Adult butterflies will nectar on many different kinds of flowers, but the caterpillars only eat milkweed. If you want those beauties to survive you will have to find a source for milkweed near you. Is there any growing nearby? You can cut stems and put them in a jar of water. Just be sure to seal the top of the jar so the caterpillars don't fall in. There is a lot of information on here already about other methods of rearing them, such as in containers with individual leaves. Best of luck.
Liz

Thanks Dr.Liz;-) . We dont have milkweed in our area, unless if its in a botanical garden, but monarch butterflies thrive on what we call giant milkweed or Coloptris gigantea ( white or purple). The same plant we. used for Hawaiian leis .just found some bush from good neighbor;-).felt so blessed!!

Hawaii, congrats on your cats! I wish I had some Monarch cats. Last year was my most productive year, released 220 Monarchs. I always release them so I don't know anything about breeding them.

I've seen Calotropis gigantea aka Crown flower growng near my mother's house (southern Florida, approx zone 11). Quite a large woody plant! Here it is:
{{gwi:462214}}

They also grow Asclepias curassavica - tropical milkweed in the complex she lives in.

This post was edited by terrene on Sat, Aug 24, 13 at 19:58

Thanks terrene:-) I am new to this. Im so overwhelmed and joyful seeing these winged guys everyday! I heard they were used to be a lot of them flying all over the place, but you will be lucky to see one or two in one day...yes the monarch only lay eggs on crown flower here.they do have asclepias in botanical gardens.havent seen any on the roadside, or anywhere..I actually bought asc.tuberosa and curassavica online from. Georgia company, I like it for the nice beautiful blossoms, ahh, wish me luck on this :-)

Hawaii,

To answer your question about breeding: It is best to breed unrelated butterflies. If you google about breeding butterflies, it will tell you that they will become weak and susceptible to diseases if they are interbred. I think breeders get stock from two different sources so as to avoid this. However, I have read on some sites where people were trying to breed butterflies from their backyards. This might be OK if two different females visited and laid eggs. Males will live quite a while and patrol an area, so a subsequent brood might provide a female that was not related. You might also locate eggs at another location and raise them separately.

And then, it is very difficult to get them to breed in captivity. I have tried with butterflies from different sources. I was unable to hand pair them successfully using instructions from the internet. I have recently read that it takes 3 to 5 days for them to be receptive to breeding in captivity. Best to put them in a large area and let them do their thing. If you have a screened porch or a greenhouse, these would work.

Good luck!

Sandy

Thanks butterflymomok ;-), I appreciate your input.I am now focusing on planting more flowers and host plants. So far I have 5 chrisalides and 30+ eggs. I have a lot to learn, I am so glad I found this web forum to get more infos. Great learning experience;-)

Ditto to what Sandy said. If you keep planting that giant milkweed, they'll multiply on their own - hopefully, others in Hawaii will do the same. Since the flowers are so pretty and used in leis, what better could they plant? :)
Actually, I thought they used frangipani? for leis, but I guess they use a variety of flowers.
Keep us posted!

Sherry

To my knowledge, monarch butterflies are not native to Hawaii. If they were scarce in past years, that would be the reason. I can't say what the effects will be of introducing monarch butterflies to this new environment. Here in the midwest USA, there are some introduced species that are causing problems, including zebra mussels, carp, garlic mustard, japanese beetles, snakehead fish, and a green beetle that kills ash trees. On the other hand, pheasants were introduced from China many years ago, and they seem to fit in OK. I think its important to consider the possible outcomes of moving species around to new global locations.

Eric, I'm not sure when monarchs were first in Hawaii but they have been there a long time...I think there is also a "white" variation. Tony

You are right, Tony. Ladobe talked about the Monarchs in Hawaii, and he studied the white form if I remember correctly. Monarchs are also in New Zealand.

Sandy

Hi guys, additional info: Monarch butterflies in Hawaii does not migrate to any other places. and they feed on crownflower or calotropis gigantea...and oh yes, that is also the favorite flower of Queen Liliuokalani, the last Monarch of Hawaii. this plant is so beautiful, I think it stinks, or sometimes scent-free, it comes in light purple and white. I just started planting both. and yes, Sherry, I wish too that everybody should plant it even just one bush of crown flower...will make a big difference to Monarch population:-) speaking of "white monarch" there is a lady in Kaneohe, ( other side of the island of Oahu, where I live ), who raise both brown orange monarch, and she also raises "white" monarch. here in Hawaii, we have only 17 different kinds of butterflies. I have gulf frit, Chinese swallowtail, and monarch in my yard:-)

Gulf frits? Wow! I knew that gulf frits had a large range, but I didn't know Hawaii was a part of it!

Can you post pictures of the Chinese swallowtail? I've never seen one and always enjoy seeing new butterflies!

Sherry

Thanks for enlightening us. I love the crown flower. My daughter lived in Laos, and now in Thailand. The crown flower grows there and is host to the Tiger butterflies which are also members of the Danaus family. I wish I lived in an area where they could survive. Alas, our winters are just too cold.

