Your channel has guided me through my 1st monarch rearing, 1000%. They came upon me on a volunteer milkweed in my yard, and thanks to you it is going well. You are awesome!
7:50 He shows you how to tell the sex of your chrysalis at 7:50 in case anyone wanted to get right to it like I did. (I listened to the rest of the vid later haha) Great video with lots of cool info though! Thank you!
I found a scientific site that supports his discovery and explains more www.monarchwatch.org/biology/sexing.htm I've helped raise about 15 here in Florida. I have a small patch of milkweed. I garden organically.
Hi Rich! I wanted to tell you I watched the tail end of our caterpillar turning into a crysalsis this morning. So excited to see it turn into a butterfly. Thank you for your response on the last video I commented on. So excited to start this journey to help the Monarch butterflies in Vermont. Have a great day! Thanks again for your advice and informative videos.
Pretty cool to watch that happen, right? Glad that this is providing you with such cool experiences! My guess is, you'll be back at this next season too.
Glad to see your video of what to do when a chrysalis falls.......taking my 'babies' to the UP on a 9 mile logging road and hoping none of the 40-50 will fall . Incidentally, after giving monarch programs here in Wisconsin, for one of my sources, I tell people to watch your series-- they are great and so informative...........
First time I was traveling with chrysalides, I was worried sick that they'd definitely fall, probably one at each stop light. Nope. Never happened. Save for reckless driving, they hang on pretty well. (Why is it called "reckless" driving, when "without a wreck" would be a pretty good thing. Huh...)
Glad to report that on the way into and and out of Cable Lake ( north of Amasa) that I only lost one which looked dark to begin with. Glad they are so well- attached that they don't 'wreck'....:)
Thanks to this video, I got my magnifying glass out and was able to clearly see the difference between a male and female chrysalis. I love your videos. I released over 150 Monarchs this season so far. I am relocating from Florida to Nevada and hoping to be able to continue this. I will definitely be planting lots of Milkweed in that desert Valley. 😊 Thanks for what you do!
It's tough to know for sure. For me in Michigan, I don't go out on the "hunt" for eggs until after the 4th of July. I've spent many hours in the past prior to the first week in July, looking eggs and finding next to none. Usually, during or after the first week of July, I can find a good 10 eggs an hour in the places I know that harbor a good supply of milkweed. Thus, I made it an unofficial rule to go after the 4th, just to make my time on the hunts more efficient. I hope that helps!
i currently have 9 chrysalis. i had forgotten a few things and so in the proccess i lost three but still have a nice success rate. i am so exited to have all these monarchs around. thank you for these videos, they inspired me to do this.
I currently have 32 chrysalises and 46 catapillars so this video really comes in handy. its nice to know what sex they are before they even hatch. very nice video thanks.
thanks I'm trying to do my part lol. just built my new butterfly habitat 15ft by 15ft so i can start breeding them and releasing around 2500 a month or so thats my goal anyways so I don't have to spend 2 -3 hours a day looking for eggs, I can just watch them breed feed them and open the top once a month or so. but thank you for all your great videos your the one that got me started raising monarchs well you and my kids anyway. lol. just glad to be able to do my part hopefully others do the same.
2500 a month. Whoa. That's a huge undertaking. When dealing with numbers that large, I would highly recommend asking for pointers and guidance from any Entomology department of nearby Universities. It's awesome that you're looking to help out that much! But, with OE Bacteria and NPV, that stuff can spread like crazy when such numbers are kept together. Look into it. I'm doing the same and will (hopefully) have a video on how to test for OE in the near future. Great job though, for sure!
I started raising monarchs 4 summers ago on kind of a whim. I happened to see a monarch flitting around some milkweed in my yard and decided to check for eggs after she left, and sure enough -- I found 5 eggs. I raised them successfully to adults and the following summer, I began looking for eggs more earnestly and raised around 25 with only 1 loss. Last summer I raised over 100 with only 4 losses and this year I've raised around 20 so far to adult, and I'm on par to do around the same as last year. I just wanted to thank you so much for your videos. I have used your techniques and advice and I'm certain that the success I have had is in large part to all the knowledge you have shared in your videos. I do have a question about the proboscis and problems that may occur. Last summer I had one with split proboscis and although I knew I should euthanize, I was just not able to do it so I decided to release him. As he was perched on my finger getting ready to fly, I decided to see if there might be SOME way to help, so I took a needle and sort of unfurled it. To my amazement, when it re-coiled it finished fusing and he was able to fly away and eat successfully. My question is: do you know if the proboscis is fused but doesn't quite coil up correctly to be all tucked in, but kind of hangs out to the side in a kind of messy coil, does this mean its feeding will not work? Sorry the comment is so long! Keep up the great work!! ~Heather
Greetings Heather! First off, apologize not for long comments. I read them all, and a longer one only displays your passion. Second, thank you for the kind words about the info in the videos. I'm no expert, and will continue to remind people that, but from an amateur standpoint, I wanted to get out the information that I had been able to learn. As far as the proboscis, if it has fused together, in theory, it should still function, even if it doesn't roll up the "correct" way. As long as it has fused together, suction can occur. Even a bent straw (bent incorrectly) can suck, provided there's no holes that would defeat the difference in pressure the internal sac (inside the head) tries to establish to cause the suction. Thus, I would think that your Monarch was able to lead a normal life. No evidence for that one, but the suggestion is there based upon what you witnessed!
