Raising Monarchs - Encouraged Egg Laying (How To Have Monarch Butterflies Lay Eggs) 

We've been raising wild-caught monarch cats for many years, supplying them to teachers at an elementary school, and then helping the kids tag the new adults. This video had us running to the store to get the pop up laundry basket. Two days later a female monarch was on our coneflowers, and wham! Placed her in the basket over a milkweed plant (we have a few hundred in our "yard"), and next day when we released her, we had 112 eggs! Dug up the whole plant and potted it to bring inside. The eggs are 36-48 hours old now. Can't wait to see if they hatch!

I had 75 eggs. Now I have 75 caterpillars I'm overwhelmed with feeding It's a full time job!! Loving every second!! 3 born now 3 released!!:)

Inspired by your work and learned enough from your videos that I'm starting to help save the Monarchs. Funny store... all day yesterday my son and I were looking for milkweed plants in every Nursery in our area. After hours and hours I gave up and ordered plants online. After spending an obscene amount of money to make sure I had enough grown plants.. I came to work today and realized the parking lot is FULL of milkweed! I'm ready to get started and so excited to enjoy the process and help the Monarchs!

A few points: 1. make sure to check the plants for predators (spiders, assassin bugs, lacewing, ladybug, and hoverfly larvae, etc.) 2. during the day, mist the cage with water, the butterflies need water 3. give the container some shade so the butterfly will not overheat 4. I usually hand feed the butterfly before collecting eggs

I would cut the bottom out of the green net so as not to scrape the milkweed leaves when removing it potentially knocking off eggs in the process. I think you could keep it tight enough to the ground so the female couldn't escape, I am raising my first 14 Monarchs they just started coming out of metamorphosis. 3 so far 1 with a damaged wing an 11 chrysalisalide hanging. Released 2 today and 1 hanging. These videos have been amazing and have set me on a serious Monarch farming adventure. You really feel the power of life when you do this.

Hello Rich. Yesterday was my last hatch, I am now up to 20 Monarchs. I have seen no cats in at least a week. And no Monarchs except for my own. In my area anyway. Checking the weeds daily for eggs. Spotted several of what I think are eggs just waiting to be sure. I have made up a poster and set it up outside the rock shop by my milkweeds and made up a bunch of flyer's to give out to customers. Save The Milkweeds Save The Monarchs!!! Then I put in your site so whomever is interested can go and see for themselves. I will keep you posted 👍

Hi Rick.. In the Summer of 2014, (with a friend who showed me how) I raised \ released 14 Monarchs into the wild. Had never done this before. I found it to be a bitter\sweet accomplishment, as I knew only a small number (if any) would ever make it to Mexico and return for the 2015 season. I did not see one Monarch for 2015.... How sad!!! After watching your entire series on Monarchs and Milkweed; I am renewed!! And will continue the fight to save these majestic butterflies. Thank-You for your time and efforts, in publishing your videos.

Greetins one and all. I live in Florida and if you have been watching the news you will know that the weather here has been something to experience. I have 10 Milkweeed plants in buckets and knowing that we were going to get up to 150 MPH winds, and torrential rain I went out and stripped all my Milkweed plants of all Monarch eggs, Cats and Chryslises and brought them into the house for safety. All 34 of them. Once again the dining room table has been turned into a hatchery. At the height of the storm I looked out the window to check on my "food" supply. I could not believe how the Milkweed plants were "rideing "the storm. They were getting hit with tremendous wind and like Bamboo they just bent before it. No resistance to wind. Plants were bent at 90 degree angles with no damage what so ever. Went out after the storm to inspect plants. They were clean as a whistle. No sign of any kind of insect life on plants. Was amazing to me that tthe plants survived. First Monarch born last night. Female. Life goes on. Have a happy. J Costello

4 Babies Born this morning. I'm so excited. I got to hold 2 of them 1 male & 1 female. Thank so much for all of you help.

