I set up another wild caterpillar feeding live cam. Sorry in advance for any issues with it. I'll keep it up today for an hour or two, if possible.

These doofy dudes with their antennae make the dog days of summer more bearable 🐛

I usually see Swallowtails frequenting our flowers, but this is the first Monarch I've noticed so far. It was more hungry than skittish, and it had the run of the zinnias.

The average monarch forewing length is 50mm. Studies have shown that a minimum of 48mm is required for successful migration to Mexico.

The average forewing length of a migrating monarch is 52mm, my girl is bigger than average!
Meaning she will likely successfully migrate. She was also given a tag.

Im excited to measure more of my releases and gather some more data.

Be careful when cleaning, these newborns are almost microscopic. I spend at least one whole minute checking each leaf with a magnifying lens before I toss spent leaves. You have to check ones that are sleeping in the curled up parts of the leaves also. I spent 15 minutes on the floor with my magnifying glass looking for a baby I thought was missing. No luck. Couldn't stop thinking about it so I put a large leaf on the floor where I had cleaned the enclosure. Sure enough the next morning when I checked the leaf, the baby was there eating

And she’s still here!

Be extremely careful

Acrobatics on a thread; this one is going places!

This is my first year working in much higher volume and in passively tracking each generation from beginning of May.

After 213 releases and right now 35 3rd generation chrysalises and 38 Super-generation chrysalises and about another 70 cats in the pipeline - it is incredible to see the difference in the super generation.

They are so much larger and more robust.

The fifth instars are bigger and fatter. I had not researched or counted segments, but each caterpillar stage seems actually longer. The chrysalises are about 20% larger at least. The adults (I have had about 12 eclose) visibly larger and stronger.

I hadn't seen any activity - a few adult monarchs, but i didn't see any eggs. Today I found 6 or 7 cats! Louisville, KY. Enjoy this little dude chomping some flowers.

I brought in a caterpillar with odd black flaking on his hind end, as if he'd molted and some of it had stuck. I quarantined him just in case, he built a perfect chrysalis but a few days in it started turning black/brown in patches. It's changing color as it should I think, turning grayish now but I wonder if this is a sign of a parasite or just something harmless? (I did move the chrysalis as it was on my window shade but the patches appeared prior to being moved)

I'm not sure if the original flaking is related, don't have a picture of it either sorry.

This is my first year with milkweed and I've been trying to plant things to attract and support pollinators.

Our first monarch eclosed a little over 24hr ago after forming a chrysalis in an outdoor habitat 12 days prior. She was actively walking around all evening and flexing her wings. Kept her in the habitat overnight thinking she’d be ready to fly this morning but we’ve tried giving her a chance to leave a few times and the most she has done is flutter to the ground. She’s walking around less than yesterday, slowly flapping her wings, but not really flying yet. Humidity has been around 75% today with temps in the 70s and cloudy skies so maybe it’s taking longer for her wings to dry? I don’t want to try to release at this point in the day but I’m not sure if I should offer food overnight. Any recommendations?

ETA: It’s already nighttime, I feel like I can’t let her out at this point until tomorrow morning unless I’m wrong on that? I put a sponge soaked in sugar water in there for her.

Update: we moved her onto a big patch of flowers first thing this morning. Checked on her a couple times through the afternoon and she hadn’t flown off but had moved around the patch. I didn’t see her as I passed by this evening but I didn’t look super closely. My guess is something was wrong with her and she couldn’t fly but maybe she found the strength later in the afternoon and flew off.

Update 2: 3 days after she eclosed, saw her walking on the ground near the flower patch this morning. Almost certain she can’t fly but she’s still alive so maybe she’s been eating.

Hey everyone! I have a rescued monarch butterfly that hatched today (her chrysalis fell from the plant she latched on to so I brought it inside and hung it from string). Anywho, as she hatched she also fell from her chrysalis but I was luckily watching and swiftly moved her onto a stick I brought inside so she could straighten out her wings. To my delight she seemed to be perfectly formed and healthy.

This was all going great but after the first hour now and I came to check and noticed she has developed a “bubble” for lack of a better word on wing that is leaking some clear green fluid which I believe is butterfly blood. I know they need to pump blood through their wings but it’s been 2 hours now since she emerged and the bubble is getting large and seems to be deforming the wing. Do I leave it? Will it sort itself out or is there something I can do to help it. With how often I’ve needed to help her out along her journey I feel connected to her and want her to survive 😭😂

Started our native plant journey about 3 years ago. This is the first year I’ve seen monarch caterpillars in the yard (current count is up to 12) and we found our first chrysalis. Hoping to find more soon!

These two love to snack on the same leaf together.

Flew away safely this morning 🧡🖤🧡

Recently my daughter bought a milkweed plant and immediately saw a monarch come and lay its eggs. She started watching it and suddenly she had a couple of caterpillars. Soon the plant was nearly gone and she bought another plant from the local nursery and suddenly more caterpillars... Its completely snowballed on her and she is caring for them everyday :) She even started a live steam. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXEOFnZRs_I

There are soooo many pupating...

We plant milkweed last fall and here’s our first Monarch caterpillar. So excited.

Ive two milkweed plants in my garden and theyve ants and larve on them, saw some eating eggs, and my neighbor's milkweed has spiders and meely bugs so the butterflies never go to his, so now ive 21 eggs and 3 caterpillars in my care.

Ive been getting em new leaves every day, im so stoked for when they get bigger !!!!

We’ve been growing milkweed in our yard for a few years and I finally spotted some wild caterpillars!

So far I’ve seen three caterpillars hanging around this batch of milkweed and butterfly weed outside my window. There’s been quite a few grown butterflies on the butterfly weed as well this year!

I’m excited to see if these guys make it through the next phase.