Amazing pictures, Rhonda!

Thanks Deb!!!

Just changed the cats' poopy diapers (do it at least twice a day now) and found 2 more chrysalis! That's 11!

Just wish they would quit hanging on the pot's rim because I have to cut off part of the pot and glue that to the ceiling. I hate moving them...always afraid they'll fall or I'll do something stupid to damage them.

Love the pics, Rhonda - it's like Grand Central Station over there! (Haha: aphid visiting the chrysalis.)

It'll take a teeny bit of nerve to 'tease' the chrysalises away from the pot edges, but you can do it! :D I'm pretty experienced, but I always make sure I have a soft safety net of towels and crumpled napkins in case the chrysalis slips from my grasp.

Thanks Javi! Yeah, those dang aphids are impossible to avoid. I'm getting pretty good at moving the chrysalis, especially the ones on the leaves as I cut off the stem and glue it. The pot ones are the worst so I have decided that cutting a piece of the pot they are on and gluing it is the easiest way.

I purposely planted my milkweed into the same garden as my taro, so they will have a safe place to hang themselves. A couple hung on elephant ear leaves last year, so I figured they'd do it again this year, and they won't have to go far. So far, I've only seen three cats, btu they're fat and sassy. Last year, I had so many cats I had to move them around to other milkweed plants, which is why I planted all the plants in one place this year.

I'm very concerned this year particularly that my monarchs will find their way into my neighbors' yards (on both sides). To my left, there's a family with very young children whom I overheard the other weekend squeal with delight upon seeing an anole, then shout, "Let's kill it with a stick!" And they spent a good (fruitless) hour chasing this poor lizard. (I only refer to them as poor lizards when they're not stalking my swallowtail cats!) My imagination spins nightmarish visions, thinking about what they'd do to a colorful, slow crawling monarch cat.

To my right is an elderly couple who just started a vegetable garden of sorts (judging by the 2x4 frame structure and tendrils rising up over my fence) and also planted a couple of fruit trees. I'm afraid if they notice a caterpillar of any sort, they'll view it as a crop threat. :/ I'm trying to provide horizontal supports/structure within the vicinity of my milkweeds and keeping fingers crossed the cats will stay in our yard; but we all know these little critters have minds of their own and form chrysalises in the oddest of places. :)

Deb,

Having the Taro for them to hang is a good idea. Mine in the yard tend to end up lizard appetizers no matter where they go :(

Javi,

Kids can be cruel. My son rescued a tiny kitten after the neighbors kids found it and were hitting it with a stick and threatening to kill it. Brutus loves Eric so much, he knows he saved his life.

I'd try and talk with the kids and the elderly couple and explain to them that the caterpillars will turn into beautiful butterflies and should be left alone. Tell the couple that if they find a caterpillar, you'd be happy to take it or at least identify it for them.

Good luck!

Rhonda great photos. Isn't that whole process magical? And that chrysalis is the prettiest of any species IMO!

Bea, thanks so much! I was amazed by the transformation. It's one thing to read about it but to witness it is incredible :) I agree, the chrysalis is so beautiful. I particularly love the gold strip and dots...almost as if they have been painted with pure gold.

This morning's count is 15 with 2 more in the J!!! Probably a dozen more big cats to go :)

Up to 15 chrysalis and 4 forming the J! They're eating 2 gallons of milkweed a day!!!!!!

This guy is so different from the rest of the cats. He looks extremely healthy but his black stripes are so thin and it's hard to tell from these pics but they are brown versus black.

I don't see my babies today. There was a big wasp that looked like a cicada killer (this IS a big cicada year, in case you haven't noticed) hanging around the butterfly garden for the past two days, and two of my babies disappeared then. I saw one today hanging out on the bottom of a leaf, but he disappeared soon after, so either the wasp got him, or he went off to pupate somewhere. I don't see any more babies. I usually get more in the fall, so I keep hoping.

The aphids are here, but the cavalry has arrived, too! :D

OK, granted, army of only 2, but still...

dirtygardener: I haven't seen even an almost-adult monarch in my garden since last fall -- lizards and wasps are all over and around my milkweeds. (Just yesterday, an anole chomped through my tulle netting, and I've lost another Giant swallowtail cat to a lizard.)

Whats that I see ? Is it two lady bugs ? A rare
recollection for me,..one of the few guys I'm familiar with on this
site. Reminds of when I was a wide-eyed 4 yr old in Rockaway Beach,
NY,...learning about Mother Nature's harmless little guys, one of which were the lady bugs, that lived in a 2 acre wooded lot nearby !

" Ladybug, ladybug, fly away,

your house is on fire and your children ran away ! " :o)

Yes, jofus -- 2 ladybugs at once -- a rare sighting in my yard these days. Decades ago, we saw many ladybug larvae on our oak tree bark. None in recent memory, though.