Greetings quirt70! Here's a 2020 update: I'm busier than any Raising Monarchs season...ever! Ha! More seriously... There are new videos that have been put out this year. Four so far. So I'm not sure if that's what you mean by an update. If you are referring to a Population Status video for 2020... I have plans for that to still happen, but obviously it's much later than previous years as far as if I put it out. As there's supposed to be a decision in Dec 2020 as to the Monarch's ESA potential listing, I thought I might make this year's Pop Status video near the end of summer, when I might have a bit less craziness going on. Covid has definitely impacted this teacher's schedule. I hope that helps!
Another thing that should be stressed also, Mr. Lund, is to plant NECTAR plants that the adult monarchs need and love. Keeping the adults fed is VERY important as well. For instance, monarchs LOVE zinnias. Also, in the laste Summer/early Fall, they nectar off of New England Asters and that plant blooms just in time for the GREAT Fall migration. So maybe you can do a video on that as well. Thanks! John U.
I agree. Thing is, I'm not much of a gardener. Calling me an amateur would be generous. So, I'd feel a bit pretentious making a video like that. I can see many comments falling into two categories: 1) Gardeners who have more knowledge than I do about gardening asking me questions I very much don't have any expertise with, and 2) People turning to me for advice when really, they should ask someone who has much more knowledge than I do. See what I mean? Still, it is good advice, and I'll be sure to mention it in some upcoming videos as to some good choices to plant, and leave it at that.
Yes, that sounds fair. Maybe do a google search on what adult monarchs nectar on or suggest people to do the googling. I know in my group on FB, I have a "Files" section that they can access if they have questions but many a time, all they need to do is to google the topic. But yes, maybe mention briefly some plants that monarchs like or mention that nectar plants are important for the adult monarchs and have them google for more info. I'm sure monarchwtch.org may have iunfo also. :-) Thanks for the response Mr. Lund! :-)
@@MrLundScience zinnia's are so easy to grow. I've planted zinnia seeds on the side of my walkway with potting soil as I didn't have a lot of dirt on the sides of my paved walkway and just being covered with alittle soil, they grew beautifully.
Hi Rich, I love love love love ALL your videos and are so knowledgeable. I have started raising them this year and I am so excited so stoked and was like a little kid the first time I seen the caterpillars on my swamp milkweed watching them grow and grow and grow and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat till they turned into their chrysalises. And yesterday I had my first butterfly hatch and it was female I noticed the difference of what you explained on how to tell the sexes on the Chrysalis is but I didn't know what that meant at all until I watch this video just now. So I'm not quite sure exactly how long to wait to release them after they hatch the one from yesterday is still in it's Nursery(spare bedroom) , and then I had two more hatch within seconds apart. And has been the most exhilarating feeling I have ever experienced. I had moved a bunch of my chrysalises so our psycho wasps didn't continue eating them, I moved all 78 with perfection but the 79th one I broke the stem. I did not or it did not lose anything I let it kind of seal itself and then I used a piece of cotton and rolled it up and used a tiny bit of glue on the top of the chrysalis so I was able to hang it. And it has completely done its thing change colors and today it is very clear and you can see the monarch butterfly perfectly. I'm excited to see it hatch or when it hatches to see if it's got any damage or any issues. And I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Thank you again for your amazing knowledgeable explanational videos, they have all been perfect to help me and it seems like many others have been successful because of you🐛🦋💖
Greetings LilBit! Welcome aboard. Plenty here, so I'll try to keep it organized. If a stem breaks, I made this video on repair (though it sounds like you did fine): ua-cam.com/video/mKFq5lYgT5Q/v-deo.html However, the chrysalis does not need to hang in order to develop properly, and Monarchs can even emerge from a chrysalis that is on its side. I show that here: ua-cam.com/video/kxCzr89Ck3E/v-deo.html When it comes to releasing, unless there is some severe weather on the horizon, release should probably happen that day. Once the wings are dry and the Monarch is fluttering about, it's indicating that it's ready to get busy. And busy they are. They need to find food, find mates, etc. We don't want to delay what short time they have. Very cool to hear how exhilarating an experience it has been. Fair warning: it's addictive!
I already have 5 milkweed plants, in a week or so we’re going to get some more! We’re all trying our best to help the butterflies YAY TO 🦋🐛🌱🌿 BOO TO 🦉🐜🐞🐝🕷🦎🐿 because they eat them.
I'm new at this and would like to know absolutely everything from about the caterpillar stage. I've got a couple of maybe 1/2 inch long caterpillars but they don't seem to be eating. Do you have a video explaining in detail about this?