Hi. My jacked up Monarch female passed this A/M. Will miss her. I talked to her and believe it or not when she heard my voice she would turn her head in my direction. Who knows what these animals are capable of. Plant I brought in to protect Chrysalis on rim of pot had 9 eggs on it and they are starting to hatch. Fortunately I have my own supply of milkweed to feed them and a nursery close by in case I run dry that does not spray insecticide on its plants. Hopefully I will have something to release on Halloween as the orange and black colors of the Monarch do go with the holiday. Happy trick or treating.

We, brother & myself used to raise Cecropias ..a female was secured and placed on a live boxelder tree , a sapling , a six footer of so. ....a cheese cloth or similar tight weeve cloth was sealed \wraped around the limb to prevent escape ....the following day the " trap" was inspected and usually a male was discovered ...subsequently the female would deposit eggs and the netting would remain on the limb. Increasing in size, the grubs had to be moved to fresh limbs until finally pupating. Always keep the caterpillars protected with netting against the predator fly ..thanks...

Thanks for uploading this video! I happened to find 3 young Monarch caterpillars at a friends house. I took them home and raised them up. Two have turned into butterflies, just have one chrysalis left.

To answer your question: Yes, butterflies can indeed lay unfertilised eggs. I had a Papilio Polytes laying unfertilised eggs on a citrus plant in my conservatory. I knew they were infertile cause they never mated- the male died a few hours after hatching (Spider attack).

Thank you so much for your inspirational videos. I followed your lead and have just released 21 Monarchs into our SW Florida neighborhood. I discovered a great way to “ serve up “ my Giant Milk weed leaves vertically! It is like a toast rack made from tooth picks pushed into a foam base. Works great and keeps the caterpillars well fed,. SYLVIA SHIRLEY Port Charlotte FL

Let 4 out yesterday in A/M. 1 today. Brings total to 40. 6 to go. Some look damaged. Had male born yesterday with a probiscus that did not come together. Put him in with female with deformed wing. Hopefully love will bloom. I'm off to nursery to purchase another milkweed plant. The female with withered wing was put on a cotton ball drenched with honey water yesterday.. Had to show her how to eat from it yesterday. Not so today. Placed her near it and she jumped on it and started eating. Amazeing how quick these animal learn. Also, my Swallowtail cat is still with us. Does not move unless touched but there is still life in him.

Hey Mr. Lund, after seeing your video I went the local nursery and they gave me a Milkweed with pods for free!! :) :) They even pulled out a root for me. So I've planted the root and hope that it will survive North East winter. I've seen your "how to get seeds and plant milkweed" video. Thanks so much :) Please make more video. You're my favorite guy right now :)

Omgosh! Amazing! I have been raising monarchs from eggs for 4 years now and was thinking this year I am not finding as many eggs as last year. They all hatched and lucky you! It can be alot of work...but if u can find the milkweed plants to feed them all.. hey... awesome!! U are right this isnt for everyone. But it IS FOR ME! THANK U FOR ALL YOUR VIDS! I am called the butterfly whisperer by my neighbors..🐛🦋 The Monarch is Illinois' state butterfly!! Shout out from a suburb in northern Illinois!

Hello Rich.. Don't know if I checked in with you last season or not. Too many comments to go through to see. My total was 76. But.... This being my ninth season has been the best ever. Amazing if I do say so myself. I raised and released 231 monarchs and tagged 25. If only one of them makes it and gets reported back to me would really make my day. My first cat was June 10 and it into chrysalis on the 19th. On 7 July I gathered up 65 cats in one day. Hadn't been back to that area for a week. All in different stages of instar. Being that early and that many cats I knew then it was going to be a stellar season. My last cat was 9/4 and I'm sure there were more around but I had to wind down my season for some issues. It was getting harder to take care of all of them at the rock shop so I bought half of them home. I had a ton of rocks to polish for customers. ( Petoskey Stones ) Busy season for sure! That's where I meet Caleb and got turned on to your videos. Which by the way are still watched over and over. And again thank you for all you do! 👍 I did some plugging for you. Handed out flyers to just about everyone that came into the shop. People were stopping by just to see the monarchs. And one my co-workers got in touch with a reporter ( much to my surprise ) who then came in to do an interview with me for the local news paper. So I mentioned you and your videos. Just wanted to spread the word. The paper is called the Betsie Current. Lastly... Where were you on September 3rd? We were on our way home from work and started seeing monarchs everywhere. In an hour's drive we counted over 300 in the 45 minute drive to home. And when we got home we sat out in the back yard counted twice that many. Totally Amazing. Had several friends calling me up letting me know what they were seeing.

