way. Because of you I have raised between 500 to 700 Monarch butterflies for the last 4 plus years. I follow many of your suggestions.
I appreciate that very much. I try to make it easy, but the topics can sometimes be complex. The balance between easy to digest and still enough detail for a full understanding is tough to reach, but I do my best. I don't know that I always hit the mark, either, so feedback like this can help. Thank you!
I love this channel I’ve been raising monarchs for 4 years and I just planted my own milkweed no luck this year I’ve raised 4 already tho plus 12 more . Keep it up love this channel
@@MrLundScience also sir what milkweeds would u recommend me in Tennessee? I know tropical is bad butterfly milkweed is ok but not the best egg laying rate so what do u 🤔 think?
Found my first caterpillar last week. It was in the area without milkweed, eating parsley. I moved it to the mw with parsley. They see to love the parsley best though. I made bin to keep it but it escaped from the netting so I need to fix it, but I'm excited for more to start coming 😊 it was amazing to watch it grow. Thanks for sharing all this info, I've learned a lot over the years 😊
A very cool find indeed, but I might need to agree with the reply already posted here...It's likely to be a different species and not a Monarch if it is gobbling up parsley. Depending upon your location, it could be a number of species, but the most likely culprit, as already mentioned, is the Eastern Black Swallowtail. Perhaps attempt a quick image search for "Eastern Black Swallowtail Caterpillars" and see if the one you found comes up. They are a fun species to rear to adults as well, provided you've got the parsley or dill that they devour!
@MrLundScience wow, I thought it was odd, but that's what it looked like, the swallowtail. Thanks! I thought I read they liked parsley and dill. They look so similar!
If the homestead has the means, I would agree, front/back yard porches are a pretty ideal place to ensure outdoor exposure, but in a location we can still monitor and keep safe(r) from pests/predators and the like. Very cool that you've devoted that territory for them! Thank you for helping them out!
Thank you. I missed the comment about being able to raise inside til the monarch is expected to migrate. I thought it but wasn't going to do it cause of all the negative pressure on some of the monarch social media sites. I will now!
Glad you posted a new video, finally had a monarch hatch, but her wing broke, she fell right after she hatched and we didn’t notice the break till she filled her wings with fluid and i noticed a drop of the liquid on the outside of her wing, so I made the decision to put her outside, on some flowers and not long after I put her outdoors, she died. From chrysalis not hatching leaking fluid, to second instar caterpillars laying on their backs and dying, and monarchs successfully hatching but falling and breaking a wing, just bad luck this year. I do have two monarchs left and one still in a chrysalis.
I'm sorry that there have been troubles, but guaranteed, these things have happened to me before as well. Granted, perhaps not as close to each other time-wise as in your case, but you are correct, it can be just chance that it happens this way. Still, for the three you continue to rear, let's hope they show that the bad luck is over!
@@MrLundScience Thank you, not over yet, I had another Monarch hatch yesterday a male this time, he fell I didn’t notice he fell until i walked into the kitchen and he was on the ground of the plastic terrarium i have, so i picked him back up and put him on a stick hoping the wings are fine, but no, I don’t think the wings got enough fluid, there was some of the fluid around him. I did try the paper towel method you showed in the video, maybe that mitigated some damage, but he can’t fly, hes been outside all day yesterday on some flowers, now i have yet to check on him this morning. Letting nature take over is hard, it’s what i am sticking to for now. Edit: Just checked on him, still alive, he was in cement driveway, then moved him to other flowers, so i guess he is getting good, I tried feed him sugar water yesterday but he was not interested.
Thank you for another informative video. This last fall I planted 100 milkweed seed bombs in well cultivated soil. 50 were purchased and 50 I made at home. None of them grew this spring. I do have 70 assorted milkweed which I germinated this spring. I was just disappointed that the seed bombs did not make it.
Since moving to a new location, my wife has tried to grow cone flowers from sprinkling the seeds and hoping they'll do their thing. So far, two years in a row, they haven't. I'm not much of a gardener, really. I know a lot about milkweed, but not extensive knowledge on other plants. (Poison Ivy, yes, but out of necessity.) The only time I've had luck with growing things has been when I've germinated the seed first. I just do not have that green thumb some speak of!
Alongside the milkweeds I’ve planted, I have also put in 800 sq ft of pollinator wildflowers which are doing great. I cultivated the plot 3 times last fall to remove the existing grasses, and then once this spring just prior to sowing the seeds. I used a roller to ensure good seed/soil contact. The first flower bloomed 5 weeks later. I used the “Midwest Pollinator” seed mix from American Meadows. I live in central Illinois.
Thank you for another great video. We are on our 3rd year of raising Monarchs. My kids enjoy it. Trouble is the local milkweed cannot even raise one Monarch. I've had to resort to buying tropical. I cut it back so that we don't have it growing at the end of the season. Not sure what else we can do?
I grew common, swamp, tuberosa and showy for four years and virtually had no results. We added hairy balls and tropical to the gardens and we release around 800 per year. I also distribute seeds to people all over the country. Hairy Balls has a higher level of cardenolide than does Tropical milkweed. I am confident you would be stunned with the results and how easy it is to grow.
I suppose in such situations, the best I can do is offer what I might do in that case. For me, whether I was living in an apartment, or of the two houses I've lived at, I always wanted to secure a "home stock" that I could use sometimes for feeding, and eventually for seeds. If planting milkweed where you live is an option, I'd certainly start there. You do mention that there is local milkweed. If it's growing some place, while not plentiful enough to feed a number of caterpillars now, that might be a good place to plant more seeds in the fall (or even germinate them first for a better chance in the spring) to provide more resources for both you and them in the future seasons. Is that a possibility? I hope some of that helps! Growing it can certainly be cheaper than purchasing it!
Hi Rich, I raise Monarchs on the West Coast, Ventura CA to be exact. I am doing okay but fighting bad odds. I seem to be free of OE, at least as far as my 16 power jewelers loop and surprisingly my camera is able to magnify and photograph the tape scale samples from the abdomen. (Nothing but scales so far, TG!!!) But I'm losing 40% to 60% of my cats to T-flies. In fact, literally, all the ones I find at the 4th & 5th instar stage outside on my California narrow blade plants that make it to the hanging J stage, soon go limp and die. Within minutes to a day, the Sigourney Weaver sci-fi horror movies start up with T-fly maggots bursting out the chests of the barely dead cats. Sometimes 8 or 9 maggots from a single cat. It's depressing, a lot of work went into the care and feeding of those guys. Meaning, I don't think ANY survive outside all the way to hatching into butterflies if left outdoors. The numbers are slightly better on the 3rd instars I bring in but still barely 40% survive... Really I'm considering going to only raising cats from the eggs that the Monarchs simply load on my plants daily. I only have two beachball-sized Narrow blade milkweed plants plus 24 seedlings about 5 inches tall. Our Narrow blade milkweed doesn't produce but a tiny fraction of the volume of edible leaf as your Common and Swamp plants do... I've done counts watching the females laying eggs and can confidently say I get 25 to 30 new eggs laid a day on my plants. But those left outside are very likely doomed as I can barely find enough milkweed to feed 25 in total at one time raising them indoors... I'm very seriously considering euthanizing all the cats I find that hatched outdoors and just working with the ones grown from eggs indoors. I say this seemingly harsh thing because, to the best of my observation, all the ones left outdoors end up parasitized, giving life to 5 to 10 flies each one... And more T-flies is the last thing we need around here. If this is happening elsewhere, on any kind of scale, I can see why the Monarchs are in such dire straits.
I just had a monarch from my doomed field across the road hatch and fall but because it was in a mesh enclosure, it climbed up and inflated it’s wings. I’m still waiting on a few stragglers to j-hang but most are pupae already. So my work is pretty much done. I’m just putting the adults in my greenhouse as they eclose to learn to fly for a day then out they go! It’s not quite migration time yet here so I suspect they’ll stick around and give me some eggs. But those caterpillars will be raised exclusively outside so that they get the queues to go south.
That sounds like you've gone to some extensive ends to ensure their development and safety. Very awesome! And cool to hear already of a fallen eclosure adult being able to climb up the sides of the mesh to get the job done!