Originally, Raising Monarchs was meant to be a 5 part series. After making those five videos, I realized due to questions people had that there were still questions that could be answered and discussed which, in some cases, deserved their own video. So, in a way, the Parts 1-5 have become like the "core" series where all basics are covered, and then anything after that are extensions for those who want to go further into it. The playlist that contains all of the videos begins with Parts 1 - 5, and is here: ua-cam.com/video/_I5F4AHyQHs/v-deo.html You're probably most interested in Part 3, "Caring For Caterpillars". Still, if you are new to it, I recommending going through all of Parts 1 - 5, as there's some good info in there that you might benefit from no matter what stage your caterpillars are at. Welcome aboard, and good luck!
+MrLundScience Thank you for your reply. I live in the country in central Illinois so next year I plan on having a BAZILLION Milkweed plants. Between those and my Tithonias this place will be a Monarch wonderland. Wish I could sit down with you and pick your brain. Thanks again my friend.
They may be molting. During this time, they remain still for 24 hours or more: Molting: During each instar the caterpillar will need to molt so that it has room to grow. They lay down a bed of silk and attach themselves to it. Moving them may kill them during this process because they need that attachment to be able to crawl out of their old skin. This process can last 24 hours or more. They will even change color during this process and look lighter. Don't worry, they will regain their normal color after their skin has dried. Molting caterpillars can be found off the food or they will stay on the food. Some will roam to the sides and top of the containers. Or even under the paper towel if you are using paper towel always check when changing it to make sure there are no caterpillars under it. Caterpillars will molt every 2-3 days. You may not see this because during this process they eat their old skin for protein. Make it a practice not to pick up small caterpillars. And, check for attachment on larger caterpillars. I usually just cut the food they are on and move them or cut the paper towel and move them back to a clean container or container of food. Monarch Watch life cycle: monarchwatch.org/biology/cycle1.htm
@@Meadow231 I found out that here in Florida they also won't move (guess they are sleeping/digesting/resting from a big ongoing meal of milkweed leaves. It seems the cats are eating, sleeping, pooping machines. lol Yesterday I was able to witness part of the process of the cat shedding it's skin. I didn't know I had another caterpillar in my home made cage. I had left the stalk of milkweed that the big cats hadn't eaten by the time they made their chrysalis... (6 in this cage). I noticed a couple days later that I didn't see the leaves of the stalk so I figure it'd been removed by my husband or me and I'd forgotten. I had a release 2 days (1 of the 6) and luckily I didn't change anything in the cage. Yesterday I saw a caterpillar sleeping on the wire part of the cage. I went out and brought in a freshly washed stalk of milkweed (I use flower vials to help keep the leaves fresh) and place it near the caterpillar. I checked several times, tried to tickle him with a leaf, he didn't like that so I left him alone. Later I noticed him coming out of his skin! so cool. Later that day (towards evening he was on the plant eating. :) Take care
Thank you for all your Monarch Vids. I have them here in my front yard and put more milk weed out for them last year. Most of the chrysalis that I see don't turn into butterflies. Its very sad and disappointing. : (( I'm going to start stepping in and helping them get to butterflies soon. Will watch all your vids first and become a little more knowledgeable before I take eggs off the plants. Or maybe I'll start when they have already hatched and go from there. If its due to the fly I don't know at what age they r susceptible. Is it at stage one. Will that be too late to step in and help? I'll keep watching! I live in South Florida so not sure what our "season" is for us since it's always summer here. Thank you so much for all your vids and info that is understandable for all ages! I hope more schools adopt this info and do their own planting and watching the little cats grow and more... : )
Yesterday, Sept 28th, here in WNY one of the last of my monarchs hatched, it was a cool night, it's still our there today in the rain still practicing getting control of its wings I guess, but anyway, is this late for them to be hatching for migration or will it make it ok? I had a lot of monarch caterpillars this year along with my milkweed & a lot of chyralisis, a lot of them I didn't even find till they hatched & then I saw the empty chyralisis. Hope to have more next year as I'm gonna plant much more milkweed. Thanks for the video.
Whether it's "too late" really depends on the weather rather than the date. If they are emerging at this time, or even later, the instinct will be there for them to start migrating. The only part of this that could make it "too late" would be if frosts are occurring, and heavy enough to harm the Monarchs. If that's not happening, the Monarch should be able to start the migration. The other difficulty, though, is that as we get later and later into the fall, there is less and less food along the migratory paths. Since they eat nectar from flowering plants, and everyday there's less and less out there, the food is drying up. That's why, once we hit September, this year I fed all of my September Monarchs before release. It's optional, but it definitely helps, like a "head start" program. Here's the video I made on how to do it: ua-cam.com/video/CAks8lJ9SDY/v-deo.html
Today is 9/10/17 my Monarch went into a butterfly 9/09/17 how long does it take before they eat sugar water I want to release in a total of 3 days I plan on releasing him at a flower nursery seeing most of my flowers have gone by except a Butterfly bush , I tried Gatorade , Watermelon , now sugar water , his Proboscis acts as if it is stuck , I know he has to eat before I release him , just don't know when he will eat. Thanks for your great videos , I have 2 Butterflies & 2 still in the Chrysalis.