Monarch Alert!!!! Just went out to check the weeds for cats and spotted a Monarch. Might of found two eggs. Got to get the magnifier to be sure. Still working on the I.D. aspect. I have been doing this since 2012 and started keeping track 2013. I will have some numbers for you later today. Got to get my rock saws and my tumblers going. Been into lapidary for years. Your colleagues name is Caleb. He paid a visit to the C&M Rock Shop where I work. My boss mentioned that I raised Monarchs and it went from there. Wasn't sure if I should of made that public. Good luck on your egg hunt! 👍

Thank you for what you doing to help the Monarchs.

HOLY COW. 90+ eggs? That's incredible! If I ever have so much milkweed, I'll do this for sure.

Hi.Heads up on how to get more Milkweed plants. Had trimmings left over from cuttings I trimmed to feed my cats. Decided to try something different. Took a 8 ounce plastic water bottle and put 1/8 teaspoon of rooting hormone in it, filled it with water and shook it till hormone disolved. Scraped bark off cutting on opposite sides and put it into the bottle. That was 4 days ago. Look today. Looked today. Could not believe my eyes. Roots growing out of all the cutting. I believe hormone water was the trick. Easy way to get a jump on getting mature planes quicker. Do not forget to vote.

Hello Rich. I have 8 chrysalis and a doz cats. first monarch was around the first week in June. Only 4 all month. This month none so far. Got to be here but just not seeing them. I work inside but have a great view of well over three hundred milkweeds. I bring in the cats and take care of them in my shop. Doing pretty much the same things you are doing to take care of them. I really appreciated your videos. Some Awesome info!!!. Don't know if I have enough time to start with eggs but may try a few. I met your colleague a couple days as he and his family were visiting benzie county. He directed me to you and your videos. You keep filming and I'll keep watching. Thanks again!! Dean

In Iowa. Retrieved 83 eggs from a female Monarch, using your mesh clothes hamper idea!. I give many of mine away to kids and friends. Hatched 65 myself, down to 20 of my own that are just started forming chrysalis yesterday. Right now 3 are chrysalis, 8 are in J form, and the rest are still munching. My grandsons preschool has 2, should be in chrysalis by the time they leave school today. Great idea retrieving a mass of eggs at the same time. Pretty easy! Thanks! I raised these in mason jars. I use mesh interfacing on top of jar, makes great surface for cats to form chrysalis. Since I gave so many away, I could handle the rest in jars. Need to build a few simple cages to do this again. We have plenty of milkweed, so it's been fun! My husband thinks I'm a little crazy, but he enjoys them too. Right now I need to figure how I'm going to hang the 20 chrysalis I'll have! Need to review you're other videos again. Thanks again for the GREAT tip! So much easier, and productive, than searching for eggs. Plus catch them before ant predators get to them. These will probably heading to Mexico! Wish I had gotten tags!

This was amazing that you did this. The time it will save I can only imagine. I had the problem of running out of milkweed this summer with 90 cats but was able to find some to feed them. I am now growing and starting all types and next summer will be ready, I have done lot of research and find al of your videos to be the best and answered all my questions. Some of the other sites you have to look all over the place t find what you need to know Thank you so much Sue

Some other things to include is check the mom for OE first, treat the eggs as needed, I personally would not leave the mama butterfly in the net for as long to reduce maybe the large quantity of eggs of the same genetic makeup and if possible another butterfly and repeat the process so there's more genetic diversity. This video is awesome very many good key points

I’m releasing my first four monarchs today, I learned everything from your channel. Thanks, Mr. Lund!