Hello Rich, I just discovered your channel a few weeks ago and deeply appreciate you and all you do for encouraging good science knowledge in general plus your efforts in the Monarch Recovery Program in specific. Man, I have about a zillion questions for you. But first off a bit about myself, (AND please feel free at this point, to skip to the bottom if you do not wish to hear an old geezer go blah, blah, blah about ancient history, if so, just go to my numbered questions which hopefully you might have an answer or two for me) TY… I’ve been into rearing moths and butterflies since a wee lad and did it every year circa 1962 through graduating High School in 1969, again when my kids were young in the 1990s and early 2000s, and have begun earnestly working with Monarchs again just recently. I released 3 captive-bred ones today… But I started with my favorites, the Polyphemus moths as a kid after finding my first one when I was about 8 years old. A female, which I brought indoors where it promptly escaped, and since our high ceilings kept me from recapturing it again it remained free all night. In the wee hours, I was awakened by fluttering noises and was greeted with an amazing sight. My female had made it to the open window above my bed and onto the screen covering it. She was fluttering frantically inside but outside, following her around on the outside of the screen was a male, as eager to mate with her as she was frantic to mate with him. I wasted no time in capturing him and bringing him into my room, where they flew and danced an aerial tango together for quite a while before landing and mating. My eight-year-old brain was hooked. I kept them captive in my old horned toad lizard terrarium (I’d caught in Oklahoma on vacation and brought them back to my home in Mountain View, California(Pre-Silicon Valley Era). I learned all I could as fast as I could about my moths and soon discovered via my Science Teacher, that the Polyphemus moth was rare to close to locally extinct in my area of Santa Clara County. By then my female had lain about 65 fertile eggs inside her enclosure, and as soon as they hatched I began feeding them elm leaves which they loved and were actually their preferred food until Dutch Elm Disease virtually wiped them out across the country. I released most of the young cats on about a dozen elms in my neighborhood and kept a dozen for myself, feeding them until I got to watch them turn into their cocoon stage. Sadly, that 1st year, only two of my cats I’d released on the neighborhood elms made it to the cocoon stage… and I learned a valuable lesson. I released my captive moths as they hatched but the very 1st to hatch, a female, fell and her wings dried all crumpled up before I realized it.(It doesn’t take long!!!) But I put her on the screen as before, a mate arrived after a couple of days, I caught him and was off to the races again for a new season of breeding. This year I kept all the eggs and trial and error taught me proper care to nurture for an almost 100% successful development into cocoons over the next few years. Soon I was releasing 50 to 100 moths a year. In the 7th grade, I won the 7th-grade level Science Fair in my school district for my experiment trying to determine under what conditions a cocoon would mature and hatch most successfully. I kept them in 7 different environments. (My results were the ones inside our hot water heater closet hatched the fastest). Really, I just got lucky with one of them hatching out and began spreading her wings as the Judges walked through judging the various entries in the Science Fair. My stunningly beautiful lady polyphemus was the hit of that year’s science fair, (blowing away all the other far more mundane entries compared to her, lol !!!) By then I was getting a real taste for science and won the State Science Fair the next year with an experiment with growing plants in separated large terrariums under differing CO2 levels. Unfortunately, enabling me early oil life with knowledge of the vast significance of CO2 levels in the atmosphere has been somewhat of a metaphorical Cassandra curse all my life. I’ve seemingly watched helplessly our species destroying our planet’s life cycles and ecological diversity through a vapid culture of conspicuous consumption, waste, and a use-once-and-throw-away mentality, powered by rampant fossil fuels use with no regard for the effects future generations will be left holding the bag… On a happier note, in just 3 or 4 years Polyphemus moths were well on their way to being all but common in the 5 miles radius of my home where I was releasing them, (which was also my paper route area). It was common to see 50 to 100 of their cocoons every year on the larger elm trees. After the elms were all sick or dying, they began moving to a mostly ornamental purple plum tree(but a few made fruit, which we went to great efforts to raid as kids) with deep purplish leaves that were also plentiful in my neighborhood. I haven’t been back there in 40 years and since it’s not ground zero for Silicon Valley, I fear what I would find if I did… QUESTIONS… 1. I seem to be okay for OE here in Ventura California where I reside now. This surprises me since it barely freezes here. A few light frosts on average, some years there is no killing-frost event at all… But I’ll not look at that gift horse’s teeth… HOWEVER, I have a huge problem with T-flies. Most of my cats make it to a J stage but so far more than 50% haven’t made it to a chrysalis. After a couple days they hang limp, straight again, and get unresponsive so I quarantine them to sealed bottles to watch whatever comes bursting out their sides. Two seemingly different species of T-fly so far. I see tiny wasps around my narrow blade milkweed, that seem to be hunters of baby cats. At any rate, the survival rate of cats left outdoors past 3/8th of an inch long is about 1 in 10 or less and although I watch monarchs laying eggs all day, I doubt more than 1 in 100 make it to full butterflies… I have no ants, I pick off every spider I can find, and I swat the larger Hunter wasps but can’t figure out a solution for the T-flies… I’m thinking about putting out fly paper but worried it may catch monarchs too… Do you have any thoughts??? 2. On the subject of OE, since you seem to know how to decontaminate both eggs and milkweed leaves to feed the cats… Why do we kill the OE-infected butterflies? Couldn’t we captive-breed them and decontaminate the eggs, but never release the sick adults??? 3. My native California narrow-leaf milkweed doesn’t produce but a small fraction of edible leaf matter compared to your strains back East like Common and Swamp… Some of those plants I see out East in the videos may have more edible cat food on just a couple of leaves than my whole Narrow-leaf milkweed plants!!! So would it be a problem if I grew some common or swamp in big pots out here on the West Coast just to feed my captive cats, if I whack them down when our native milkweeds start dying off in the fall so as not to disrupt any migratory behaviors? I have about 100-ish cats now but it’s getting hard to find enough milkweed to keep everybody feed… As I said, my resident Mama Monarchs (who are quite territorial, btw, are laying at least several dozen eggs a day on just my 24 plants I have in pots in my backyard… So I could be growing 10 times what I am now if I could just find the food for them… Any ideas there for me? 3. Is it bad to grow Butterfly Bush??? Will Monarch cats eat it? I know the adults like it. I would like to grow some if it’s not a problem for Monarchs somehow… I have more questions but will try not to be any more of a pain in the rear than my irreducible usual minimum, for now. I just love your channel. When I’m troubled at night I've begun to turn in on and sleep to a playlist of your videos talking in the background. I sometimes alternate your videos between David Attenborough’s nature shows. It drives away nightmares and bad thoughts. Take care Sir, Gary Hensley. AKA- The Pestleman. PS~ Funny story… Yesterday I released an OE male who made it past the T-fly gauntlet. As he sat warming in the morning sun and before he left the milkweed bush I left him on, one of the dominant Monarch femmes that rule my yard showed up and pounced on him ferociously, beating him with her wings and wrestling with him, seemingly attacking him like they do the other females that come to lay their eggs. I let nature take its course. She attacked and flew off about 5 times. By then I’d pulled my chair up close to watch. Then the next time she pounced she basically as far as I can tell, semi-raped him, at least battered and bullied him into having wildly exuberant sex with her… I couldn’t believe what I was watching but their abdomens kissed and briefly linked together numerous times before I guess she’d had her fill of the young lad, and went on to fly around feeding and laying more eggs. She chased off two other females soon afterward without leaving the area but never bothered the newly hatched male again. He just sat there on milkweed flowers for a long time before finally flying off. I guess he thought why did he need to travel since the food was easy and wild, lusty women came courting to him. Some guys get all the luck, Right???
I raise the eggs and cats and chrysalises inside. Somehow I don't think this will harm their trip to Mexico. Heck 90% of them wouldn't even be here at all had I not brought them inside to raise.
I have a great idea for you rich Lund you should do a video about. Not letting chrysalises form on the side before it’s a great topic people need to know .
Truth be told, I don't know that I know how to "not let" a caterpillar do something, as they have a will of their own. If we wish to allow caterpillars to climb to the top to form a chrysalis, to get to the top they shall climb the sides, and thus, there will be times when some may choose, for whatever reason, to try and hang from the side. Should this happen, rather than disturb the caterpillar while it is forming the silk tether (an important time that we don't want to disturb) or in case it happens when we aren't around, we can try to relocate the caterpillar after it has started J-hanging. Here's the episode that shows a side J-hang relocation, called just that: ruclips.net/video/lFWBW7nUgEI/видео.html I hope this helps!
I started a shorts channel in late June and it’s been doing good just hope I can make a bunch of money so I can build my garden and add native milkweed in my garden and incorporate the local wild flowers into it .
@@MrLundScience and this is the bad thing where I live there’s high oe bacteria and I have been sanitizing my leaves and still just one caught it,it hurts to put it down but also I can’t have spreading so I threw away the old container got a new one and it’s been great every since ;)
Thank you so much for these videos. We’ve released over 1300 monarchs here in California since 2019! Can you comment on the type of tulle you use? It appears more open than what I find on Amazon. We’ve been clipping cheap sheers to the cage tops and upper sides to protect the crawlers and hangers from wasps. We also place potted milkweeds with eggs in larger cages. Works great.