Greetings Joanne! First, under normal circumstances, you do not need to feed them prior to release. When it's 4th generation, which are the ones coming out now, it's a helpful thing to do to get them a head start, but it's not a necessity. That being said, if you haven't, check out my most recent video, specifically on how to feed them. If you feel that the proboscis is stuck, try a tooth pick, as shown in the vid: ua-cam.com/video/CAks8lJ9SDY/v-deo.html Good luck!
I watched your video on feeding did the tooth pick in the Proboscis and they did drink , it has been mid to low 40's at night here in Ct Tues. it will be around 55 at night so plan on a Tues. release on a 82 dgr. day. Thanks for all your help this is my 1st time raising a Monarch from egg to adult I just hope no predators get them before reaching Mexico :-) I fed them the 1-6 ratio honey & water .
Keeping them (protected) for a day is okay to do. However, I wouldn't worry too much about the cold, provided we aren't talking about an anomalous cold snap that hits the freezing point. They survive cold bouts, thunderstorms, and things of that sort in nature often. But again, it's not a big deal to have them stay the night. It's akin to them coming out the day of a rain storm. Not much flight or nectar finding happens on such a day, and they find a place, in trees usually, to wait it out.
If the most accurate survival rate is 3%, and your survival rate is 80%, and you started with 90 eggs, then aren’t your 90 eggs really worth 2,400 eggs in the wild?
I double checked it, and yes, your math is sound. If I take in 90 eggs, and 80% survive, then that's 72 that make it to adulthood. It would take, assuming a 3% survival rate, 2,400 eggs in the wild to produce 72 adults. I favorited this comment, as it involved math, and anyone willing to pop out some math like that, I'm a fan of. Mathematics is power. I wish more people believed that, and didn't fear it.
MrLundScience It is a property of increased urbanization and reduction of “man vs nature” concerns and increase of “man vs man” concerns. Things become more centered in the relativistic and opinion. Numbers and measurement are objective. Whether someone thinks that 72 is “significant” or monarchs are “valuable” or not, the number 72 is still 72, and that is unarguable.
I fully agree. I'll be going into it a bit in the next video with the recent study that came out saying that Monarchs reared indoors have less of a chance of migrating. If we look at a worst case situation where they only randomly fly south, that'd be a rough 25% of them. If you take in 100 eggs, and we're generous and say that 10% would have made it in nature, that's 10 Monarchs migrating (during that later end of the season). If you raise those 100 eggs, and 80% make it (and usually, I'm above 80%), then 80 adults emerged. If only 25% of them migrate, that's still 20 migratory Monarchs vs. 10 if left in nature. I don't see where there's much room for people to debate that portion of the benefit rearing has. But, more details and discussion of them will be in the next vid.
MrLundScience Probably similar to Global Warming debates. Most, if not all, know that there is scientific evidence on Global Warming, however, is it significant enough to even call it a thing? That’s the mindset of most people: the “significance” is really just how much the individual cares about it.
I got one baby milkweed plant last year and then had a friend give me an adult milkweed taller than me it was 5'3 my guess. and it gave me MANY baby milkweed plants this year. But I did have a very big bug infestation so so many leaves got discarded but I have 4 Chrysalises now and I found two more caterpillars but not too sure if I can find them again. Now that I know I can take them in. I was worried if I did. And I did not have enough milkweed they would die. So I left them. But now that all my monarchs are in Chrysalis's I know I can take them in.
I realize this video is from 2016, sorry if somewhere along the line I missed your follow up on why the female chrysalides have that line. Apparently in the fifth and last instar, the male monarch cats have visible sex organs that are the predecessors to those little black dots near the chrysalis "stem" (www.monarchwatch.org/biology/sexing.htm). Maybe the structures just lend themselves to that final appearance (tiny dot versus tiny line)? I wasn't able to locate any pictures of the glands with a quick google. I don't have any monarch cats in that stage currently or a great setup for trying to get photos or video when my current babies (my first round flew away last week and my current round are still in their eggs) get to that stage, so I was hoping you would attempt to get some clear images this summer :)
Certainly possible. I was at a casino the other day, and at the roulette wheel, they had a screen showing the recent numbers. The previous 12 numbers were all red. In random systems, streaks happen. That's, in fact, part of being random. The law of averages definitely applies to roulette, and ignoring the green zero, 50% of the time, the number will be red, 50% of the time, black. But, it can take thousands of numbers in a row before the percentages start to look 50/50 like that. Flipping coins can be another prime example. It might sound boring (I don't think so...but hey...I'm a huge fan of statistics and patterns in math) but if you sit there and flip a coin 100 times and keep track of your results, you'll see how very common streaks can actually happen in the data. While I don't know if you'd see 8 heads in a row with only 100 flips, I bet 6 in a row of either heads or tails would happen somewhere in your data set. 8 in a row isn't impossible and could happen. I recently had a day where 8 Monarchs came out, and of the 8, 7 were female and only 1 was male. Yep...it happens.
Not sure but I'm willing to guess that line on the chrysalis is most liely where her reproductive organ is located. Just a guess but it soulds logical to me. Oh, Merry Christmas and a HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and yours also Mr. Lund. ;-)
i don't think butterflies have same way of reproducing as humans. ok maybe they have but i believe that their reproductive organs look a bit different.