Hello, Rich. Hubby and I have been actively trying to find and raise Monarchs for several years, here in Madison, Wisconsin. Last year I discovered your extremely well-done videos, and because of them, I feel much more confident for this summer project. Thank you! I'm anxiously waiting for you to continue your 2017 series. Although we search our yard for cats every year, we have never found more than three cats in any particular summer. Two years ago, we raised two from 3rd or 4th instar stage to adults, and one perished when the chrysalis failed to attach strongly to the top of the critter cage, and fell. I thank you for the video on Chrysalis Repair. Hopefully, we will catch that problem quickly enough to fix it if necessary. There are at least three different types of milkweed that either grow wild or we have grown from seed and planted in several places on our 1/4 acre yard. We've grown Asclepias Tuberosa (Butterfly Weed) for many years, have a corner of the lot where we leave the common milkweed alone, have grown from seed and continue to plant more each year of Swamp Milkweed, grow from seed the annual Tropical Milkweed in pots, and recently obtained three plants of Purple Milkweed, which is not in the ground yet! Because of this and our devotion to perennial gardens of Yarrow, Bee Balm, Cone Flowers, and Black-eyed Susans, we have recently become certified as a Monarch Waystation by Monarch Watch. Last year, we found ZERO cats here on our lot, but we're feeling much better about the plight of the Monarch this year. Although we haven't seen any adult Monarchs this year visiting our yard, or really anywhere that we've noticed, we found five 4th and/or 5th instar cats in the past 24 hours! Four of the five cats look as if they could J-hang very soon. We currently have them in random containers with window screening covering, held in place with rubber bands. Two are in a 5 qt ice cream bucket, one in a 2 qt Rubbermaid container, and the littler one is in a shallow take out food container. After watching your video using the spiral hamper to encourage egg laying, we invested in two of them. We don't have a screened porch, but we do have a long table in the room off our deck that from late April to late May is used to aid in hardening off the dozens of tomato and pepper starts we raise for co-workers, friends, and family. We dragged our heels at putting the tables away this year, and they're very convenient for the three containers our five cats are munching and pooping in. I guess we're ready if we catch a female in the wild and are fortunate enough to get her to lay eggs on. Questions: [1] Do you recommend a source for buying a good quality butterfly net? [2] Critter cages? I don't know if we are quite ready to raise 90 at once! We have plenty of milk weed plants, but I don't know if we could house the cats properly, but more so I worry about how to keep that many chrysalides sheltered. [3] Would an UNSCREENED porch (facing west) be suitable for running the string on which to mount the chrysalides? Thank you for reading. We are big fans!

i know this is an old video and im not sure you still look at comments, but i just wanted to thank you for all your videos! theres not a lot of milkweed in my area but ive successfully raised one monarch so far! i hope to plant tons of milkweed in the fall so there will be more next year :)

Thoroughly like your enthusiasm and educating folks. Cheers HW

Hello Rich. This morning numbers 51, 2 ,3, and 4 hatched out. I have a dozen chrysalises go and one hanging. Found a cat yesterday. Last year's last cat was on the 7th of this month and hatched out the 12th of Oct. Might have to put this one on a bus to Toledo to give it a head start. Thanks for all your help, info, and input this season Rich. About a dozen less than last year. But still worth it.

And the beat goes on. Have found 5 cats over the last 3 days. From 1/2 inch long to 1 inch long. Thriving. Saw a Monarch flying outside near flowers so I went out to see where she would go. Went straight to a Milkweed plant and laid some eggs. I only counted 8 eggs. I covered the branch with netting to protect the eggs. Hopefully I will get more cats off this plant. I do notice that when I release them now that they head North West in the direction of the Florida Pan Handle. Mexico, here they come.

I learned everything from you!!

That was great they all were fertile! Of the 72 eggs I found in a two day period in September, about half hatched. I may try your idea. It is a lot of work to have that many at one time, but so worth it....I really miss them and can't wait for their return!

Awesome!! I am going to try this next summer. Today I was gathering Milkweed leaves for my very hungry caterpillars (sorry, Eric Carle) and found 7 more eggs.

This was a very informative video. Thank you so much. I’m glad I found you. That’s way more than I could definitely handle, but still good to know.