Do you try to find a shaddy spot outdoors? Im assuming yes. Thanks for the helpful videos. I refer to them a lot. This is my first year trying to raise them. I did plant wildflowers the past few years, and i have lots of milkweed ive always let grow.
That is correct. For any eggs that I find from the last week in July, and onward, once they have hatched, they are kept in outdoor pop-up tents for outdoor rearing. If a storm is coming through (and we've had plenty this summer), I do move them inside to our sunporch. I'm not necessarily worried about them blowing away or even experiencing some rain. It's more about the idea of potentially falling tree branches in my yard.
I'm sorry to hear that you are having such few sightings. You're not alone. It appears from what people are reporting in the comments section (and what they are reporting they are reading in other online groups) that the east side of the US has had the Monarchs show up late this season, and in much fewer numbers. While I don't have any official word on this, I and others are wondering if the smoke from this year's Canadian wildfires may have disrupted the migration routes. It's possible. Still, that you have the milkweed there is what's most important. I do hope many show up for you once migration is in full swing!
Thank you. I have a Monarch that appeared to have fallen from its chrysalis b4 3 of the wings hardened-at least that is my guess- the wings were still rolled a bit and the little fellow is not able to fly. This is day 2. Otherwise he appears to be strong so I’m learning about how to feed him. Is there any hope?
If it can help deter a curious skunk or raccoon, perhaps elevating the tent to an outdoor table can quell some concerns. In the rearing of later season Monarchs that are to be part of the migration, we must not only consider the health of the Monarch, but it's ability/instinct to migrate. It's certainly a new challenge to respond to, as of 2019, but also added knowledge that help benefit their chances. I hope that makes sense! Your compassion for them is definitely in tact!
In a few months I'm moving to a state that have Monarch. In one of our visit I mention about the Monarch Butterflies. Our friend said something along the lines of yeah and people even raise them. To say the least I was THRILLED! I'm going to raise them for sure! I have learned so much from your videos! I bought some milkweed on line. Did I get to right kind? Asclepias syriaca
Hi Rich, Thanks for your videos, they're always helpful. I found bird cages lined with net curtain material great for protective outdoor housing. If I didn't rear the eggs that I do, none of the eggs laid in my backyard survive past first instar. Who is murdering my caterpillars?!
It's a brutal world out there for the Monarchs, indeed. Plenty of urban egg hunts this year, and I often have found hatched egg shells, and maybe some slight munching of the leaf, but no trace of the caterpillars. Often, black ants or carpenter ants are nearby due to aphids. While I don't know which culprit is murdering your caterpillars, I know that many in my area fall victim to the ants. (I'm already seeing an aphids/ants episode will be in my future, once I learn more.)
Okay I have a question. How do you prevent leaves from drying out so fast when rearing monarchs outside? I wrap a paper towel around the stem, but the leaves still dry very quickly when I have the cage outside. I can’t think of a solution as of now
Will you do a video on the risks of OE on reared monarchs being released into the wild and infecting migrating individuals? There’s a lot of research showing rearing and releasing monarchs without testing for OE is a major problem and might be emerging as threat to the species.
Greetings! It may be that I have already discussed aspects of this, but strewn through some of the five videos below. (Not sure if you knew of any, some, or all of them.) The one that might be more poignant to what you are asking about might be "Should We Euthanize?" where portions of it do discuss migration. I hope this helps! "What Are OE Parasites?" - ruclips.net/video/kkZTfeFVMiE/видео.html Discussion on what OE is, and how it affects the Monarchs. "OE Parasite Testing" - ruclips.net/video/pxXkAL1h2pw/видео.html One method for testing adult Monarchs for OE spores. "OE Parasite Prevention" - ruclips.net/video/oZYzzcGiZRA/видео.html How to bleach treat eggs and leaves to kill OE spores without harm to the egg, and prevent OE infection. "Should We Euthanize?" - ruclips.net/video/5WEewtof3w8/видео.html Discussion, from multiple scientific experts on the subject, on what their advice is to handling OE infections from the perspective of those rearing Monarchs, and how to handle OE outbreaks - whether euthanizing the adult is something to consider or not. "Alternative OE Testing" - ruclips.net/video/32IqyxjOUfM/видео.html Another, and likely easier way for most, to test an adult Monarch for OE spores.
I had a curled up cat on the bottom of the enclosure that I thought was dying so I placed it on a leaf expecting to find it dead in this am. This am there was a chrysalis on the leaf. What should I do now? Do you think it will survive? How long before chrysalis hardens so it can be handled? Also I now have another doing the same thing. What is going on? Do you the cool Indiana nights are affecting them? Note: Last night I put a lightweight tarp over the mesh enclosure to help keep them warm.
I had the worst experience this summer! I took in 11 cats from my backyard. All laid by the same mother. Many of them had issues holding on to the chrysalis shell/mesh cage ceiling after eclosing. Luckily, I was home during all the times it happened (I think 3 or 4 of them fell) but I was freaking out and had to act fast. I used a pen which they were able to hold on to while they pumped out their wings. I held the pen during this time and once they released the meconium, I tried to move them to the mesh cage and let them dry fully there. They were all able to fly away with no issues when releasing, so I have no idea why they couldn't hold on to pump and dry. Needless to say, I'm traumatized. I know there are eggs on my milkweed from a monarch visiting my backyard a couple of days ago. I'm afraid to bring them in now! Any ideas as to why this happened?
While I'm not sure why it happened to so many at the same time, it's certainly possible to be coincidental. If it were to continue to happen to others, I'd be very puzzled. Your pens came to the rescue, though! Great to hear that you were able to steward them the rest of the way like that. If ever we do feel, though, that a rearing process we did was a lot to handle, it's always fine to scale down how many we take on, or even take a break from rearing. In 2021, that summer, I reared only two due to the hiccups of life and moving. And those two were very rewarding. I wish you luck in your future endeavors with the Monarchs, be it this season or next!
Clarification question: is it only important to rear the chrysalides outside? Or do we need to rear the caterpillars outside too? If so at what instar stage should we move them outside? Sorry if you already answered this in your other videos.
The sooner you can get your caterpillars outside, the better. If you have a habitat in full sun, draping the top of it with a light weight fabric and clips helps shield them from the sun. Also weigh down the habitat so it doesn't blow away if you only have chrysalides in it.
For any eggs I take in beginning the last week of July onward, I still hatch them indoors. Easier to monitor. Once hatched, though, from first instar onward, I rear them in an outdoor tent. It's certainly a long one, no doubt, but the episode "Outdoor Rearing" shows the full process from start to finish. - ruclips.net/video/LjEgU0Ub5hY/видео.html I hope this helps!
Thank you both for your responses. I do have a screened in porch where I have been raising them, but the east side has greenhouse plastic up over the screens to shield from rain and such. North and West sides are my house. So only the south side is actually "open" to the elements. I kind of felt like that might not be enough exposure so I will try what you both have suggested.
Help! One of my caterpillars has spit/vomited bright green stain on the side mesh of the cage. I found it this morning all the way up the cage, and a trail of bright green stain. What does this mean? I separated this particular caterpillar from the others. But I’m so confused, they have all been eating the same food. Is there a way to send you a picture?
I hand out index cards with "a link" to your material on small milkweed potted plants with 5th instar caterpillars ( and a dead valerian flower for J hanging ) cover the bricks with something softer than brick I released 4 females and 3 males today and a chrysalis I was relocating fell onto a window sill, and let's just say it was not good I'll be adding some pillows under that area tomorrow
A milkweed potted plant with an about to J-hang caterpillar? That's a pretty awesome gift to hand out! I do agree, one thing I didn't show in the video set up, I do put a later of paper towel now between the mesh and bricks (both interior and exterior bricks) to prevent the mesh from snagging on them. Wasn't happening much before or last year, but has happened enough for the modification. (I think my previous bricks had been much smoother.)
caterpillars breathe through spiracle holes which go down their sides. There are also areas of the chrysalis through which they breathe. If you think it through, if that were the case, they wouldn't exist. Most of the time they form their chrysalis on the underside of the leaf which shields and protects them from rain and direct/full sun. One of the issues with having a habitat in the elements is the water can loosen the silk, increasing the chances of them falling. A chrysalis can eclose laying down in the habitat but it MUST be in a habitat with gripable sides.