Joe, in the lowcountry of SC, it goes like this (gullah language)

Ladybug, ladybug fly 'way home

Yo house be afire, yo chillun g'wine burn,

I have 27 chrysalis!!!!!! Thank goodness there are only around a dozen cats left. I am so enjoying this whole process...brand new to me. And, I certainly hope that the majority of the chrysalis result in beautiful butterflies.

That's fantastic news, Rhonda! I've found that once you get to the chrysalis stage with monarchs, success rate should be high. I'm just envisioning the majority of them eclosing all at once -- what a picture that'll make! :D

How wonderful! I counted 5 that matured and flew off on mine last year, but this year has not been as good.

I have no idea what happened to my three babies. A person I know who works with the butterfly exhibit at the Natural History Museum here came and looked at my butterfly garden and said "You should have had a lot more larvae." He pointed out the tiny holes in milkweed plants that weren't eaten and said that there were larvae that hatched there, but he thought probably frog babies or lizards ate them soon after they hatched. He was also concerned about the wasp, which he thinks may have been the death of the other three.

I'm so disappointed, but I've had more luck with the fall crops of monarchs, so I'm holding out hope at least one of my babies made it to his cocoon. I've searched high and low for cocoons and see none, though.

Ah, such is nature. Last year I was desperately moving cats around trying to find enough for them to eat, and this year, I have plenty to eat, and no cats. Not much I can do. I'm leaving my butterfly garden when I go, because it really takes no care and hopefully, it will bring some joy to my apartment's next resident.

Javi,

There should be 3-4 eclosing at any given time by this time next week. You can bet that I will take pics...tons of them. What's the easiest way to get them from the enclosure to the garden?

Deb,

I loved visiting the butterfly plants sales at the Natural History Museum! I bought too many plants there LOL I have very little luck with any surviving outside anymore. We have so many lizards, I mean hundreds. And now we even are fighting with the spiny tailed iguanas which get to 4-5 feet long! Maybe they'll eat some of the smaller lizards?

dirtygardener: I always look for those pin holes, too; and, similarly, feel deflated when I don't see more and larger holes within the week. Aww, shame you're leaving a butterfly garden behind! Can you take seeds/cuttings with you? I would. :)

Rhonda: I raised my 17 cats divided among 4 large plastic containers. As they formed chrysalises, I'd remove them from the jar netting, carefully tie a loop of dental floss around the top of each stem, then hang them from the back of my patio chair (had to go two rows):

(Hanging bucket was for two damaged chrysalises I couldn't attach string to, so I just laid them down -- they did fine!)

I was very concerned about lizards, so I ended up stringing a ton of silver curling ribbon and tinsel all around. I don't know whether that helped, but I didn't lose a single chrysalis.

While I was out of town, DH shot this pic one morning when a number of butterflies emerged:

How I organized them all indoors, prior to suspending them from the chair:

javiwa, I'm going to be traveling the US in a van, so nope, can't take them with me.

Ahhh, I see -- safe travels to you, then. I'd bet you could pick up a 3-gallon potted tropical MW in your journeys, set it out til an egg or two appear, then grow those babies to butterflydom! :)

Hey all, we have released 20, yes 20, healthy monarchs in the past 6 days!!! Joe even got to see a pair of them mate within a minute of being released LOL

There are still 27 more chrysalis and 3 cats attached. All my milkweed is now eaten up so good thing there's no more hungry cats in the enclosure. I got some cool pics which I'll post once I narrow down which I want to post.

Congratulations, Rhonda! I was thinking about you and your butterfly nurseries today and was wondering how it is going.

Way to go, Rhonda!

Wow Rhonda...what wonderful pics! I raised Monarchs for 4 years, but this year I left them out in the flowerbeds. I'm not seeing as many as I have in past years :(

I was told that when you bring the babies in (I used 2 butterfly kits to raise them), the females lay more and more eggs, but if left out....they only lay as many eggs as the plants can feed. That could be why I have less cats this year.

You are doing a great job....and it is a lot of cleaning as I remember that I would also clean out the cage twice a day (sometimes 3 times with the larger cats).

Happy Gardening, Jeannie :)

Thanks everyone! I am so pleasantly surprised since this is my first time raising them in enclosures. The whole process was amazing!

Jeannie, you sure are right about the mess they make. I was shocked :)

Here's a few pics of one eclosing (please ignore the messy glue job of one that was found on the floor):

And here's a few of the newly released monarchs. Yesterday, I asked the neighbor if her visiting great grandkids might want to help me release some monarchs. There were 3 around 5 years old. You should have seen the look on their eyes as the butterfly crawled up onto their finger and rode it to the garden :) I explained the entire process in simple terms and made sure they knew that they couldn't grab butterflies in the garden. I got some cute pics of them holding their butterfly but don't want to post them since they're not my kids.