I have enjoyed your videos! I live in Florida, purchased some milkweed to "help out" and since viewing your information have raised 15 monarchs to chrysalis! They will be emerging any day now. As a bonus, I went and checked my plants and found more eggs which are now caterpillars - 20! I believe they will fly and winter at St Mark's wildlife refuge near Tallahassee. Thank you for the information, they are a joy.

We have 2 right now! Ur videos helped me so much!!!! But the milk weed we have is only one stalk with leaves not bushy like yours was with the net over them! I found a new obsession!!!!!

I was getting milkweed for my last Monarch caterpillar out of my "bucket garden" when I spied a caterpillar on my dill plants. It looked like a Monarch caterpillar but on closer look the colors were off. Turned out to be a Swallowtail caterpillar. Found 3 more. Guess I'm in the Swallowtail business also. At least the Swallowtail will eat a number of things.

Why not keep the cage over the milkweed plants and let the eggs hatch on the plants. Then bring the plants inside and put them in water containers inside a butterfly cage to rear the caterpillars.

I thought I was off for the Winter but I was mistaken. I had rooted 4 Milkweed plants from cuttings and had them outside under a bush. They were growing nicely. Yesterday while watering tomato plants I noticed that one plant had a few leaves with holes . Then I saw that another plant was completely devoid of all leaves. I mean strippped bare, not a leaf to be found. On closer inspection I found 1 cat about 3 inches long clinging to one of the remaining stems. I brought the cat inside and put it in a jar with some Milkweed leaves. This morning I looked and it was J hooking from the top of the jar. But I did not think one cat could eat all those leaves and so this morning I went out and looked at the other plants and on one I found a Chrysalis which I believe came from the stripped plant hanging from the edge of the planting pot. I also found 5 egggs on some of the leaves. So I brought the pot into the house for safety as the Anoles are out in force here at this time of year and I believe they got the rest of the caterpillars and eggs. This afternoon one of the eggs hatched. I could only see the black spec prior to hatching with a magnifying glass. Hopefully they will all hatch. Time will tell. Update. Female with withered wing is still alive and eats sugar water twice a day. Will miss her when she is gone. Happy hunting

I did this and I got 8 eggs lol love your vids, very helpful

Great job dude... I’m just starting to attempt this in Redondo Beach, CA... it’s almost winter now and I still have caterpillars growing and changing... I wonder how long they will keep living when it gets into the 40’s at night here?

WOW!!! She was BUSY! That's amazing!

Youre so gentle with the butteflies 😊

I love your video & what you’re doing to help our butterfly crisis! Do you have an updated video showing us how you went about caring for the caterpillars??? I’d love to see and learn! Thanks!

91 eggs! Now that's what I call an "egg-dump"!

I'm not scientist in this field but I do observe and read a lot on natural world. Sloths, for example eat only that certain tree leaves like Koalas and Giraffes do. But one cool thing they also can fertilize the tree they live on but taking a hold day to venture to the bottom of that tree and poop at the rooted area where the trunk meats the dirt. So that got me to think, when you clean the monarch nurseries save the droppings and put 'em at the base of each milkweed, might want to experiment on one for a while and see what happens. Compare and Contrast it might be useful like the sloths do. And on the butterfly egg laying, insects has an amazing way to keep sperms alive in the females so that every individual sperm is used to the equal amount of eggs developed, like ants. One sex and they are good for sometime. So that might explain the 100% of those eggs are born. 91/91. Awesome, work!

i just wanted to say awesome videos an well put together .im in the process of getting into this myself here where i live in north western ,wi. i have frog habitats here i have made out in the yard an also getting into creating these monarch habitats also i have plenty of milkweeds growing here already but will be planting more in other areas here , thank you for all the information

Hi. If you want the lazy mans way of getting Monarch eggs go to a plant nursery that has potted Milkweed plants for sale. Look for a Monarch laying her eggs and buy that plant. $5 bucks in my neighborhood. 32 is my biggest egg haul yet .31 hatched and were released into the wild. And you know the plants are insecticide free. When you want more eggs just put the plants outside for a few days and watch for a butterfly. Very fatigueing but someone has to do it.Happy Hunting

this season has been really bad this year i found 9 eggs and cats compared to last year i had over 100. i just caught a fertile female and i am trying this now

