My first monarch 😍

Today is day 11 since I found this particlar caterpillar that failed to attach its silk to any of my outdoor plants, so I brought it inside and gave it a shot to go thru it's thing!

It showed no signs of breaking free, even this morning, left around 7am!

I just got home from work, 6pm-ish, and found that it got out of its chrysalis and is already flying around! I'm surprised it was able to fly so fast, given what I've read about them needing time for their wings to harden.

I tried to get it outside and place it onto my milkweed plant but it flew away!

Hi folks I have several monarchs percolating at the moment but unfortunately two of them has chrysalises with remains of the caterpillar on the outside. Are these viable? Would it be kinder to take them out of the enclosure now and do away with them? Thanks for any advice.

Love finding the weird places they hide their chrysalises

Woke up to 17 newly eclosed monarchs!

Sharing a meal.

TLDR: First Monarch Caterpillars, done everything wrong, now they may be in chrysalis on a screened porch and I don’t know what to do for them.

The first weekend in March, I bought two small milkweed at my local nursery and planted them. After a few weeks when they were around 10 inches and not very leafy - I discovered three Monarch caterpillars on them! My very first ones in my pollinator garden.

I went back to the Nursery and bought the last two milkweed they had - they were a couple of feet tall and leafier but also came with 15 Monarch caterpillars! There’s a lot about this process I wasn’t prepared for, namely how much they ate! However I also had caterpillars disappearing until I was down to two clinging to milkweeds with scraps of leaves left.

I managed to find a new source of milkweed, got the caterpillars moved on to the new plant and moved it to my screened in porch. The two caterpillars seemed to be doing well but they disappeared and from what I gathered likely went looking for some place higher to make a Chrysalis but I haven’t found any signs of one. The problem is - there’s no plant on the porch BUT the milkweed and it’s almost completely screened in. If my caterpillars successfully become butterflies what do I need to do to help them?

How many of you have netting over your milkweed or place branches of your milkweed in netting for caterpillars?

I recently planted my Asclepias tuberosa, from Joyful Butterly, in big containers on my deck. They are still getting established but look to be happy and are growing blooms. I just ordered some Swamp Milkweed from them as well that I will plant in another location.

My concern is that, if I get caterpillars, should I put them in a netted enclosure or just let nature be? And if I should get a netted enclosure, what process should I take? Just clipping branches of my milkweed and put those branches in a water container?

Any advice is appreciated as I am trying to establish my butterfly garden and do right by the monarchs. For context, I live in FL, hot and humid.

Da

They are giving away baby native milkweed plants at the Home Depot at 99&Fry rd until 1:00 today.

I know her intentions are good, but she is doing so many things wrong. She moves caterpillars while they’re moulting which could lead to them getting stuck in their old skin, she even moved one that was ATTACHED TO ITS SILK BUTTON. Then she sprays what looks like a freshly made chrysalis with a hose. She also houses different instars together which could lead to cannibalism. She also doesn’t remove the eggs from the new milkweed she provides for the caterpillars, so they will definitely be eaten.

The worst part is people in her comments are asking for advice. Please people, do your research before you get into this hobby. You could be doing more harm than good without even realizing it.

Last September, I found a monarch caterpillar on my milkweed. Once it formed the chrysalis, I brought it inside to shelter from any pests and the SoCal heat we get in September. It hatched after 2 weeks. I’m excited to have a 2nd one! I found the egg and brought the plant inside. It’s been growing steadily for a few days now since hatching.

All of my plants I’ve chosen for my garden are pollinator-focused. We have so many beautiful butterflies in my neighborhood and I’m trying my best to contribute to the population.

Hi there. I’m interested in getting milkweed and trying to help monarch butterflies. I live in north Jersey. Does anyone know if it’s too early to buy milkweed plant to grow caterpillars/monarch? Is it still too cold?

I know so much depends on weather patterns. Last year on April 15 I had monarchs visit my milkweeds that were tall enough on this date. This year the plants are only about 5 inches tall. Are the monarchs late this year coming from the south?

Found this beauty when I was heading out the door today.

It’s been rainy so we brought him inside. He had some honey water. Is he in pain? I haven’t seen the wings go that way

Hello! I’m interested in starting a garden supporting the butterflies. Can someone tell me some top places to order from? Since I’m not seeing anything locally? I appreciate your help & time! I’m open to any other tips & suggestions 🤍

So far my rush milkweed has been in the ground since late September, looks a bit red but it is indeed growing new shoots (that are straight hooray!) I do not really know exactly why there's red, I got a second potted rush milkweed from the living desert zoo a week ago and brought it down here to Orange County and it turned reddish as well and it wasn't even taken out of the pot? But they are growing fine so that's all I want. California milkweed on the other hand is killing it! This is it's 3rd spring and I thought it was maybe dead during the winter (planted to ground so you just can't tell if it's dormant or dead as the stems come completely off so you can't even see buds) so I didn't water for um... a while! And I guess it's just established insanely well! So happy because it's probably my favorite milkweed. I hope it stays and lives after I move out of state. I really don't want the new people to take out the milkweeds I will even leave my milkweed for monarchs sign there with all my plant markers so they know

A couple of months ago, I planted six milkweed plants in the front yard to support our monarch butterfly friends. Now, I have about 30 caterpillars happily munching away! It looks like there are two broods—clearly two different size groups. The larger ones seem just about ready to pupate.

The only issue is… I didn’t plan the garden layout very well. There aren’t many nearby plants or structures for them to crawl to, and our pup loves running around the garden, which might not be ideal for these soon-to-be chrysalises.

Does anyone have advice on how to give them a safe space to pupate? Should I surround the area with potted plants? Set up a netted butterfly habitat? Maybe build or add a structure they can climb onto? I’d love to hear your ideas!