How wonderful that you shared with the little kids, Rhonda. Your story just warms my heart. :)

Beautiful pictures, Rhonda! And that’s the right way to get “our” next generation going. My youngest nephew is seven. He is building sailboats for the pool so the bugs don’t drown. He knows more about native plants than most adults. He also educated Grandpa about Roundup and such. My sister in law is a bit extreme....

Terrific pics, Rhonda. You are doing the world a large favor with the Monarchs.

Thanks Javi. I enjoyed the experience as much as the kids :)

Iris, thanks! Your nephew sounds like a very bright young man :) He's be happy to see that our yard is full of pretty weeds, no Roundup here LOL

Tom, thanks again. I released another a few minutes ago and have 6 more to release in a couple of hours :) 27 and counting!

Rhonda, the part about you sharing the experience with the kids didn't surprise me at all. You are such a caring, nurturing person. I'm so glad you let us share your experience.

Awwww...thanks Deb! That's so sweet. I have always loved kids and since I don't have grandkids, I'll just have to borrow the neighbors'.

Another banner release day....5 more monarchs and 3 Eastern Black Swallowtails! That makes 32 monarchs with 16 chrysalis left to emerge :) Interestingly, 3/4s have been males. Is this normal?

I swear that these guys remember me. When I go out into the garden, several monarchs fly right up to me, flutter around me and let me get within a foot of them when taking pics.

Just before release today. The gallon pot with bare milkweed looked like a Charlie Brown Christmas tree a few days ago with 7 little ornaments hanging down...just 1 left.

We always let them crawl up onto our finger from the enclosure then let them fly around in the lanai a little before releasing them into the garden. Joe likes helping with this part :)

Knock on wood, but the butterfly bush that I am growing in a 30 gallon pot is doing great! The panicles on this one don't get as long as what I had in Ohio but it is still an attractive nectar plant. This newly released male seems to appreciate it.

Wonderful pictures! Sounds like so much fun!

Males rule everywhere !

Fantastic pictures, Rhonda!!

37 released and counting!!!! Still have 11 chrysalis left.

Thanks Iris and Sherry! I'm loving this experience :)

Joe, males only rule in your imaginary world, not in our real-life world LOL

Joe's glad that we're raising Yankee fans :)

Sooo cute!

Released the 48th and last monarch today. Only had 2 chrysalis that didn't produce butterflies. I'd say that this was a very successful first try at raising butterflies in enclosures :)

I have realized a few things as a result of this project:

1) I need to have plenty of milkweed growing in pots in the lanai to keep it healthy for feeding the cats.

2) Cut back the eaten milkweed after the cats have destroyed it and allow it to regrow on the lanai.

3) Don't put sticks across the top of the enclosure, the monarchs won't use them (unlike the Eastern Black Swallowtails and Polydamas who did).

4) Save every newspaper starting now as those cats can poop!

I'm excited because my oldest son had 2 PVC frames that he had made for something but never used. He asked me if they might work for butterfly enclosures. They're each 14" deep by 26" high and 26" wide. I think they'll be great, just need to get some fine mesh or organza and sew a custom cover with flaps so I can easily access the interior to clean the mess. I'm thinking that I'll make removable floors from one of those plastic shower wall panels.

Here's a few pics of Joe and the last monarch.

That's just fantastic, Rhonda -- first attempt or otherwise! If you're interested in very inexpensive white tulle, I think I purchased a 40-yard bolt off the internet for $9.99 -- far cheaper than hitting a sale at the local JoAnn Fabrics. It was either ebay or Amazon Marketplace, but you shouldn't have any difficulty Googling. Message me if you'd like to know the specific vendor I purchased from, and I'll hunt down the link.

Great work, Rhonda. It looks like you are going to be a dedicated Monarch conservator. Looks like the other pentas you have are doing very well. Onward and upward!

Thanks Javi! If I can't find the tulle, I'll send you a message.

Tom, I am now hooked! I will be raising the monarchs a lot. They stay here year-round so I have plenty of opportunity.

I bought some new white lanceolatas today. I've never had white before and they are so pretty. My garden is pretty much pinks, reds, purples, oranges, and yellows so the white will be a nice change. Have you grown the white? Are they attractive to butterflies?

Yes and yes, Rhonda. The ones that I have were/are the smaller ones, though. With sun and water and fertilizer they got perhaps a foot or so high and wide. The butterflies like them. I find that I need to deadhead them, however. Don't know why they need this more than other pentas, but it seems to be the case.

Thanks Tom! I planted them closer to the front of the garden since you
said they don't get too tall. Watch them get to 3 foot tall now lol