I do have a suggestion for another video though. I see you using critter keepers for some of your cats and chrysalises. I have found they need something with sides that have a material that will enable the cats to climb in the event they fall during eclosing. Similar to your video on how you demonstrate a butterfly can eclose laying down. You used an inverted butterfly net in a bucket. I had two fall last year and their wings were destroyed. I have since gotten rid of the critter keepers and aquariums and only use pop-ups now. Critter keepers are okay for caterpillars because they are able to climb the sides, but as you know, a butterfly cannot climb plastic or glass. I released 148 out of 150 last year. I have 70 mw plants and am already over 100 egg/cats right now in Churchville, MD July 16, 2017. Last year we didn't find our first eggs until August 2nd, 2016.

Thanks for this valuable lesson in Monarch eggs, wow!

Hi. Had my last 3 cats come out jacked up. Wings did not develope properly. Now I have 3 to feed twice daily. I find they like apple Juice. Just pore it into a colored cap [red or orange] and they will drink their fill.

I applaud your efforts and successes. Good for you ,great teacher. I am going to try what you have taught. I hope I will have some success too

bravo!!! i will be planting milkweed this spring

I found a pretty orange color milkweed in my pasture :)

Swallowtail cat passed today. Buried him under Butterfly bush. Thought it was fitting. Still have 4 that did not emerge yet. Do not look good. I also have 3 cats and a egg that I found when weeding. Got a tremendous amount of satisfaction raising and releaseing the forty Monarchs that I released. Also learned a valueable lesson. My idea of organic and the USDA'S idea are entirely different. Oh well. Live and learn.

I just found a pair mating in my Milkweed and considered doing this, but I’m so busy with house renovations, that I’m not doing any Monarchs this year.

Coolest guy ever! So❤your passion!

It's important to uproot any Black Swallow Wort (Vincetoxicum nigrum) on your property. Monarchs will mistakenly lay their eggs on these invasive weeds and the hatchlings will die.

I have about 400 milkweed plants , not including the ones that I am going to plant this year

91 thats one hell of a haul..most i've done at one time was 34 and only 26 of em survived they ate through three 4ft tall curassavica (tropical milkweed)plants in 2 days..you better have an entire field of surplus weed to feed those lil piglets.now i need to figure out what to do with these milkweed bugs destroying my leaves

Do you worry about raising that many from the same genetic pool? In nature, even though the butterfly lays a lot of eggs, she lays them in different locations and many of them don't make it.

Fragile little rainbows that wander the Earth

Do you have any experience with painted lady butterflies? I have a mated female but she won't drop eggs, I've only gotten 11 so far and I was hoping for a bit more before her release, which will be this coming week. Also, I'm trying to grow a group of milkweed in my yard for monarchs in the future but I live in California in the valley and we don't really see monarchs. I've looked for farms to buy monarch caterpillars from but none sell to the west coast, they say they have "partner farms" that supply monarchs for California but they never name them. Do you know of any of these California-approved monarch suppliers?! I would like to breed and continuously release monarchs once my milkweeds get established well.

Out of the 91 eggs, how many actually hatched and survived to adulthood? I know not all the eggs survive from what I raise.

Since Monarchs do not lay eggs like this naturally, how can you be sure your good intentions are not actually creating unintended consequences? I would confer with the monarch lab at the University of Minnesota before you encourage others to do this as you have no idea what you are creating. I applaud your passion. Please be very sure, however, about what you are preaching. Thank you very much.