I'm here in Southeastern Michigan. It's day 13 and my chrysalis which is outside in a mesh cage is not turning dark yet. The chrysalis is still green and looks OK and I can see the wings inside. This is my first attempt at raising a Monarch and I'm very worried that he/she is not showing signs of eclosing. This is very stressful!!!!
2 years ago I was honored with the gold medal of Monarch raising! One of my reared Monarchs made it to Mexico!!! Was a proud Mama when I found the tag# in Monarch Watch list. I raise mine in same netted enclosures in my 3 season room with windows open all season long. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Hey hey, that is definitely worth celebrating! Congratulations!
OMG, you are back to educate us! Because of your videos I raised and released about 100 last season. It was an epic learning experience and my husband was extremely tolerant of me raising the cats on our dining room table, hanging the chrysalis on our living room lamp shades (lol) and packing up my containers on a weekly basis as we move between two houses! Feeding and releasing them was magical. I have given your RUclips channel out to anyone who got interested because of my photos to encourage them to grow milkweed and raise their own. Many many thanks for your short, digestible video series on every single aspect of the process and how to handle the inevitable issues that can come up. You rock MrLundScience! Cheers from Ann in Palo Alto, California.
Those are strong complimentary words, Ann, and are very much appreciated. And I especially appreciate you considering them "short", as I know some may disagree. [insert winking face here]
And despite the number of episodes...there's still many issues to cover. Perhaps more than I can, but gosh it's fun and educational to try!
Thank you for all you are doing for the Monarchs. It's definitely contagious!
❤️❤️❤️
@@MrLundScience Short works really well for those of us with ADHD!! I think it would be way too much to try and cover it all in one long video. When an issue comes up it is easy to zip through your videos and get advice. Thanks again.
Because of Rich Lund, I ended up starting our own facebook group. His teachings have allowed me to mentor many members. Since July, 2021 we have grown to over 4,000 members including people from Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Hawaii. One life (Rich Lund) has had an immeasurable impact on the plight of the Monarchs. There are organizations such as MonarchWatch, etc., however, they do not provide the visual and auditory aspects of learning about the Monarchs Rich provides. There are no words adequate to express the depth of my gratitude to him.
@MrLundScience I have raised my first monarch in the Chrysalis outside as you showed in this video. The results were amazing. After Uno the Monarch finished drying his wings, he flew up into my neighbor's tree and within a 2 hours he was in front of our house on the Miss Molly bush with the five other monarchs including his mom that he was following. It was incredible to see them all commune together. My neighbor happened to stop by my house and was blown away by all the Monarchs flying around. This has been an amazing summer. Thank you for the outside pop-up tent idea. The bricks worked great as an anchor for my back yard and it was safe back there. Thank you very much! Great educational video for us who want them to migrate.
Glad to see more recent videos. My most successful season was 2 years ago, with 238 Monarchs released. I was collecting so many eggs that year. Thanks to all your guidance, I've released over 600 healthy Monarchs here in North Central FL. since 2017
I'm so happy to hear that a lot of you are finding caterpillars. Here in northern NH, I have only seen 3 Monarch butterflies so far this year. Fortunately 2 of them laid some eggs, but not that many. It is heartbreaking for me to see the population shrink so rapidly. I have planted tons of milkweed and lots of butterfly happy flowers. Love these videos. Thank you!
We are in Maryland and many of our group members are currently being egg bombed. Denise has 185 eggs, Rachel is pleading with members of our group to take some, which they are. Many are theorizing the Canadian wildfires may have played a role in this very odd year. Exit numbers were reportedly down 22% this year, then the smoke. People in our group who normally start seeing eggs in late May didn't find their first eggs until mid July. I so hope next year is a better year. In the meantime, we are helping every egg we find. Blessings to you.
I concur with Donna below, I'm hearing that the east coast is experiencing this, a low amount of Monarchs, and late arrival at that. And I'm also hearing speculation that it may have something to do with the smoke from the wildfires. I haven't heard any science on this yet, but it seems plausible that it would have an effect. We might have to wait and see if and how this might affect the fall migration.
I am also in Maryland but I haven't seen any monarchs or eggs or caterpillars@@donnathompson1619
We found your videos in 2019, after we went to a Monarch event at a local nature preserve where they gave us a caterpillar to raise and release. Since then, we've planted a butterfly garden in our backyard that includes at least 26 milkweed plants this year, and we have raised and released 148 butterflies since 2019! This year, we have released 4 butterflies already, we have 9 chrysalides, 1 j-hanging, 6 fifth instars that will climb to the top probably today, and 16 first-third instars. We also have 10 eggs. We live in mid-Michigan, your videos have been a huge part of our success! :)
That all sounds awesome! Thank you for devoting some territory to the milkweed. It is absolutely the best way to help them, the restoring of their habitat. And it seems that your gardening and other efforts are working! Congratulations on such success!
Good to see you again Mr. L.S.! You started me raising Monarchs in 2018. Usually 20-30 per summer. This year has been terrible. Very few Monarchs and Swallow tails in my flower gardens and I have found 0 Monarch eggs this year. I don't know the reason. Sad. Anybody else with the same experience?
I too have noticed a drop in monarchs in my backyard this season, as well as a drop in eggs laid. I also have less milkweed this year. I don't know if they're related, but probably.
We are in Maryland, zone 7. I am the administrator of a butterfly group. Everyone has reported the numbers being down and many verbalized concern with regard to the late start of the season. I typically release around 800 per year. This year I have not released 100 yet. However, we have many members who are currently being egg bombed and am reaching out to other members of our group to foster the eggs, which they have done.
I read exit numbers were down 22% this year, then came the Canadian wildfire smoke. Many theorize they diverted around the smoke. Let us pray for a better 2024. This has many very concerned.
From the comments on this video and the other recent ones, it does seem that many on the east coast are having a sparse year for the Monarchs. Some speculate, and I think it's a worthy speculation, that the smoke from the Canadian wildfires may have affected migration routes. I haven't seen any actual science on this claim, yet, but it would seem at face value to be a plausible explanation.
I do hope it's just a hiccup this year, and not something repeated.
Here's hoping you have some sightings when migration is in full swing!
I saw a monarch laying eggs on milkweed in my parents lawn last month, I scrambled to raise them and wouldn't know anything about the need for outdoor rearing if not for you. Unfortunately I lost a lot of them in the process, but the first two of the seven survivors started J-hanging today. Thank you for all your advice!
Here's to your seven that are under your care! If this is your first time rearing Monarchs, welcome aboard! It can be an exciting point when they first make it to J-hanging. You're almost there!
I was literally JUST talking about you and your channel today!! I was with my kid and a few of the neighbor kids at the local botanical garden. We are in NW Ohio and love this place. It’s called the 577 Foundation and they have a bunch of monarchs there to release and milkweed growing as well as sings and trails to interact with. It’s a great little place for us to walk over to. They’ve got a community garden and book and hangs as well as a pottery barn too. For pottery, not home furnishings 😂
Anyhow, the kids wanted to “get some monarchs”and raise them themselves. I have found an occasional dropped chrysalis before, each one worked out after tying them up with dental floss and making sure they could eclose safely. However, I’ve never done wild sourcing!! I can’t believe you’re posting this now! The kids just went home but I’m going to show them this tomorrow because I didn’t have concise answers and ended up talking myself in circles and I said “there’s a guy on RUclips who I watched when I found the first one I took in…he’s a teacher, he’s great, I think he’s in the Midwest…” and I couldn’t recall your name and I couldn’t find your channel even though I’m subscribed!!
You are the best teacher and due to this serendipity I’ll NEVER forget the channel name again.
I’m truly gobsmacked. The odds of this video coming out not 45 minutes after the very discussion is like one in a million.
Thank you Mr. Lund.
I can’t wait to show the kids tomorrow because they all love nature and they all understand the importance of good stewardship.
I do my best to teach them to do their research, err on the side of caution and never lose sight of the fact we are to help, no harm.
We want to leave things better than how we found them, it’s imperative to not ignore things we see that we know are wrong.
Also mentioned the road to hell is paved with good intentions and had a heck of a time explaining that to six kids between the ages of 5 and 12 😂
In the neighborhood I’m the adult they all come to with critters and fossils and shells, they’ll leave sticks on the porch they think I’ll like.
Kids are the best and you do such a great job teaching.
Thank you for what you do!!
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
I'm very pleased to supply a weird coincidental moment! So cool that you are training some young scientists to practice the skills of research and ethics in science. The 577 Foundation sounds pretty cool!
And to your door fossil delivery? Sounds pretty awesome indeed!