There are many large butterflies. In Michigan alone, there are too many to name all here, but there are Tiger Swallowtails, Eastern Black Swallowtails, Giant Swallowtails, Pipevines, Red-Spotted Purples, Viceroys, the list goes on. If you're interested, I would recommend picking up a butterfly field guide at your local book supplier (and if they don't have one, there's many high quality used ones online for low cost). However, as there's readily available information out there on other species of butterflies, and I focus solely on the Monarch, I won't be making videos on other butterflies anytime soon. Sorry, and I hope you understand. There's a long list of topics the Monarch enthusiasts have asked to be made, and time making one on other butterflies would be time away from completing that list. In addition, I'd only feel comfortable making a video on something I know enough about, and for many of the other species of butterflies, I don't know them enough yet. Maybe it could happen someday, but for now, as the series is called "Raising Monarchs", I'm going to stick with just that - info pertinent to how to raise Monarchs.
Hey, if you've got a camera, why not choose a species and make a video about it? That's how I started all of this. I knew very little about Monarchs until I started wanting to help them. From helping, I learned, and once I knew enough, I wanted to share the knowledge.
LOL, I lack patience :) But I thirst for knowledge. Whatever I learn from obervation or from others I put to use for good. I do, however, take pictures of any critter guests who grace my garden.
Thanks for the info, but I honestly thought you needed to get to the point as the title of the video says. All the other information should be in a separate video with an appropriate title. Sorry
You might notice, in a way, that's what I did this year. I put this video out last year, and it was the first one of the season. So, some have asked that I discuss the numbers each time they come in, and at the time, I didn't think to put just "population status" as a separate video. This season, there is a 2017 population status video as a stand alone. What I have come to find, though, through reading all the comments...I'm not going to please everyone all of the time. Some wish that I make short, bite sized videos. When I have, that leads to many many questions I knew would be coming in the comments section for me to try and answer. So, I try to trouble-shoot and make a longer video that discusses some of the likely questions, and some will say the video is too long. It's pretty tough to balance the two, and I've learned that even when I try to put a whole lot of thought and consideration into it, some will still complain. Even so, you aren't incorrect, and I'll do my best to take that advice moving forward. I apologize to any in advance, though, as there likely will be some video in the future that I will make that some won't like for some reason (and others will like for that same exact reason). In the end, they are what they are. Thank you so much, though, for your efforts in raising the Monarchs!
I've raised 100's of monarchs as a kid it was a summer hobby every year. then I grew up and have only done it once as an adult. I hear In some places it's illegal to take them out of the wild so check the laws in your area.
I find this comment rude. If you don't like the video you don't have to watch it. I enjoy watching Rich's informative videos and passion for helping save the Monarch population. If you feel the need to watch only certain parts of it maybe you can put up timestamps for others like you, but there really is no need to be rude. I think Rich's videos are wonderful as do many others. Keep up the great work Rich 😉😁
Your channel has guided me through my 1st monarch rearing, 1000%. They came upon me on a volunteer milkweed in my yard, and thanks to you it is going well. You are awesome!
7:50 He shows you how to tell the sex of your chrysalis at 7:50 in case anyone wanted to get right to it like I did. (I listened to the rest of the vid later haha)
Great video with lots of cool info though! Thank you!
I found a scientific site that supports his discovery and explains more www.monarchwatch.org/biology/sexing.htm I've helped raise about 15 here in Florida. I have a small patch of milkweed. I garden organically.
Hi Rich! I wanted to tell you I watched the tail end of our caterpillar turning into a crysalsis this morning. So excited to see it turn into a butterfly. Thank you for your response on the last video I commented on. So excited to start this journey to help the Monarch butterflies in Vermont. Have a great day! Thanks again for your advice and informative videos.
Pretty cool to watch that happen, right? Glad that this is providing you with such cool experiences! My guess is, you'll be back at this next season too.
Glad to see your video of what to do when a chrysalis falls.......taking my 'babies' to the UP on a 9 mile logging road and hoping none of the 40-50 will fall . Incidentally, after giving monarch programs here in Wisconsin, for one of my sources, I tell people to watch your series-- they are great and so informative...........
First time I was traveling with chrysalides, I was worried sick that they'd definitely fall, probably one at each stop light. Nope. Never happened. Save for reckless driving, they hang on pretty well. (Why is it called "reckless" driving, when "without a wreck" would be a pretty good thing. Huh...)
Glad to report that on the way into and and out of Cable Lake ( north of Amasa) that I only lost one which looked dark to begin with. Glad they are so well- attached that they don't 'wreck'....:)
Good stuff!
Thanks for making these informative videos!
My guess is that extra line on the female chrysalis is some sort of fashion accessory.
Thanks for checking them out!
Thanks to this video, I got my magnifying glass out and was able to clearly see the difference between a male and female chrysalis. I love your videos. I released over 150 Monarchs this season so far. I am relocating from Florida to Nevada and hoping to be able to continue this. I will definitely be planting lots of Milkweed in that desert Valley. 😊 Thanks for what you do!