91 eggs, that is 910 milkweed leaves you need to feed them in their life cycle?

you are so great to be doing this, I was inspired by you to help aswell. and so far they are doing Amazing! just curious, is milkweed a Perennial? like does it come back every year or do you have to replant it every YEAR? thanks

First let me start by saying your videos are amazing and thank you for sharing all of your knowledge and experience. My mother used to raise monarchs all through my childhood. I have been trying to take on this tradition - last year I only got 1 egg which didn't make it =( this year I doubled up on my Milkweed plants and found 36 eggs! I couldn't believe it =) 28 have hatched so far. But I woke up to 4 of them on the bottom of the tank this morning stiff and dark =( so sad they were so small. is this normal? I guess that is why the mother lays so many eggs but it is still heartbreaking. The other 24 are doing great and eating a lot. I was able to find some wild milkweed in my area which I know will come in handy when these guys get bigger. I am in California so the Monarchs are just making their way through. I love your idea of catching them and having them lay on a couple of plants, I look forward to trying this. They have been so sneaking this year I haven't seen one of the winged beauties yet, but they are dropping eggs left and right ;)

Contacted the company whose label was on my "organic" purchases. Asked if they used B T on their organic crops. Their reply was that the answer to my question was "proprietary information." Guess I got my answer.

Say goodbye to that poor milkweed plant. R.I.P.

I have seen monarch on your milkweed were butter fly lad her eggs

I would love to know how many Pounds of leaves it take to raise 93 eggs to maturity.

Have you had problems with Oleander aphids infesting your milkweed plants? I have been inundated by them. Any suggestions on how, without pesticides, to get rid of these plant suckers?

Have a female with a wing that did develope properly. Curled up. Is there any way to unfold this and ger her going?

Just found your videos. I will be following you to get more information. this is only my 3rd year with Butterflies. Also received a mantis egg case, ootheca, I believe. My first time seeing mantis being born! Are they a threat to my monarch eggs or cats? Right now they are in different parts of the garden from the Milkweed, but I want to be safe. Mrlundscience.

Released 12 Monarchs this A/M that were born yesterday. [ Is born the correct word? ] 11 were born today and will be released tomorrow. 23 down and 21 to go from this group. A few appear unlikely to make it but all ready we are batting over 500.

Hi. I'm back in the Monarch busines after a 7 month respite due to illness preventing yard work. Have raised 76 Cats and 10 that were deformed. Took your advice and now put deformed ones out in the flowers so they at least get to enjoy some of Nature. I have a question. Last week I had a female born that was at least 2-3 times bigger than any other butterfly I have ever seen. What made her stand out is that she was born right next to anothher. Comparison was unreal. Has anyone ever experienced this? Would appreciate a reply. Thanks and happy hunting. J Costello

I am just getting into this, and it is late in the summer here, so about done for the year. I will be collecting milkweed pods and seeds this fall, and storing them for the winter. Can I store them outside so they get the freeze naturally? Is the rubber banding a good idea and just leave them outside as is? Here is an idea I want to try next year. I have a couple of the butterfly enclosures like you have this year, and I am thinking of starting my milkweed in small pots and then transplanting them, but keeping some in pots to put into the butterfly enclosures alive! I can plant the milkweed in stages so as to have a variety of sizes for my enclosure needs. Would this be an idea of where to put a female for her to lay her eggs on viable milkweed? I only move the cats by using two leaves and transferring them to one before relocating. But I will have multiple stages of plants and I hope to just relocate them to a new plant when the old is eater! How does this sound for an idea? Love your vids and your style.

thank you so much for all the help and tips

Question. Does anyone have a theory as to why a Monach will beat the sugar water with their probiscus?

Thank you your videos are very helpful! Do we have to be careful that we release the males and Females a distance apart because they are siblings .

Hi Mr. Lund, My daughter and I have thoroughly enjoyed your tutorials. We've found both eggs and caterpillars and the progress with both has been good. However, our largest caterpillar crawled up onto the lid of the container last night and is still there. My question for you is: What size should the caterpillar be before it J hangs? At this time it is only 2.5 cm long and a little less than .5 cm wide. Thanks!

Is it possible to buy a few and get one pair to lay eyes. Then after I let them go, I will be able to take care of the new eggs. As there are no butterflies over here.

How is gathering Monarch eggs helping the critters survive to adulthood? I've attempted documenting via video the life cycle of Monarch and Swallowtail Butterflies. Much to my horror, only about 50% of the emerged butterflies survived the emerging process. Some had damaged wings, Others failed to inflate their wings prior to drying, and others just fell off their chrysalis. Some never emerged at all. I did this in souther and Central Florida.