I really enjoyed this! Thank you so much Mr. Lund for all your videos. I am new at raising Monarchs and found your videos on cleaning leaves and eggs wonderful. I agree outdoor rearing makes so much sense. I was putting mine outside just so they could be out in nature and glad my instincts were correct! You are right on target and thanks for backing it up with the study from the University of Illinois.
Oh Rich. Absolutely brilliant. I cannot tell you how validated I feel, especially coming from you. I have no words to express my gratitude. I have left other butterfly groups for being ridiculed when this topic was brought up. That is what led us to forming our own group and prohibiting the use of glass or plastic habitats for the eclosing butterflies.
I must confess, at first when I viewed the vinyl on the top I was puzzled. Our habitats are mesh on all sides, no vinyl windows because of the issues addressed in this video. Our butterflies are often seen climbing all over the habitats while their wings are drying. While they will not be able to grip the vinyl on the top, they certainly can climb all over the tulle you are using to hang your chrysalides as well as the other four sides. I LOVE the concept of keeping rain water out, which can loosen the silk which can lead to a J hanger or chrysalis falling. The vinyl on the floor and the fact that you have it elevated with bricks, preventing standing water is brilliant! The bricks ensure the habitat does not blow away in wind as well. I honestly like the idea!!
The only question I have is your thoughts on chrysalides hanging in direct sunlight? In the wild, they attach to the underside of leaves which provide them shade. I typically drape the top with a cool cloth like an old pillow case and secure with clips around the sides. I thought I read somewhere the direct sun could affect the chrysalides. Do you have any input in that regard?
Thank you for the recognition at the end. You're the best.
Wow. Glad I read the comments. Thanks for your questions that also have me thinking about them!
I'm very pleased that you found the video to be, well, what I had hoped. I think the topic you brought up was an excellent one, and fit in very well with wanting to focus more on the idea of outdoor rearing. While the news broke in 2019, it can certainly take time to become common knowledge (or at least, what can be considered "common" knowledge in this very specific hobby).
Concerning direct sunlight on a chrysalis, perhaps this can help a bit...
For starters, while I would agree that the caterpillar will often choose a somewhat shaded or secluded spot, there's many examples of Monarchs choosing locations that for portions of the day do receive direct sunlight, and without any noticeable ill-effects.
Next, there have been times when I needed to travel during the summer and would not be around for the eclosing of some adults. At those times, I've relocated some chrysalides to a fully outside hanging location (instead of the screened in porch I had) where they were receiving direct sunlight. When I'd return from the vacation, I'd come back to only empty chrysalis casings.
With that in mind, knowing direct sunlight isn't an ultimate deal-breaker, it may alleviate concerns to know that in the pop-up tents, while the outside of the tent may be receiving direct sunlight, the chrysalis inside the tent is not, and is instead receiving a little more than half the light intensity. The mesh, while white, is blocking a good percentage of the sunlight that reaches it. White is a pretty ideal color, too, as it's reflecting the maximum sunlight it can (rather than a dark material that would absorb it as heat). Also, when I first purchased the tents and was figuring out my outdoor rearing setup, using an infrared thermometer I checked the internal temperature of the tent compared to the outside temp. Left in direct sunlight for a while, the interior of the pop-up tent was actually one degree F cooler than the outside temperature. (The plastic terrarium was about 5 degrees F warmer than the outside temp, showing an amount of greenhouse effect that they have.)
All together, since inside the tent the chrysalis is having a good portion of the sunlight blocked by the mesh, and since the pop up tents (or at least the brand I have) don't have a heat build up issue (greenhouse effect), I don't suspect sunlight would cause the chrysalis any types of problems.
I certainly hope that helps, and of course, welcome what follow up questions you might have.
Thank you again, Donna! Your commitment is admirable!
I've found a fallen chrysalis before! Thanks to your videos, I made sure that it was close to a safe bush that it could climb to pump it's wings. I monitored it, and also relocated it when it got to a spot where it looked like it didn't have enough room. It survived! ❤
Very cool! I'm glad the info was there for you to use! Thank you for helping them out!
Good video, I am concerned as I have seen tons of milkweed but no eggs, caterpillars or monarchs this whole year and I have been looking
Had an old birdcage, I lined/sewed in some mosquitoe netting fabric from the fabric store and put the cage outside on the front porch to raise the Monarchs. For the smaller caterpillars, I used plastic take out food containers and cut out a "window" which I covered with the netting fabric taped over it and for the leaves inside wrapped with a wet paper towel, I lay the paper towel ends into plastic lids from drink bottles - recycle, reuse! I must admit, last year I did go buy the pop up tents because the old bird cage plastic was falling apart and duct tape just didn't work anymore - LOL.
I also do this, and it works great (bird cage and netting).
Loving the innovation! I purchased the pop-up tents originally because they were very similar to what was used in the 2019 study, and in the making of the video, I wanted to try and recreate their set up the best I could. But certainly, it is just a mesh cage in the end, so an innovated mesh cage will do it too! Awesome tip!
Such great timing for a topic I've been wondering. I have grown the occasional monarch over the years but this is the first time I've decided to try to rear as many as I can. In door set ups are so much easier to control but the part of making sure they are getting the proper light ques (know when its time to migrate) is what I've been wondering.
We have 8 habitats on our front covered porch at the moment. I do worry about a chrysalis being in direct sunlight but agree it is best for them to be outdoors.
Then I'm very happy I could supply the topic in a timely fashion! Outdoor rearing has changed some things since 2019, but we're an adaptive crew!
I raised Monarchs this summer and it was very rewarding, lost some but for the most part I can say I released over 50.
I will take your tip keeping 8 or 10 in one container. I had a tent but it became to crowed. When I cleaned the silk was very thick.
I need to prep more, Milkweed became very difficult to find I was running out of food.
I plan on planting more Milkweed this winter. Thank you for the tips!
Thank you Rich! Your videos were invaluable to me when I started rearing them in 2019!
You're very welcome! I hope you're enjoying this five years deep into it! It's addictive!
Such great advice. Thank you very much!
Happy to help!
Thank you for briefly mentioning wasps - I co-rear black swallowtails with monarchs in a screened outdoor enclosure and those pesky tiny chalcid wasps devoured 7 of my black cats before I realized what had happened. So far all my monarchs are safe, but I missed a few chrysalises while they were forming. (I covered them with organza bags temporarily). I’m changing my entire method to your outdoor method to reduce the risk of predators and disease for both species. Plus I’m moving all my potted milkweed into the ground so I can pick leaves next season.
Thank you for continuing on with your series!
Great video.
Thanks you for always relaying information in an easy understood way. Because of you I have raised between 500 to 700 Monarch butterflies for the last 4 plus years. I follow many of your suggestions.
I appreciate that very much. I try to make it easy, but the topics can sometimes be complex. The balance between easy to digest and still enough detail for a full understanding is tough to reach, but I do my best. I don't know that I always hit the mark, either, so feedback like this can help. Thank you!
We had good results raising cats with the "shoe box" type storage containers. We cut a rectangular hole out of the top and taped a mesh fabric to it.
I love this channel I’ve been raising monarchs for 4 years and I just planted my own milkweed no luck this year I’ve raised 4 already tho plus 12 more . Keep it up love this channel
Very awesome! Thank you for helping them out, and welcome to what you already know, can be a very addictive hobby!
@@MrLundScience also sir what milkweeds would u recommend me in Tennessee? I know tropical is bad butterfly milkweed is ok but not the best egg laying rate so what do u 🤔 think?
Found my first caterpillar last week. It was in the area without milkweed, eating parsley. I moved it to the mw with parsley. They see to love the parsley best though. I made bin to keep it but it escaped from the netting so I need to fix it, but I'm excited for more to start coming 😊 it was amazing to watch it grow.
Thanks for sharing all this info, I've learned a lot over the years 😊
Monarchs will only eat milkweed. If it’s eating parsley, what you have is a swallowtail, which is still a beautiful butterfly!
A very cool find indeed, but I might need to agree with the reply already posted here...It's likely to be a different species and not a Monarch if it is gobbling up parsley. Depending upon your location, it could be a number of species, but the most likely culprit, as already mentioned, is the Eastern Black Swallowtail. Perhaps attempt a quick image search for "Eastern Black Swallowtail Caterpillars" and see if the one you found comes up.
They are a fun species to rear to adults as well, provided you've got the parsley or dill that they devour!
@MrLundScience wow, I thought it was odd, but that's what it looked like, the swallowtail. Thanks! I thought I read they liked parsley and dill. They look so similar!
My monarchs live on my front porch. They are protected from rain but are always outside. I have a 10 gallon tank with a mess lid on top.
