Butterflies!

[labblab]

Last year I started raising Monarch butterflies, what a joy that is to do. I get the eggs right after the butterfly lays them and then place them in containers until they hatch. When the caterpillars are long enough they go in proper butterfly pens and remain there until they turn into butterflies. It's just so neat watching them go through their stages until they are butterflies...such beautiful creatures they are! Lori

Dear Lori, I was so fascinated when I saw your comment about this on our reunion thread! Do you actually find the eggs yourself, or do you buy them someplace? Is there a website that gives information/instructions about all this? I don't know that I could do it myself, but I'd sure like to read more about it!!!! I just think this is the coolest thing :-))))

[Budsters Mom]

I have raised Monarch Butterflies in class many times. They are part of the Science/Life stages curriculum. The eggs are mailed in a kit with directions. Sorry, it's been awhile. I don't remember the company who provided them, but you can probably find a souce on-line. Yes, it is a way cool project from tiny eggs, ending up with beautiful butterflies to set free in the wind.

[labblab]

That is so cool! I just may look into trying to raise some myself :-).

One of my fondest childhood memories was sheltering and ultimately releasing a Cecropia moth. I guess it’s the largest native North American moth, and the caterpillar was huge, too. I found it crossing our driveway just when it was in search of a good spot to spin it’s cocoon. I put it in a large jar with a tree branch and it happily spun away. It slept all winter in our screened porch, and then one late spring weekend I heard “crunch, crunch, crunch” and found it was chewing its way out. I rushed the jar outside to a shady spot in our yard, and out came the beautiful moth. Truly beautiful. It rested there all afternoon with me constantly checking on it. And then, when dusk arrived, off it flew. It was such a neat experience for a little kid. I even gave it a name: “Spots” because of the eye-like formations on its wings. You can tell I was a little girl who was definitely born to have pets!!

Anyway, a sweet memory that I haven’t thought about in years...

[Joan2517]

My experience was like yours, Marianne. We brought in a bunch of parsley from the herb garden and there was a big green caterpillar in there. Victor pulled that sprig out and put the whole thing in a bird cage in the garage. Completely forgot about it all winter. Then one day in the Spring, I went to into the garage for something and there was this big, blue butterfly holding onto one of the bars in the cage. After everyone got a chance to see it, we opened the cage outside and watched it fly away.

A beautiful experience.

[Harley PoMMom]

I get the eggs myself. Monarchs prefer milkweed to lay their eggs on because it's the only plant that the caterpillar will eat. I have milkweed that grows around my house, I go out and I search all my milkweed for eggs or caterpillars. I follow Tony Gomez's ways of raising the monarchs: https://monarchbutterflygarden.net/r...h-butterflies/

It is so neat to raise these beautiful creatures, the first one I released stayed on my finger for at least 5 minutes before flying away. I'm by no means an expert but if you have any questions just ask them!

[labblab]

That is just so neat! There were tons of milkweed plants growing along the country roads in the midwest when I was growing up, and we also saw lots of monarchs. I wasn't sure whether milkweed grows here in Georgia, but I just checked and it does. Unfortunately, I know there's none in my yard and I think I'd have a hard time growing it. I see very few monarchs here at any time, so I'm guessing the urban environment isn't all that conducive to milkweed and monarchs, in general. Even if I could figure out how to raise some from a kit, I guess I'd feel guilty releasing them into what is probably a hostile environment for them. So I guess I'll let go of the idea, at least for now. But kudos to you -- again, what a super cool thing to do!

[Katy1]

Well, I just had to chime in here too. When I was teaching middle school science in Hays, Kansas during the mid 90’s, we also raised monarchs in our classroom. First we would go out and collect milkweed with eggs on the underside of the leaves. Back then, our “field trip” amounted to walking out the back door of the school and checking the ditches for milkweed with eggs. We were always successful.

We were also involved with the nationwide project of netting, tagging and releasing monarchs. That was also really cool. I was always afraid that my kids would rip off a wing during the process but they were so gentle when handling the butterflies I was always amazed.

I’ve also seen a big change in the butterfly environment. Now all the roadside ditches are kept mowed where we would find our milkweed in Kansas. Up here in Illinois the ditches are also kept mowed but the fields are constantly being sprayed.

From my reading I’ve learned that North America is rapidly loosing our beautiful monarchs. I’ll never forget a field trip with the high school biology class to a group of poplar trees along a river south of Hays, Ks and the trees were holding thousands of monarchs during their migration to Mexico. That was early in September and I still have a mental jaw drop moment thinking about it.

There are so many websites out there now regarding monarch conservation and how to grow milkweed in your garden—-now you’ve got me on the bandwagon! Butterfly Blessings to you all. Karen

[Harley PoMMom]

I have clay soil where I live which can be hard for anything to grow in but our native milkweed, named common, seems to have no issue with this soil, it grows beautifully with multiplying every year. Those flowers from this milkweed smell so good and they attract bees and butterflies.

I saw a monarch the other day but still haven't found any eggs yet...the search continues!

[Harley PoMMom]

Well, this year is a bummer for my monarchs, I have only found 12 eggs so far Last year at this time I had almost 50! From what I've read there is a 53% drop in the monarch population, so sad.

So far, 8 of the eggs have hatched, they are so tiny!!!

[Harley PoMMom]

Today, I just got done planting common milkweed seeds and mexican sunflowers, those mexican sunflowers do draw in many butterflies! Last year I raised 32 Monarchs, all super migrators, which are the ones that fly the whole back to Mexico to roost and then lay the first eggs on U.S. land, they live the longest which is about 8 months, where the other monarchs only live maybe 1 month.

My friends which live about 10 miles from me raised over 100 monarchs, they have a huge and beautiful flower garden which is tended to very lovingly. Can't wait for Spring!!!