*Update 8/12* Monarch Butterfly Chrysalis in my garden!

[ponyqueen]

I forgot to mention- I'll also ship the seeds for free! 

[MoondancerMilkyWay]

I'll pick some up in August. is august too late to plant?

I noticed this morning that my HOSTA is in bloom!! how excited was I?!

[cuddlebuggy]

Yay, I'll pm you when I'm not on my iPad. We couldn't find milkweed that was grown without pesticide last fall! I got a spot at our school for my Girl Scout troop to put in a butterfly garden and then couldn't get any milkweed! We put in butterfly bush and dill hoping for black swallowtail caterpillars but only saw one that soon died.
It was a rough year this year with the weather freezing so late in the spring. I'll do my part to help!

[Galactica]

How cool! Lucky you-  I'm so glad she emerged-  it was so sad for me as a kid to see a chrysalis never emerge, and then see the tiny hole drilled in the side (probably from a wasp)

[ponyqueen]

Sad! I saw one of these today! I was so confused... I know if the chrysalis doesn't hang up and down (like it gets tilted) the development can fail. I also thought this happened because the chrys was attached to some flowers that had drooped over... but like you said, there was a hole on the side. I didn't know wasps parasitized monarch caterpillars! Hm. Nature.

How cool! Lucky you-  I'm so glad she emerged-  it was so sad for me as a kid to see a chrysalis never emerge, and then see the tiny hole drilled in the side (probably from a wasp)

[SeashellnBubbles]

A healthy predator/prey balance is just as important to keeping a population strong as having a good food source and protected developing ground. It's actually a good thing that the wasps are present! They're like the wolves for a population of deer...too many deer is bad, too many wolves is bad losing a few members to a healthy population is completely acceptable and a sign of a very healthy enviroment!

[ponyqueen]

I talked to Karen Oberhauser who runs the Monarch Monitoring program at the University of Minnesota about a parasitized chrysalis and a dead caterpillar I found. Here's what she said:

The first one, with the hole, sounds like it was killed by a tachinid fly.  The second one may be a bacterial or viral infection.  Both of these things probably would have happened even if you'd brought the caterpillars in.  I think it's fine to bring monarchs in to raise them; as you noted, you'll usually be saving their life.  there is a fact sheet on safe rearing on the MJV website, on the resources page (go to publications):

http://www.monarchjointventure.org/resources/

So I brought in four caterpillars, plus a tiny tiny TINY one I just found this morning, shown here with a pony baby bottle and a larger caterpillar for scale:
visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Did I mention it was tiny? 

Here are the rest:
visitors can't see pics , please register or login

[SeashellnBubbles]

Yay!! Look at those beautiful little caterpillars!! I'm so glad you're doing this...if everyone took in 4 or 5 monarch caterpillars and raised them to release, I really doubt they'd be endangered or threatened species Butterfly Hero!!

[ponyqueen]

AND if more people planted milkweed! Habitat loss (in this case, simple larval host plant loss) is a factor... but probably not as detrimental to the loss of their wintering sanctuary in Mexico.

[SeashellnBubbles]

AND if more people planted milkweed! Habitat loss (in this case, simple larval host plant loss) is a factor... but probably not as detrimental to the loss of their wintering sanctuary in Mexico.

True that!

[Mirnyj]

Beautiful! There are too few butterflies nowadays, congratulations on having a great habitat for them to flourish!

[Elisto]

I used to work at a butterfly house, and honestly, even though it's disappointing (and anxiety-producing when you have USDA containment requirements!), the parasitoid wasp emergence can be pretty cool itself, especially when it's the smaller wasps that emerge dozens at a time. Maybe a little horrifying too but some of the wasps are really neat looking.

[Galactica]

I talked to Karen Oberhauser who runs the Monarch Monitoring program at the University of Minnesota about a parasitized chrysalis and a dead caterpillar I found. Here's what she said:

The first one, with the hole, sounds like it was killed by a tachinid fly.  The second one may be a bacterial or viral infection.  Both of these things probably would have happened even if you'd brought the caterpillars in.  I think it's fine to bring monarchs in to raise them; as you noted, you'll usually be saving their life.  there is a fact sheet on safe rearing on the MJV website, on the resources page (go to publications):

http://www.monarchjointventure.org/resources/

So I brought in four caterpillars, plus a tiny tiny TINY one I just found this morning, shown here with a pony baby bottle and a larger caterpillar for scale:
visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Did I mention it was tiny? 

Here are the rest:
visitors can't see pics , please register or login

Oh thanks for sharing that info! And pictures of the caterpillars! GORGEOUS!!!! 

[himmie]

I love seeing these photos!

My grandparents and mother are good friends with the Oberhauser family. I have known them my entire life. We always brought the caterpillars inside and raised them when I was a kid. Keeping track of gender and such when they hatched.

Here's a couple photos from our house this year:
visitors can't see pics , please register or login

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

[ponyqueen]

Big update! Edited original post with new progression pics. Enjoy!