If the homestead has the means, I would agree, front/back yard porches are a pretty ideal place to ensure outdoor exposure, but in a location we can still monitor and keep safe(r) from pests/predators and the like.
Very cool that you've devoted that territory for them! Thank you for helping them out!
Thank you. I missed the comment about being able to raise inside til the monarch is expected to migrate. I thought it but wasn't going to do it cause of all the negative pressure on some of the monarch social media sites. I will now!
Glad you posted a new video, finally had a monarch hatch, but her wing broke, she fell right after she hatched and we didn’t notice the break till she filled her wings with fluid and i noticed a drop of the liquid on the outside of her wing, so I made the decision to put her outside, on some flowers and not long after I put her outdoors, she died. From chrysalis not hatching leaking fluid, to second instar caterpillars laying on their backs and dying, and monarchs successfully hatching but falling and breaking a wing, just bad luck this year. I do have two monarchs left and one still in a chrysalis.
I'm sorry that there have been troubles, but guaranteed, these things have happened to me before as well. Granted, perhaps not as close to each other time-wise as in your case, but you are correct, it can be just chance that it happens this way. Still, for the three you continue to rear, let's hope they show that the bad luck is over!
@@MrLundScience Thank you, not over yet, I had another Monarch hatch yesterday a male this time, he fell I didn’t notice he fell until i walked into the kitchen and he was on the ground of the plastic terrarium i have, so i picked him back up and put him on a stick hoping the wings are fine, but no, I don’t think the wings got enough fluid, there was some of the fluid around him. I did try the paper towel method you showed in the video, maybe that mitigated some damage, but he can’t fly, hes been outside all day yesterday on some flowers, now i have yet to check on him this morning. Letting nature take over is hard, it’s what i am sticking to for now.
Edit: Just checked on him, still alive, he was in cement driveway, then moved him to other flowers, so i guess he is getting good, I tried feed him sugar water yesterday but he was not interested.
Thank you for another informative video. This last fall I planted 100 milkweed seed bombs in well cultivated soil. 50 were purchased and 50 I made at home. None of them grew this spring. I do have 70 assorted milkweed which I germinated this spring. I was just disappointed that the seed bombs did not make it.
Since moving to a new location, my wife has tried to grow cone flowers from sprinkling the seeds and hoping they'll do their thing. So far, two years in a row, they haven't. I'm not much of a gardener, really. I know a lot about milkweed, but not extensive knowledge on other plants. (Poison Ivy, yes, but out of necessity.) The only time I've had luck with growing things has been when I've germinated the seed first. I just do not have that green thumb some speak of!
Alongside the milkweeds I’ve planted, I have also put in 800 sq ft of pollinator wildflowers which are doing great. I cultivated the plot 3 times last fall to remove the existing grasses, and then once this spring just prior to sowing the seeds. I used a roller to ensure good seed/soil contact. The first flower bloomed 5 weeks later. I used the “Midwest Pollinator” seed mix from American Meadows. I live in central Illinois.
Thank you for the knowledge you offer us.
You're very welcome. Thank you for feeling it's worth your time. ;-)
Thank you for another great video. We are on our 3rd year of raising Monarchs. My kids enjoy it. Trouble is the local milkweed cannot even raise one Monarch. I've had to resort to buying tropical. I cut it back so that we don't have it growing at the end of the season. Not sure what else we can do?
I grew common, swamp, tuberosa and showy for four years and virtually had no results. We added hairy balls and tropical to the gardens and we release around 800 per year. I also distribute seeds to people all over the country. Hairy Balls has a higher level of cardenolide than does Tropical milkweed. I am confident you would be stunned with the results and how easy it is to grow.
I suppose in such situations, the best I can do is offer what I might do in that case. For me, whether I was living in an apartment, or of the two houses I've lived at, I always wanted to secure a "home stock" that I could use sometimes for feeding, and eventually for seeds. If planting milkweed where you live is an option, I'd certainly start there.
You do mention that there is local milkweed. If it's growing some place, while not plentiful enough to feed a number of caterpillars now, that might be a good place to plant more seeds in the fall (or even germinate them first for a better chance in the spring) to provide more resources for both you and them in the future seasons. Is that a possibility?
I hope some of that helps! Growing it can certainly be cheaper than purchasing it!
Hi Rich, I raise Monarchs on the West Coast, Ventura CA to be exact. I am doing okay but fighting bad odds. I seem to be free of OE, at least as far as my 16 power jewelers loop and surprisingly my camera is able to magnify and photograph the tape scale samples from the abdomen. (Nothing but scales so far, TG!!!) But I'm losing 40% to 60% of my cats to T-flies. In fact, literally, all the ones I find at the 4th & 5th instar stage outside on my California narrow blade plants that make it to the hanging J stage, soon go limp and die. Within minutes to a day, the Sigourney Weaver sci-fi horror movies start up with T-fly maggots bursting out the chests of the barely dead cats. Sometimes 8 or 9 maggots from a single cat. It's depressing, a lot of work went into the care and feeding of those guys. Meaning, I don't think ANY survive outside all the way to hatching into butterflies if left outdoors. The numbers are slightly better on the 3rd instars I bring in but still barely 40% survive... Really I'm considering going to only raising cats from the eggs that the Monarchs simply load on my plants daily. I only have two beachball-sized Narrow blade milkweed plants plus 24 seedlings about 5 inches tall. Our Narrow blade milkweed doesn't produce but a tiny fraction of the volume of edible leaf as your Common and Swamp plants do... I've done counts watching the females laying eggs and can confidently say I get 25 to 30 new eggs laid a day on my plants. But those left outside are very likely doomed as I can barely find enough milkweed to feed 25 in total at one time raising them indoors... I'm very seriously considering euthanizing all the cats I find that hatched outdoors and just working with the ones grown from eggs indoors. I say this seemingly harsh thing because, to the best of my observation, all the ones left outdoors end up parasitized, giving life to 5 to 10 flies each one... And more T-flies is the last thing we need around here. If this is happening elsewhere, on any kind of scale, I can see why the Monarchs are in such dire straits.
I just had a monarch from my doomed field across the road hatch and fall but because it was in a mesh enclosure, it climbed up and inflated it’s wings. I’m still waiting on a few stragglers to j-hang but most are pupae already. So my work is pretty much done. I’m just putting the adults in my greenhouse as they eclose to learn to fly for a day then out they go! It’s not quite migration time yet here so I suspect they’ll stick around and give me some eggs. But those caterpillars will be raised exclusively outside so that they get the queues to go south.
That sounds like you've gone to some extensive ends to ensure their development and safety. Very awesome! And cool to hear already of a fallen eclosure adult being able to climb up the sides of the mesh to get the job done!
Hello Rich, I just discovered your channel a few weeks ago and deeply appreciate you and all you do for encouraging good science knowledge in general plus your efforts in the Monarch Recovery Program in specific. Man, I have about a zillion questions for you. But first off a bit about myself, (AND please feel free at this point, to skip to the bottom if you do not wish to hear an old geezer go blah, blah, blah about ancient history, if so, just go to my numbered questions which hopefully you might have an answer or two for me) TY…
I’ve been into rearing moths and butterflies since a wee lad and did it every year circa 1962 through graduating High School in 1969, again when my kids were young in the 1990s and early 2000s, and have begun earnestly working with Monarchs again just recently. I released 3 captive-bred ones today… But I started with my favorites, the Polyphemus moths as a kid after finding my first one when I was about 8 years old. A female, which I brought indoors where it promptly escaped, and since our high ceilings kept me from recapturing it again it remained free all night.
