Hurricane Laura threatened our area two weeks ago. We were lucky that we didn’t get a direct hit, but I was worried about the eggs on my milkweed plants. I had observed a female flitting around and laying eggs, so I knew there were a few.
Lesson #1: Where there is one, there are many: The monarch egg is tiny and difficult to see, so when you see one, there may be more. I cut all my milkweed and put it into small bud vases inside a butterfly enclosure. Before I knew it, one became many. After I counted 30, I stopped counting. Every day there were more.
Lesson #2: They don’t all make it. When we were raising wood ducks, a wise Cajun fiddle player, 20 year old Adelaide, told us, “Don’t get attached. They don’t all hatch.” The same is true of monarch caterpillars. I stopped counting how many I’ve lost. They’ve died at different stages, some as tiny newbies, and others within the chrysalis. I have learned to accept loss as part of the process. Only 2% make it through the whole life cycle. That’s a tough statistic.
Lesson #3: Farmers rise early. School has started and to be able to get to the chores of cleaning and feeding my “cats”, I have to get up early. The Very Hungry Caterpillar is no exaggeration. They eat and poop a lot! They’ve gone through all my garden milkweed, the trimmings from a friend’s yard, 4 plants I picked up at a nursery, 4 plants that my friend bought, a bag of frozen butternut squash, and half of a fresh butternut squash. I still have some feeding. I am not kidding!
Lesson #4: Hang out with the experts. I have joined a Facebook group called The Beautiful Monarch. You can post images there for celebration, but there are also experienced farmers to offer advice and commiseration. The raising of monarchs is “a whole world.”
Lesson #5: Give the gift of resurrection: I have had to find and buy more butterfly enclosures. But in so doing, I can spread the joy to others. Judy didn’t understand why her milkweed was bare. At closer inspection, we discovered 4 hungry caterpillars. They came home with me in a small terrarium that she had handy. Once the chrysalises were formed, I gave it back to her to enjoy the emerging stage. I also gave an enclosure with 3 chrysalises to a colleague in need of encouragement.
I have mixed feelings about this whole experience. It’s been a hard job to do well. I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing most of the time. But isn’t that the way we feel about any new experience, inept yet open to learning? Kind of like educating children in a pandemic.
Reflections on the Teche 
inept yet open to learning – great line!! Love all the connections from nature to living a life! Tahnks for including all the photos, too. Stunning!
community works when the teaches know what they are teaching, there is a lot of wisdom in your blog, well done
Oh, Margaret, I love this. The lessons you learned, the effort you put into it! When I’ve heard people talk about raising monarchs, I’ve never realized how much effort went into it. I kinda thought, Put the right food in there and let them be. Silly me! Thanks for sharing this wonderful (and maybe a bit heartbreaking) process.
Thank you for teaching me so much new info about monarchs. Butternut squash? Who knew!
What a gift.
Great post. I’ve raised monarchs for 17 years now. It is a process and as you remind us, not always a happy one. Keeping the containers clean where your cats live is a daily process, along with feeding and monitoring, the whole thing takes a lot of time. For about ten years in raising monarchs, I never ever had a death – from disease or anything else. When I raised a lot (20 at a time) there was an increase in disease, so I consciously decreased the number I raised last year. And, then this year has been awful. I’ve had many deaths and found only a few eggs or cats. It is making me wonder about “fooling” with nature, as much as I’ve loved it and taught others to care for monarch habitat as well as raise them. Over the last 20 years, I’ve read a ton, met the experts, and participated in citizen science for monarchs. It makes me sad that we are still seeing a decline. My community education efforts will be more focused on habitat restoration and creation from now on. I’m glad you enjoyed your successes this year.
Wow! Thanks for your response. I agree that maybe I shouldn’t have fooled with Mother Nature.
Margaret, Please forgive me. I appreciate your enthusiasm and be assured it is nothing different than what I have experienced myself. I was just sharing an observation. You inspired me to write about this topic today, as well. I congratulate you on your successful rearings and wish you well in the future. I wasn’t trying to place any blame or tell you to stop. It is how I, myself, have come to feel about raising a species I dearly love. Thank you for sharing.
I do understand. This whole experience has been both rewarding and daunting. I had a butterfly emerge yesterday with imperfect wings. I’m not sure what to do.
I love the way you structured this post, Margaret, and so enjoyed reading about all that you learned.(The butternut squash information surprised me, too.) Last year I had three monarch caterpillars at home and watching them evolve while we navigated a household medical situation was so therapeutic. Thanks for looking out for the monarchs and for teaching us as well! Great post!
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