Sweet! You already field tested it within 1.5 hours of the video being posted! Glad it could help, and good luck in Nevada!
+MrLundScience Thanks so much! Keep the videos coming. Big fan :)
+MrLundScience do u know when the monarch butterflies arrive in Illinois
It's tough to know for sure. For me in Michigan, I don't go out on the "hunt" for eggs until after the 4th of July. I've spent many hours in the past prior to the first week in July, looking eggs and finding next to none. Usually, during or after the first week of July, I can find a good 10 eggs an hour in the places I know that harbor a good supply of milkweed. Thus, I made it an unofficial rule to go after the 4th, just to make my time on the hunts more efficient.
I hope that helps!
i currently have 9 chrysalis. i had forgotten a few things and so in the proccess i lost three but still have a nice success rate. i am so exited to have all these monarchs around. thank you for these videos, they inspired me to do this.
the caterpillars, not chrysalis
Thank you definitely for checking them out! Good luck!
I currently have 32 chrysalises and 46 catapillars so this video really comes in handy. its nice to know what sex they are before they even hatch. very nice video thanks.
Wow. 78 in total! That's awesome!
thanks I'm trying to do my part lol. just built my new butterfly habitat 15ft by 15ft so i can start breeding them and releasing around 2500 a month or so thats my goal anyways so I don't have to spend 2 -3 hours a day looking for eggs, I can just watch them breed feed them and open the top once a month or so. but thank you for all your great videos your the one that got me started raising monarchs well you and my kids anyway. lol. just glad to be able to do my part hopefully others do the same.
2500 a month. Whoa. That's a huge undertaking.
When dealing with numbers that large, I would highly recommend asking for pointers and guidance from any Entomology department of nearby Universities. It's awesome that you're looking to help out that much! But, with OE Bacteria and NPV, that stuff can spread like crazy when such numbers are kept together. Look into it. I'm doing the same and will (hopefully) have a video on how to test for OE in the near future.
Great job though, for sure!
slader 1126 15x15 isn't big enough for 2500. It's big enough for about 90 per year if you're milkweed is huge.
This is so amazing! Great job! I hope you are able to reach your goal or close to it. Bless you.
@@iowabutterflygarden8390 i raised 46 monarchs last year in a 12 inch by 18 inch tank and a 15 foot by 15 foot is plenty for 2500
I started raising monarchs 4 summers ago on kind of a whim. I happened to see a monarch flitting around some milkweed in my yard and decided to check for eggs after she left, and sure enough -- I found 5 eggs. I raised them successfully to adults and the following summer, I began looking for eggs more earnestly and raised around 25 with only 1 loss. Last summer I raised over 100 with only 4 losses and this year I've raised around 20 so far to adult, and I'm on par to do around the same as last year. I just wanted to thank you so much for your videos. I have used your techniques and advice and I'm certain that the success I have had is in large part to all the knowledge you have shared in your videos. I do have a question about the proboscis and problems that may occur. Last summer I had one with split proboscis and although I knew I should euthanize, I was just not able to do it so I decided to release him. As he was perched on my finger getting ready to fly, I decided to see if there might be SOME way to help, so I took a needle and sort of unfurled it. To my amazement, when it re-coiled it finished fusing and he was able to fly away and eat successfully. My question is: do you know if the proboscis is fused but doesn't quite coil up correctly to be all tucked in, but kind of hangs out to the side in a kind of messy coil, does this mean its feeding will not work? Sorry the comment is so long! Keep up the great work!! ~Heather
Greetings Heather!
First off, apologize not for long comments. I read them all, and a longer one only displays your passion.
Second, thank you for the kind words about the info in the videos. I'm no expert, and will continue to remind people that, but from an amateur standpoint, I wanted to get out the information that I had been able to learn.
As far as the proboscis, if it has fused together, in theory, it should still function, even if it doesn't roll up the "correct" way. As long as it has fused together, suction can occur. Even a bent straw (bent incorrectly) can suck, provided there's no holes that would defeat the difference in pressure the internal sac (inside the head) tries to establish to cause the suction. Thus, I would think that your Monarch was able to lead a normal life. No evidence for that one, but the suggestion is there based upon what you witnessed!
Tell me about tachinid fly infection. I know that cats are easily infected. Can monarch eggs be infected as well? Unable to find literature on this.
Hey Mr Lund. Thank you for the great videos. I'm inspired. Can you give an update for 2020?
Greetings quirt70! Here's a 2020 update: I'm busier than any Raising Monarchs season...ever! Ha! More seriously... There are new videos that have been put out this year. Four so far. So I'm not sure if that's what you mean by an update. If you are referring to a Population Status video for 2020... I have plans for that to still happen, but obviously it's much later than previous years as far as if I put it out. As there's supposed to be a decision in Dec 2020 as to the Monarch's ESA potential listing, I thought I might make this year's Pop Status video near the end of summer, when I might have a bit less craziness going on. Covid has definitely impacted this teacher's schedule. I hope that helps!
@@MrLundScience Yes thank you, so we'll see in Dec. Great work btw, these videos are shared often in my local monarch group.