In the wee hours, I was awakened by fluttering noises and was greeted with an amazing sight. My female had made it to the open window above my bed and onto the screen covering it. She was fluttering frantically inside but outside, following her around on the outside of the screen was a male, as eager to mate with her as she was frantic to mate with him. I wasted no time in capturing him and bringing him into my room, where they flew and danced an aerial tango together for quite a while before landing and mating. My eight-year-old brain was hooked. I kept them captive in my old horned toad lizard terrarium (I’d caught in Oklahoma on vacation and brought them back to my home in Mountain View, California(Pre-Silicon Valley Era). I learned all I could as fast as I could about my moths and soon discovered via my Science Teacher, that the Polyphemus moth was rare to close to locally extinct in my area of Santa Clara County. By then my female had lain about 65 fertile eggs inside her enclosure, and as soon as they hatched I began feeding them elm leaves which they loved and were actually their preferred food until Dutch Elm Disease virtually wiped them out across the country. I released most of the young cats on about a dozen elms in my neighborhood and kept a dozen for myself, feeding them until I got to watch them turn into their cocoon stage. Sadly, that 1st year, only two of my cats I’d released on the neighborhood elms made it to the cocoon stage… and I learned a valuable lesson. I released my captive moths as they hatched but the very 1st to hatch, a female, fell and her wings dried all crumpled up before I realized it.(It doesn’t take long!!!) But I put her on the screen as before, a mate arrived after a couple of days, I caught him and was off to the races again for a new season of breeding. This year I kept all the eggs and trial and error taught me proper care to nurture for an almost 100% successful development into cocoons over the next few years. Soon I was releasing 50 to 100 moths a year. In the 7th grade, I won the 7th-grade level Science Fair in my school district for my experiment trying to determine under what conditions a cocoon would mature and hatch most successfully. I kept them in 7 different environments. (My results were the ones inside our hot water heater closet hatched the fastest). Really, I just got lucky with one of them hatching out and began spreading her wings as the Judges walked through judging the various entries in the Science Fair. My stunningly beautiful lady polyphemus was the hit of that year’s science fair, (blowing away all the other far more mundane entries compared to her, lol !!!) By then I was getting a real taste for science and won the State Science Fair the next year with an experiment with growing plants in separated large terrariums under differing CO2 levels. Unfortunately, enabling me early oil life with knowledge of the vast significance of CO2 levels in the atmosphere has been somewhat of a metaphorical Cassandra curse all my life. I’ve seemingly watched helplessly our species destroying our planet’s life cycles and ecological diversity through a vapid culture of conspicuous consumption, waste, and a use-once-and-throw-away mentality, powered by rampant fossil fuels use with no regard for the effects future generations will be left holding the bag… On a happier note, in just 3 or 4 years Polyphemus moths were well on their way to being all but common in the 5 miles radius of my home where I was releasing them, (which was also my paper route area). It was common to see 50 to 100 of their cocoons every year on the larger elm trees. After the elms were all sick or dying, they began moving to a mostly ornamental purple plum tree(but a few made fruit, which we went to great efforts to raid as kids) with deep purplish leaves that were also plentiful in my neighborhood. I haven’t been back there in 40 years and since it’s not ground zero for Silicon Valley, I fear what I would find if I did… QUESTIONS…
1. I seem to be okay for OE here in Ventura California where I reside now. This surprises me since it barely freezes here. A few light frosts on average, some years there is no killing-frost event at all… But I’ll not look at that gift horse’s teeth… HOWEVER, I have a huge problem with T-flies. Most of my cats make it to a J stage but so far more than 50% haven’t made it to a chrysalis. After a couple days they hang limp, straight again, and get unresponsive so I quarantine them to sealed bottles to watch whatever comes bursting out their sides. Two seemingly different species of T-fly so far. I see tiny wasps around my narrow blade milkweed, that seem to be hunters of baby cats. At any rate, the survival rate of cats left outdoors past 3/8th of an inch long is about 1 in 10 or less and although I watch monarchs laying eggs all day, I doubt more than 1 in 100 make it to full butterflies… I have no ants, I pick off every spider I can find, and I swat the larger Hunter wasps but can’t figure out a solution for the T-flies… I’m thinking about putting out fly paper but worried it may catch monarchs too… Do you have any thoughts???
2. On the subject of OE, since you seem to know how to decontaminate both eggs and milkweed leaves to feed the cats… Why do we kill the OE-infected butterflies? Couldn’t we captive-breed them and decontaminate the eggs, but never release the sick adults??? 3. My native California narrow-leaf milkweed doesn’t produce but a small fraction of edible leaf matter compared to your strains back East like Common and Swamp… Some of those plants I see out East in the videos may have more edible cat food on just a couple of leaves than my whole Narrow-leaf milkweed plants!!! So would it be a problem if I grew some common or swamp in big pots out here on the West Coast just to feed my captive cats, if I whack them down when our native milkweeds start dying off in the fall so as not to disrupt any migratory behaviors? I have about 100-ish cats now but it’s getting hard to find enough milkweed to keep everybody feed… As I said, my resident Mama Monarchs (who are quite territorial, btw, are laying at least several dozen eggs a day on just my 24 plants I have in pots in my backyard… So I could be growing 10 times what I am now if I could just find the food for them… Any ideas there for me?
3. Is it bad to grow Butterfly Bush??? Will Monarch cats eat it? I know the adults like it. I would like to grow some if it’s not a problem for Monarchs somehow…
I have more questions but will try not to be any more of a pain in the rear than my irreducible usual minimum, for now. I just love your channel. When I’m troubled at night I've begun to turn in on and sleep to a playlist of your videos talking in the background. I sometimes alternate your videos between David Attenborough’s nature shows. It drives away nightmares and bad thoughts.
Take care Sir, Gary Hensley. AKA- The Pestleman.
PS~ Funny story… Yesterday I released an OE male who made it past the T-fly gauntlet. As he sat warming in the morning sun and before he left the milkweed bush I left him on, one of the dominant Monarch femmes that rule my yard showed up and pounced on him ferociously, beating him with her wings and wrestling with him, seemingly attacking him like they do the other females that come to lay their eggs. I let nature take its course. She attacked and flew off about 5 times. By then I’d pulled my chair up close to watch. Then the next time she pounced she basically as far as I can tell, semi-raped him, at least battered and bullied him into having wildly exuberant sex with her… I couldn’t believe what I was watching but their abdomens kissed and briefly linked together numerous times before I guess she’d had her fill of the young lad, and went on to fly around feeding and laying more eggs. She chased off two other females soon afterward without leaving the area but never bothered the newly hatched male again. He just sat there on milkweed flowers for a long time before finally flying off. I guess he thought why did he need to travel since the food was easy and wild, lusty women came courting to him. Some guys get all the luck, Right???
I raise the eggs and cats and chrysalises inside. Somehow I don't think this will harm their trip to Mexico. Heck 90% of them wouldn't even be here at all had I not brought them inside to raise.
I have a great idea for you rich Lund you should do a video about. Not letting chrysalises form on the side before it’s a great topic people need to know .
Truth be told, I don't know that I know how to "not let" a caterpillar do something, as they have a will of their own. If we wish to allow caterpillars to climb to the top to form a chrysalis, to get to the top they shall climb the sides, and thus, there will be times when some may choose, for whatever reason, to try and hang from the side.
Should this happen, rather than disturb the caterpillar while it is forming the silk tether (an important time that we don't want to disturb) or in case it happens when we aren't around, we can try to relocate the caterpillar after it has started J-hanging.
Here's the episode that shows a side J-hang relocation, called just that: ruclips.net/video/lFWBW7nUgEI/видео.html
I hope this helps!
@@MrLundScience thank you sir I’m trying to get my channel making money to grow my garden and how long have u been doing this ? It’s been so long .
I started a shorts channel in late June and it’s been doing good just hope I can make a bunch of money so I can build my garden and add native milkweed in my garden and incorporate the local wild flowers into it .
@@MrLundScience and this is the bad thing where I live there’s high oe bacteria and I have been sanitizing my leaves and still just one caught it,it hurts to put it down but also I can’t have spreading so I threw away the old container got a new one and it’s been great every since ;)
Thats so AWESOME!!! 👍👍🦋🦋🦋
Thank you, kindly!
Thank you so much for these videos. We’ve released over 1300 monarchs here in California since 2019! Can you comment on the type of tulle you use? It appears more open than what I find on Amazon. We’ve been clipping cheap sheers to the cage tops and upper sides to protect the crawlers and hangers from wasps. We also place potted milkweeds with eggs in larger cages. Works great.
Do you try to find a shaddy spot outdoors? Im assuming yes. Thanks for the helpful videos. I refer to them a lot. This is my first year trying to raise them. I did plant wildflowers the past few years, and i have lots of milkweed ive always let grow.
Where do you have your caterpillars now? In another mesh cage outside?
That is correct. For any eggs that I find from the last week in July, and onward, once they have hatched, they are kept in outdoor pop-up tents for outdoor rearing. If a storm is coming through (and we've had plenty this summer), I do move them inside to our sunporch. I'm not necessarily worried about them blowing away or even experiencing some rain. It's more about the idea of potentially falling tree branches in my yard.
I planted a bunch of milkweeds around our house I have only 4 monarchs butterflies around haven't seen any caterpillars yet😢
add hairy balls milkweed to your garden next year. I believe you will be stunned with the results.
I'm sorry to hear that you are having such few sightings. You're not alone. It appears from what people are reporting in the comments section (and what they are reporting they are reading in other online groups) that the east side of the US has had the Monarchs show up late this season, and in much fewer numbers.