Sandy

This is chinese swallowtail ( Papilio xuthus).probably the only kind of swallowtail we have here in Hawaiian island.they lay eggs on citrus trees, in my yard I have lime tree.they also lay eggs in tangerine tree, pomelo, and small citrus fruit we call " calamansi" fruit ( sorry, gotta find the scientific name for that one. How I wish that we have you guys in the mainland US called Black swallowtail, pipervine, tiger etc. But I got 2 livechinese swallowtail cats in a cage.I will post pics later.

Another pic;-)

Chinese swallowtail drinking water? Not sure, maybe just cooling off;-)

This is what they look like as a caterpillar, this one I am not really sure how old? But I can say they grow too slow, not moving much, and not so pretty:-D

This chinese swallowtail cat's picture I took few days ago, I am surprised how pretty he/she turned out, I cant wait for it to pupate.but for now I enjoy feeding them ( I have two).

This is gulf fritillary butterfly in my yard.these guys got me started about raising monarch butterflies.I have a spot in my yard where so called passion fruit bush was creeping pretty fast...I have no clue about butterdlies, caterpillars nor have no knowledge about their life cycle.all I know is that each morning, I noticed this guys hovering in my yard, in twos, then 4's, 6 to 10....so I googled it and the rest is history.I ended up putting a mesh net over my passioflora foetida vines so to protect the cats from mynah birds..

Gulf frit on my eldorado bush.

Gulf cat.

Gulf frit just came out from the cocoon. Neat!!

One fat cat :-)

Making more gulf babies;-)

Hawaii Ponder, another milkweed species for your area would be Calotropis Procera.

What (potentially) makes this better than gigantea is that it's also a FRAGRANT NECTAR PLANT for the monarchs, as well as a host....see pictures on link below.

I am growing some in pots this season (in Minneapolis) and even got a couple eggs on them. (they will mature and flower next season if they survive indoors)

Great photos you posted BTW, Tony

Here is a link that might be useful: Calotropis Procera for Monarch Butterflies

Hi Tony! thanks:-) I have to look for that plant. I am new to this butterfly thing ( started back in early July ). for every Hawaiian homes, and others alike, they have crown flower plant either light purple or white. I guess none of them keep it for monarchs, but for Lei flower. would be nice if everybody unites for monarch butterfly:-) thank you very much!!

That's great that everyone has a crown flower plant. That means the Monarchs are provided with lots of host plants.

Your photos of the Chinese Swallowtail are beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

Hi friends, I am in The Villages FL. I have a Hawaiian milkweed with those big leaves, soft and fuzzy on the bottoms. When the temp here dipped below freezing I brought a vase of milkweed in and also 2 Monarchs. The small one disappeared, probably into the vase. The larger spent a week munching enormous amounts of leaves and today pupated into a chrysalis. I know it will emerge in 9 or 10 days. Do I release it into the 30s- 60s temps outside or what now? Grateful for your advice.

You either have to release it or feed it. Feeding involves getting it to drink something like Gatorade a few times a day. I'd release it.

Head over to "The Beautiful Monarch" group on Facebook and you can see exactly how the folks in Florida with Monarchs are coping with cooler weather.

If I may suggest, that people from different states use both host and nectar plants that are native to your areas.

Specially with the Monarch, even if the studies are not conclusive. The use of Tropical Milkweed (red with yellow center) and the Yellow Flower Milkweed that are native to Mexico and Central America has been linked with diseases to the Monarch. There are a few website that has been promoting native milkweed. When I find the site I'll posted here for your information. Native to your area require much less care and is probably not a bad idea to promote native plants of your are that feed both butterflies and othet beneficial insects as well as birds.

It is entirely ppossible that the use of non native is what has placed us in some ecological disasters. We humans have become seduced by exotic plants that frequently doesn't support the natural environment of our geographical area. Am not a purist, but I think is something we all need to considerm

If you look in the internet am sure you can find that your state universities entomology departments are doing quite a bit of research.

If you cut your tropical milkweed down in the cooler months you 1) discourage off season egg laying and 2) decrease or eliminate any OE that ELFs (egg laying females) may have left in the prior warm month seasons. All the new growth will be healthy and fresh and it makes the plants bushier. This year I am growing 6 kinds of milkweed. Last year, my first to raise Monarchs, I raised and released 100 (tagged 50) for the southbound migration.

This may be a little late, but here are some tips on breeding monarchs and other butterflies:

Make sure the male is a at least 3-4 days old, the female can be paired on the day she hatched, but make sure her wings have fully hardened.

Force feed both between the times of 11 am to 3 pm.

Grab the male with your dominant hand and female with the other hand by their wings. I sometimes use clothespins as they make the insects easier to handle.

Gently move the females abdomen away from her wings.

Gently squeeze the males abdomen with the edge of your finger until the claspers open. You should see a green appendage stick out.

Hold the two at a 150 degree angle and bring the male to the dimple near the female's belly. Push him in, so the green thing enters her, then slowly tilt him upward to a 45 degree angle and slightly pull him up her abdomen.

He should go limp, slowly release him and set the female on a surface, removing the clothespins if they were used. Mating can take between 1-4 hours on average

After disconnecting, place the female in a screen cage with a potted host plant or cutting kept in water. Make sure the plant fills up the cage and reaches the top. Place the cage under a heat lamp, making sure the temperature is at least in the 80's or 90's. Make sure the female has to touch the host plant in order to reach the light. I spray the cage in the morning, and force feed the females in the evening.