WTH! You don't miss anything. Love it.
Another thing that should be stressed also, Mr. Lund, is to plant NECTAR plants that the adult monarchs need and love. Keeping the adults fed is VERY important as well. For instance, monarchs LOVE zinnias. Also, in the laste Summer/early Fall, they nectar off of New England Asters and that plant blooms just in time for the GREAT Fall migration. So maybe you can do a video on that as well. Thanks! John U.
I agree. Thing is, I'm not much of a gardener. Calling me an amateur would be generous. So, I'd feel a bit pretentious making a video like that. I can see many comments falling into two categories: 1) Gardeners who have more knowledge than I do about gardening asking me questions I very much don't have any expertise with, and 2) People turning to me for advice when really, they should ask someone who has much more knowledge than I do. See what I mean?
Still, it is good advice, and I'll be sure to mention it in some upcoming videos as to some good choices to plant, and leave it at that.
Yes, that sounds fair. Maybe do a google search on what adult monarchs nectar on or suggest people to do the googling. I know in my group on FB, I have a "Files" section that they can access if they have questions but many a time, all they need to do is to google the topic. But yes, maybe mention briefly some plants that monarchs like or mention that nectar plants are important for the adult monarchs and have them google for more info. I'm sure monarchwtch.org may have iunfo also. :-) Thanks for the response Mr. Lund! :-)
I have a ton of zinnia's for our little guy when he finally comes out of his crysalsis, can't wait and praying I get a happy, healthy butterfly.
@@MrLundScience zinnia's are so easy to grow. I've planted zinnia seeds on the side of my walkway with potting soil as I didn't have a lot of dirt on the sides of my paved walkway and just being covered with alittle soil, they grew beautifully.
Hi Rich, I love love love love ALL your videos and are so knowledgeable. I have started raising them this year and I am so excited so stoked and was like a little kid the first time I seen the caterpillars on my swamp milkweed watching them grow and grow and grow and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat till they turned into their chrysalises. And yesterday I had my first butterfly hatch and it was female I noticed the difference of what you explained on how to tell the sexes on the Chrysalis is but I didn't know what that meant at all until I watch this video just now. So I'm not quite sure exactly how long to wait to release them after they hatch the one from yesterday is still in it's Nursery(spare bedroom) , and then I had two more hatch within seconds apart. And has been the most exhilarating feeling I have ever experienced. I had moved a bunch of my chrysalises so our psycho wasps didn't continue eating them, I moved all 78 with perfection but the 79th one I broke the stem. I did not or it did not lose anything I let it kind of seal itself and then I used a piece of cotton and rolled it up and used a tiny bit of glue on the top of the chrysalis so I was able to hang it. And it has completely done its thing change colors and today it is very clear and you can see the monarch butterfly perfectly. I'm excited to see it hatch or when it hatches to see if it's got any damage or any issues. And I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Thank you again for your amazing knowledgeable explanational videos, they have all been perfect to help me and it seems like many others have been successful because of you🐛🦋💖
Greetings LilBit! Welcome aboard. Plenty here, so I'll try to keep it organized.
If a stem breaks, I made this video on repair (though it sounds like you did fine): ua-cam.com/video/mKFq5lYgT5Q/v-deo.html
However, the chrysalis does not need to hang in order to develop properly, and Monarchs can even emerge from a chrysalis that is on its side. I show that here: ua-cam.com/video/kxCzr89Ck3E/v-deo.html
When it comes to releasing, unless there is some severe weather on the horizon, release should probably happen that day. Once the wings are dry and the Monarch is fluttering about, it's indicating that it's ready to get busy. And busy they are. They need to find food, find mates, etc. We don't want to delay what short time they have.
Very cool to hear how exhilarating an experience it has been. Fair warning: it's addictive!
I love your detail and great insights
Thanks for the info. Look for the notch!
No problem! Now you'll be able to tell the boys from the girls a bit earlier!
I already have 5 milkweed plants, in a week or so we’re going to get some more! We’re all trying our best to help the butterflies YAY TO 🦋🐛🌱🌿 BOO TO 🦉🐜🐞🐝🕷🦎🐿 because they eat them.
#creativeforlife you’ll need TONS! HUNDREDS!
I'm new at this and would like to know absolutely everything from about the caterpillar stage. I've got a couple of maybe 1/2 inch long caterpillars but they don't seem to be eating. Do you have a video explaining in detail about this?
Originally, Raising Monarchs was meant to be a 5 part series. After making those five videos, I realized due to questions people had that there were still questions that could be answered and discussed which, in some cases, deserved their own video. So, in a way, the Parts 1-5 have become like the "core" series where all basics are covered, and then anything after that are extensions for those who want to go further into it.
The playlist that contains all of the videos begins with Parts 1 - 5, and is here: ua-cam.com/video/_I5F4AHyQHs/v-deo.html
You're probably most interested in Part 3, "Caring For Caterpillars". Still, if you are new to it, I recommending going through all of Parts 1 - 5, as there's some good info in there that you might benefit from no matter what stage your caterpillars are at.