While I don't have any official word on this, I and others are wondering if the smoke from this year's Canadian wildfires may have disrupted the migration routes. It's possible.
Still, that you have the milkweed there is what's most important. I do hope many show up for you once migration is in full swing!
Thank you. I have a Monarch that appeared to have fallen from its chrysalis b4 3 of the wings hardened-at least that is my guess- the wings were still rolled a bit and the little fellow is not able to fly. This is day 2. Otherwise he appears to be strong so I’m learning about how to feed him. Is there any hope?
A couple groups I belong it shows that some kind of critter actually chewed the mesh to get to the monarch so it scares me to put them outside.
If it can help deter a curious skunk or raccoon, perhaps elevating the tent to an outdoor table can quell some concerns. In the rearing of later season Monarchs that are to be part of the migration, we must not only consider the health of the Monarch, but it's ability/instinct to migrate.
It's certainly a new challenge to respond to, as of 2019, but also added knowledge that help benefit their chances.
I hope that makes sense! Your compassion for them is definitely in tact!
In a few months I'm moving to a state that have Monarch. In one of our visit I mention about the Monarch Butterflies. Our friend said something along the lines of yeah and people even raise them. To say the least I was THRILLED! I'm going to raise them for sure! I have learned so much from your videos! I bought some milkweed on line. Did I get to right kind? Asclepias syriaca
Hi Rich, Thanks for your videos, they're always helpful. I found bird cages lined with net curtain material great for protective outdoor housing. If I didn't rear the eggs that I do, none of the eggs laid in my backyard survive past first instar. Who is murdering my caterpillars?!
If I bring in 10 caterpillars, 9 will be infected with tachinid fly larvae. It's a wonder they even exist.
It's a brutal world out there for the Monarchs, indeed. Plenty of urban egg hunts this year, and I often have found hatched egg shells, and maybe some slight munching of the leaf, but no trace of the caterpillars. Often, black ants or carpenter ants are nearby due to aphids. While I don't know which culprit is murdering your caterpillars, I know that many in my area fall victim to the ants. (I'm already seeing an aphids/ants episode will be in my future, once I learn more.)
Okay I have a question. How do you prevent leaves from drying out so fast when rearing monarchs outside? I wrap a paper towel around the stem, but the leaves still dry very quickly when I have the cage outside. I can’t think of a solution as of now
Will you do a video on the risks of OE on reared monarchs being released into the wild and infecting migrating individuals? There’s a lot of research showing rearing and releasing monarchs without testing for OE is a major problem and might be emerging as threat to the species.
Greetings!
It may be that I have already discussed aspects of this, but strewn through some of the five videos below. (Not sure if you knew of any, some, or all of them.) The one that might be more poignant to what you are asking about might be "Should We Euthanize?" where portions of it do discuss migration. I hope this helps!
"What Are OE Parasites?" - ruclips.net/video/kkZTfeFVMiE/видео.html
Discussion on what OE is, and how it affects the Monarchs.
"OE Parasite Testing" - ruclips.net/video/pxXkAL1h2pw/видео.html
One method for testing adult Monarchs for OE spores.
"OE Parasite Prevention" - ruclips.net/video/oZYzzcGiZRA/видео.html
How to bleach treat eggs and leaves to kill OE spores without harm to the egg, and prevent OE infection.
"Should We Euthanize?" - ruclips.net/video/5WEewtof3w8/видео.html
Discussion, from multiple scientific experts on the subject, on what their advice is to handling OE infections from the perspective of those rearing Monarchs, and how to handle OE outbreaks - whether euthanizing the adult is something to consider or not.
"Alternative OE Testing" - ruclips.net/video/32IqyxjOUfM/видео.html
Another, and likely easier way for most, to test an adult Monarch for OE spores.
@@MrLundScience I’ll check those out, thanks!
I had a curled up cat on the bottom of the enclosure that I thought was dying so I placed it on a leaf expecting to find it dead in this am. This am there was a chrysalis on the leaf. What should I do now? Do you think it will survive? How long before chrysalis hardens so it can be handled?
Also I now have another doing the same thing. What is going on? Do you the cool Indiana nights are affecting them? Note: Last night I put a lightweight tarp over the mesh enclosure to help keep them warm.
I had the worst experience this summer! I took in 11 cats from my backyard. All laid by the same mother. Many of them had issues holding on to the chrysalis shell/mesh cage ceiling after eclosing. Luckily, I was home during all the times it happened (I think 3 or 4 of them fell) but I was freaking out and had to act fast. I used a pen which they were able to hold on to while they pumped out their wings. I held the pen during this time and once they released the meconium, I tried to move them to the mesh cage and let them dry fully there. They were all able to fly away with no issues when releasing, so I have no idea why they couldn't hold on to pump and dry. Needless to say, I'm traumatized. I know there are eggs on my milkweed from a monarch visiting my backyard a couple of days ago. I'm afraid to bring them in now! Any ideas as to why this happened?
While I'm not sure why it happened to so many at the same time, it's certainly possible to be coincidental. If it were to continue to happen to others, I'd be very puzzled. Your pens came to the rescue, though! Great to hear that you were able to steward them the rest of the way like that.
If ever we do feel, though, that a rearing process we did was a lot to handle, it's always fine to scale down how many we take on, or even take a break from rearing.
In 2021, that summer, I reared only two due to the hiccups of life and moving. And those two were very rewarding.
I wish you luck in your future endeavors with the Monarchs, be it this season or next!
Clarification question: is it only important to rear the chrysalides outside? Or do we need to rear the caterpillars outside too? If so at what instar stage should we move them outside?
Sorry if you already answered this in your other videos.
The sooner you can get your caterpillars outside, the better. If you have a habitat in full sun, draping the top of it with a light weight fabric and clips helps shield them from the sun. Also weigh down the habitat so it doesn't blow away if you only have chrysalides in it.
For any eggs I take in beginning the last week of July onward, I still hatch them indoors. Easier to monitor. Once hatched, though, from first instar onward, I rear them in an outdoor tent.
It's certainly a long one, no doubt, but the episode "Outdoor Rearing" shows the full process from start to finish. - ruclips.net/video/LjEgU0Ub5hY/видео.html
I hope this helps!
Thank you both for your responses. I do have a screened in porch where I have been raising them, but the east side has greenhouse plastic up over the screens to shield from rain and such. North and West sides are my house. So only the south side is actually "open" to the elements. I kind of felt like that might not be enough exposure so I will try what you both have suggested.
Help! One of my caterpillars has spit/vomited bright green stain on the side mesh of the cage. I found it this morning all the way up the cage, and a trail of bright green stain.
What does this mean? I separated this particular caterpillar from the others. But I’m so confused, they have all been eating the same food.
Is there a way to send you a picture?
Mr Lund I got my first monarch on my home grown milkweed 😀 and it’s looking to lay eggs it’s looking at my 5 little milkweed plants
I hand out index cards with "a link" to your material on small milkweed potted plants with 5th instar caterpillars ( and a dead valerian flower for J hanging )
cover the bricks with something softer than brick
I released 4 females and 3 males today and a chrysalis I was relocating fell onto a window sill, and let's just say it was not good
I'll be adding some pillows under that area tomorrow
use the word "Diapause "
A milkweed potted plant with an about to J-hang caterpillar? That's a pretty awesome gift to hand out!
I do agree, one thing I didn't show in the video set up, I do put a later of paper towel now between the mesh and bricks (both interior and exterior bricks) to prevent the mesh from snagging on them. Wasn't happening much before or last year, but has happened enough for the modification. (I think my previous bricks had been much smoother.)
Do butterflies Chrysalis die when it rains if they’re on a milkweed outside
No, but frost can kill them.
no
caterpillars breathe through spiracle holes which go down their sides. There are also areas of the chrysalis through which they breathe. If you think it through, if that were the case, they wouldn't exist. Most of the time they form their chrysalis on the underside of the leaf which shields and protects them from rain and direct/full sun. One of the issues with having a habitat in the elements is the water can loosen the silk, increasing the chances of them falling. A chrysalis can eclose laying down in the habitat but it MUST be in a habitat with gripable sides.
The rain doesn't cause problems as far as a type of drowning situation, but rain can soften/weaken the silk that the chrysalis is secured with.
I'm here in Southeastern Michigan. It's day 13 and my chrysalis which is outside in a mesh cage is not turning dark yet. The chrysalis is still green and looks OK and I can see the wings inside. This is my first attempt at raising a Monarch and I'm very worried that he/she is not showing signs of eclosing. This is very stressful!!!!