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r/MonarchButterfly

▲ 16 r/MonarchButterfly+1 crossposts

Should I stop?

Should I release my caterpillars back into my yard?

I have spent the last few hours reading the arguments between people on if it is bad to captive raise. These discussions get very intense on both sides and I’m honestly not sure what to believe. I absolutely understand why mass rearing dozens or hundreds is bad, why captive breeding is bad, and why raising indoors is bad. I’m not sure how to apply what I have learned to my particular situation, though. Here is what is going on:

- For the past few years I have planted native milkweed patches in my yard, waiting for monarchs. This year, eggs were finally laid.

-After the eggs were laid, a family member rearranged the garden without asking and spread out the milkweed patch thinly out in open areas near bird feeders.

-I observed that almost all caterpillars were being predated due to lack of cover caused by the rearrangement. I felt responsible for this issue (although it wasn’t me who rearranged the garden) so when there were finally only 5 left, I stepped in.

-I put each caterpillar in an individual enclosure. I clean their entire enclosure and restock fresh leaves twice daily.

-recently had a few stormy days in a row and had to take the enclosures indoors (they would flood in the rain, they are plastic containers with mesh tops and clean paper towel floors

-today while I was researching indoors vs. outdoor rearing, I came across all the arguments about not captive rearing at all, even if done outside

Should I release my caterpillars back onto the plants they came from? I know if I do this, they will likely be eaten. But I don’t want to harm the population by captive rearing.

I know by next year, the milkweed patches will have regrown more densely again. So I would hate for the monarchs all to get eaten and then not see them again for another 4 years just due to my family member’s incompetent garden rearrangement this year.

Please be kind. I am trying to do what is right, but I genuinely have no clue what the right move is here. If you have trustworthy sources to back up whatever your argument is, please share them. Because I am struggling to differentiate opinion from fact in this debate.

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u/undercovershrew — 5 days ago
▲ 19 r/MonarchButterfly

Empty Nest Syndrome

Man… 50+ Caterpillars just come and go in the blink of an eye.

Added some additional clusters of different milkweed on different parts of the yard, gonna see how crazy I can go next round!

u/SenZephyr — 9 hours ago
▲ 64 r/MonarchButterfly

My First Milkweed.

He/She has attached themself to a windowseal now. I hope someone here will enjoy this as much as I have. Next year I’ll have a big patch of milkweed ready to go!

u/Blitzkrieg-42 — 3 days ago
▲ 8 r/MonarchButterfly+1 crossposts

My grandma is letting me plant some milkweed in a large garden bed at her house, I was wondering if I should be taking monarch eggs to bleach or not if I spot any as I want to plan on collecting chrysalises to release when they hatch

Ya’ll I’m getting really mixed opinions on this, others telling me to, others telling me no. I need more pros and cons with this. It would be helpful if any fellow UPSTATE New Yorkers can help me in on this.

P.S. I’m not gonna do it if this is bad, but I was told the opposite and I’m still not going to do it if everyone is very harshly advising against it. And not out of judgment but for wanting clear clarification on why this is supposedly misinformation being spread about helping butterflies. Please elaborate on that instead of attacking me saying my post is ai bs when I’m asking for advice on what is good or bad.

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u/dhgrainger — 8 days ago
▲ 14 r/MonarchButterfly

Just finished their new home 🥰

Someone here recommended me to make an enclosure for the cats and I just finished it. The first picture was taken before I finished putting the net.

The caterpillars are still babies, but I'm excited to watch them grow up! It's my first time doing something like this.

u/rotten_applepie — 1 day ago
▲ 5 r/MonarchButterfly

Has this chrysalis reached end of life?

Strong wind and rainstorms last night knocked a few chrysalises out. This one, is it done for? :( The others look strong and still green.

u/Kitchen-Slide-4984 — 3 days ago
▲ 25 r/MonarchButterfly

Spring-Summer Babies

Ugh I’m so thrilled to report that all but ONE of these babies had a safe flight after working so hard to earn their wings. After last year having trouble using this enclosure (my main one is out of commission right now… wind storms are vicious) I was incredibly worried about their ability to fully straighten their wings while drying. But as you can see, even the little guy who made his chrysalis on a leaf literally TOUCHING another chrysalis, was able to fully dry his wings with no issues! In total this spring, I’ve had about 20 releases! Most of them beautiful girlies who are off to help repopulate the monarch butterfly! It’s just so amazing to watch them fly away after literally watching them be laid as an egg by another beautiful momma monarch. Oh how I love Mother Nature 🥹🥰

u/hlywa_jocy — 3 days ago
▲ 27 r/MonarchButterfly

Monarch eclosing from his Chrysalis

This guy wandered off 2 weeks ago and I couldn't find him anywhere ! Raised him from a pup. So glad he found a safe place to pupate. Now he's getting ready to come on out and see the world. I've never seen this as usually they wait to early morning and I always miss it ! It's now early evening and this guy decided it's time ! The temperature was warmer than usual today , so maybe thats why. I'm praying he gets it together as it will be dark soon.

u/Conscious-Phone3209 — 4 days ago
▲ 144 r/MonarchButterfly

I recently got into monarch / milk week gardening with my toddler ! I found a 3 gal native milk weed at a local nursery and it had monarch caterpillars. Those have since already been released as butterfly’s. Shortly after we did a little raised garden set up. It sat for weeks and weeks with no movement maybe a month in a half or so. Randomly one morning I checked the garden and saw 20+ baby caterpillars! So exciting. The caterpillars really seem to enjoy eating the flowers. A saw one them seemed to also have less pigment then the others.

u/Soft__paws — 13 days ago
▲ 58 r/MonarchButterfly

Second group started emerging.

First group had about 15 healthy butterflies. Looking forward to releasing many more soon. 3 very healthy females so far. Out here in SoCal our season started very early. Keep up the great work everyone.

u/MariachiBarbon — 4 days ago
▲ 34 r/MonarchButterfly

New garden friend

It was this butterfly’s first day, and my dog was intrigued! We watched it flutter its wings for a while.

u/buddrball — 2 days ago
▲ 44 r/MonarchButterfly

60+ again.. +-10-15 % error.😂

Morning transfer, they are close to insite 5 so they are going into a sealed cage.. the plant looks pretty “sticky” since it was a lot of them so it needs time to regrow.
The fresh plants are high enough touching the top so they don’t need to wander a lot to find a good corner to “turn”… this method worked great last time over 70 released! 🥳🥰 enjoy!
Sprinkler must have hit them.. but they are still eating all wet.. 😂

u/cryptoETH_jazz — 6 days ago
▲ 7 r/MonarchButterfly

Is this pupa done for 😢

Cleaned an enclosure and found this on the ground. Thinii look Ng of glueing it to a string and seeing if it’s ok. Worth it or no?

Feel bad for the little guy. But I know it’s nature and they don’t all make it.

u/PsychologicalEmu — 5 days ago