Monarch butterflies

[Remyma0408]

That is so cool! I remember in 4th grade we had a monarch chrysalis in a "bug keeper" and we were soooo impatient for him to emerge. Now, every time we go on a walk I say to dbf "there is some milkweed, there must be some monarchs around!"

Oh I wanted to add, a few years ago I went horseback riding along a canal with one of my friends. There were monarch butterflies EVERYWHERE. It was seriously amazing how many they were. They were fluttering all around, high and low. There had to of been thousands. I wish I had my camera. I've never seen something so beautiful in my life.

 

[Adhafera]

That is so cool! I love butterflies!

 

[Kalandra]

I have good news and bad. The good, 2 butterflies emerged yesterday and one emerged within an hour of this post.

Caterpillar #1 & 2 are boys, not certain on the 3rd yet.

The bad news #1 has crumpled wings. I'm not certain what happened. I did find a small amount of their fluid on the side of the cage, so I think he fell. He is unable to fly. He did feed for me this morning, and I'm letting him be for now. Unless some miracle happens he will never fly and I'll have to decide to either euthanize him or keep him and feed him.

#2 was released this morning. He flew to a nearby maple tree, where he stayed for a couple of minutes then flew on away.

#3 is currently still drying. His/her wings are a little wrinkled still, but mostly inflated, so at least this one has gone well. Not certain on the sex yet as I can't see if it has scent glands or not (scent glands = male).

I'll post images later. They are still on my camera.

 

[tunes]

Aww, that's too bad about #1, but at least 2 and 3 went well.

You've always wanted a pet butterfly anyway, haven't you Julie?

 

[Stackie]

This is a really neat project! Can't wait for pictures. I've always loved monarchs.

 

[Kalandra]

Peggy, it tore me apart to think I might have to euthanize him. I never had one go wrong last year. I keep reminding myself that I am playing with nature and giving them a better chance, but that doesn't mean their won't be problems. He was out on my marigolds for a while, but ended up feeding from a cotton ball with sugar water in it and is back inside as it is storming out now. He'll end up living out his life here, I'm sure of that.

 

[Remyma0408]

Just curious, and I hope it doesn't resort to this, but how do you euthanize a butterfly?

 

[Kalandra]

From what I have read, the preferred method seems to be putting them in a ziploc bagging, sealing it, and freezing them.

 

[Dragonflye]

This is all really interesting! Thanks for sharing Julie...sounds like a fun little hobby you've got there!

 

[Kalandra]

Here are a couple of images. The first is the little crumpled wing guy. He's been living on my marigolds lately and seems to get "excited" when I feed him. The second is caterpillar #2 the first one to be released. We should have another butterfly later today. His chrysalis was clear this morning.

 

[Ash]

They're gorgeous! How big are these guys? I know some monarchs can get a really nice size.

 

[mishellyshel]

wow. they are beautiful. and for you to take the time to hand feed him or whatever you decide to do is amazing. look forward to more pix.

 

[Kalandra]

I've never measured one. I may have to do that with the next to emerge. If I had to guess I'd say maybe somewhere between 3-3.5 inch wing span.

He loves watermelon. You put a fresh piece in his cage and he starts getting animated. He usually walks onto my hand, probing at any wet spots from the watermelon.

 

[Kalandra]

I had a couple of people ask about an update. So here it is.

Out of 10 caterpillars, all have emerged and been released except for the crumple winged one. We had 4 girls & 6 boys. I currently have a new crew in the house. As of last night I had 3 big caterpillars, 1 chrysalis. And in the 'nursery' I have 3 eggs & 7 under 4 days old. I have seen more activity outside, so I think I will end up with more this time around.

Caterpillar/butterfly #1 died Saturday. I don't know what happened to him but Wednesday he was out on my plants and fell to the ground, upside down and was stiff (looked completely dead). I saw him move his head a bit and force fed him some sugar solution. He seemed to recover Friday and was acting pretty normal. But later that night again went stiff. I again force fed him sugar solution but this time he didn't recover.

Image 1: Is one of the males that we released Friday. We had 3 butterflies ready in the am and 1 in the pm. This is a male that didn't want to fly away. He was perfectly fine for flight, but sat on my husband's shirt for several minutes before he took off. I was happy as I got several good images of him.

Image 2: Is the Friday PM release. This one was female. I don't have an image of her open so that you can see the difference (sadly). She flew out to one of my pine trees and let me take a couple of images before flying inside the tree (near the top) where I couldn't take anymore.

I hope you enjoy them!

 

[lauralynne]

How cool!

 

[menagerie]

WOW, you're doing a great job.

Caterpillar/butterfly #1 died Saturday. I don't know what happened to him but Wednesday he was out on my plants and fell to the ground, upside down and was stiff (looked completely dead). I saw him move his head a bit and force fed him some sugar solution. He seemed to recover Friday and was acting pretty normal. But later that night again went stiff. I again force fed him sugar solution but this time he didn't recover.

RIP, #!.

Did you save him so that you can perform wing repairs if needed? I wonder if a wing transplant would be possible for crumpled wing guy.

 

[Kalandra]

I was actually looking for spare wings to try the wing repair on him. He was doing so well I thought it might have worked.

I don't think his wings would be of any use to a future butterfly. I just have my fingers crossed that we will not have another like that. Its very satisfying to watch them fly away. Plus I've seen several in my yard lately. I think they are hanging around.

 

[menagerie]

Oh no, I got confused. I didn't realize #1 was the crumpled wing guy. So sad.

 

[Kalandra]

Yes, #1 was the crumpled wing guy. He was doing so well. He would crawl up on my hand and then flap his wings. He originally tried to fly, which never worked, but later he would just flap. He seemed to love it when I would wear a bright purple shirt. He got very animated anytime I got near.

 

[Ippo456]

The picture on thread 15 is very cool.

Where do you keep these caterpillars? In an aquarium? & then you release the butterfly onto your garden?

I've always wanted to go to a butterfly garden & experience what it feels like for butterflies to land on you.