MrLund, I have a weekender cabin in the Catskills NY (13788 zip) that has a small 'natural' MW patch about the size of a handball court...though I don't know what type of MW they are nor whether the type is beneficial and/or if Monarchs are conducive to feeding/breeding in that locale of the US (I've seen an occasional Monarch flit by, but not many). I have extensive (!!) areas to expand the patch or plant a different type of MW if doing so in that area would benefit the population as a whole. I tried last season to sow some of the pod seeds (there are about 100 pods per year) but I believe I gathered the seeds too early before they were 'ripe' so to speak. Do you have any thoughts generally regarding that area of the country, if it's an area where expanding the MW patch would be beneficial - and if so what type of seeds are best to sow (species) and where maybe to get some? I know that's a lot of questions, I simply have a ton of space that I can relatively easily convert to a MW pasture if I get some tips on the best MW to plant or if that part of the US really isn't Monarch beneficial. TIA for thoughts you might have.

Thank you for your video's. They were so harmful. I live in northwest Illinois and started collecting eggs this summer. So far I have released 14 , 21 are in chrysalis, 27 are babies and about 50 in other stages 😁 the nightmare is transfering them when their babies. I live in am apartment on the 3rd floor I get sun all day, planted milkweed but don't get any eggs on them😔 am I to high of rice ground for monarchs to find my milkweed? So far I've scooped out areas with milkweed and search for eggs there.

I'm surprised she didn't lay the eggs on the underside of the leaves.....

Can someone tell me what is up with the squash-cucumber debate as food for Monarch caterpillars when you run out of milkweed?

will this work for other butterflies? I'm thinking of doing it with my 198 orchard swallowtails females and queen butterflies Is this a possibility?

I live in Camp Hill,Pa. I have been raising monarchs for the last 13 years..released over 1000. I have 3 came out today , but l will not be able to release them due to terrible rain outside. This is the first time lm facing a dilemma of how to keep them in the fish tank for at least 15 hrs. I have some flowers from the butterfly bushes right now that they are on. I hope they will get fed on these flowers for the next day or so.. Any other ideas to help these Monarchs will be g

I watched all your videos looking for ways to Care for the Monarchs, from raising Milkweeds to Raising the Monarch Caterpillars. I learn a lot of the terminologies and lingos of what's what. I got out of it how to that might be easiest or inspire my own ways to do it. I'm in a Housing Authority district block so I may not have a lot places to go to plant, or even allowed to care for inside the house the Monarchs. But will see what I can improvise to do. Anyway, just thought I say "thank you" for the video, from one amateur to another in the field of general science. By the way, did anyone say you look like Nick, a member of the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, a character of the TV show. Esp. the short hair season you had. Makes you a good Cast for these episodes you do. Just something random to say.Thank you from my family in Central Illinois!

hey if you see this, have you worked out an efficient method of collecting eggs from the surface of the milkweed pod? it's mid- August in the Chicago area and I'm sitting here watching mama deposit eggs all over our maturing seed pods. I know from experience how sticky these things are when they're cut into but would really like to get these guys into containers since they'll definitely be the ones headed south in a few weeks. we've had lots of good success with the "teeny square method"you showed in your video about harvesting eggs from leaves but I haven't tried bringing them in off the pod yet. thanks!

Have so many questions. We are looking at plotting some of our land to making a habitat for butterflies and would definitely love more info to draw them in. Any help on pointing me in the right direction to start is appreciated.

Forgot to mention this. When I awoke this A/M there were 7 Monarchs all ready "born" and off the table and on the floor. I often wondered how long it took them to mature sexually and be able to breed. I do not wonder anymore. As I was watching them 2 "got it on." Lasted only seconds. Now we all know.

hi this is ethan vargas i have use watched all your videos to help me raise my monarch caterpillars

Hello Mr Lund, I just got 11 cat's in the mail but not sure if stage 3 or 4 or 5? Any way to tell for sure?. And since I have them inside in a cage but they don't always move so much, they remain immobile alot.

How is the "feeding" actually performed?