Welcome aboard, and good luck!
+MrLundScience Thank you for your reply. I live in the country in central Illinois so next year I plan on having a BAZILLION Milkweed plants. Between those and my Tithonias this place will be a Monarch wonderland. Wish I could sit down with you and pick your brain. Thanks again my friend.
You are certainly welcome to pick away at brain tissue here in the comments. I'll answer whatever I can.
They may be molting. During this time, they remain still for 24 hours or more: Molting: During each instar the caterpillar will need to molt so that it has room to grow. They lay down a bed of silk and attach themselves to it. Moving them may kill them during this process because they need that attachment to be able to crawl out of their old skin. This process can last 24 hours or more. They will even change color during this process and look lighter. Don't worry, they will regain their normal color after their skin has dried. Molting caterpillars can be found off the food or they will stay on the food. Some will roam to the sides and top of the containers. Or even under the paper towel if you are using paper towel always check when changing it to make sure there are no caterpillars under it. Caterpillars will molt every 2-3 days. You may not see this because during this process they eat their old skin for protein. Make it a practice not to pick up small caterpillars. And, check for attachment on larger caterpillars. I usually just cut the food they are on and move them or cut the paper towel and move them back to a clean container or container of food. Monarch Watch life cycle: monarchwatch.org/biology/cycle1.htm
@@Meadow231 I found out that here in Florida they also won't move (guess they are sleeping/digesting/resting from a big ongoing meal of milkweed leaves. It seems the cats are eating, sleeping, pooping machines. lol Yesterday I was able to witness part of the process of the cat shedding it's skin. I didn't know I had another caterpillar in my home made cage. I had left the stalk of milkweed that the big cats hadn't eaten by the time they made their chrysalis... (6 in this cage). I noticed a couple days later that I didn't see the leaves of the stalk so I figure it'd been removed by my husband or me and I'd forgotten. I had a release 2 days (1 of the 6) and luckily I didn't change anything in the cage. Yesterday I saw a caterpillar sleeping on the wire part of the cage. I went out and brought in a freshly washed stalk of milkweed (I use flower vials to help keep the leaves fresh) and place it near the caterpillar. I checked several times, tried to tickle him with a leaf, he didn't like that so I left him alone. Later I noticed him coming out of his skin! so cool. Later that day (towards evening he was on the plant eating. :) Take care
Wow . This is interesting . I never thought you could sex them until they were butterflies . Thanks .
Hey, no problem. Glad you found it helpful.
Thank you for all your Monarch Vids. I have them here in my front yard and put more milk weed out for them last year. Most of the chrysalis that I see don't turn into butterflies. Its very sad and disappointing. : (( I'm going to start stepping in and helping them get to butterflies soon. Will watch all your vids first and become a little more knowledgeable before I take eggs off the plants. Or maybe I'll start when they have already hatched and go from there. If its due to the fly I don't know at what age they r susceptible. Is it at stage one. Will that be too late to step in and help? I'll keep watching! I live in South Florida so not sure what our "season" is for us since it's always summer here. Thank you so much for all your vids and info that is understandable for all ages! I hope more schools adopt this info and do their own planting and watching the little cats grow and more... : )
Yesterday, Sept 28th, here in WNY one of the last of my monarchs hatched, it was a cool night, it's still our there today in the rain still practicing getting control of its wings I guess, but anyway, is this late for them to be hatching for migration or will it make it ok? I had a lot of monarch caterpillars this year along with my milkweed & a lot of chyralisis, a lot of them I didn't even find till they hatched & then I saw the empty chyralisis. Hope to have more next year as I'm gonna plant much more milkweed. Thanks for the video.
Whether it's "too late" really depends on the weather rather than the date. If they are emerging at this time, or even later, the instinct will be there for them to start migrating. The only part of this that could make it "too late" would be if frosts are occurring, and heavy enough to harm the Monarchs. If that's not happening, the Monarch should be able to start the migration.
The other difficulty, though, is that as we get later and later into the fall, there is less and less food along the migratory paths. Since they eat nectar from flowering plants, and everyday there's less and less out there, the food is drying up. That's why, once we hit September, this year I fed all of my September Monarchs before release. It's optional, but it definitely helps, like a "head start" program.
Here's the video I made on how to do it: ua-cam.com/video/CAks8lJ9SDY/v-deo.html
Great article thank you!!
Absolutely! Thanks for checking it out!
Today is 9/10/17 my Monarch went into a butterfly 9/09/17 how long does it take before they eat sugar water I want to release in a total of 3 days I plan on releasing him at a flower nursery seeing most of my flowers have gone by except a Butterfly bush , I tried Gatorade , Watermelon , now sugar water , his Proboscis acts as if it is stuck , I know he has to eat before I release him , just don't know when he will eat.
Thanks for your great videos , I have 2 Butterflies & 2 still in the Chrysalis.
Greetings Joanne!
First, under normal circumstances, you do not need to feed them prior to release. When it's 4th generation, which are the ones coming out now, it's a helpful thing to do to get them a head start, but it's not a necessity. That being said, if you haven't, check out my most recent video, specifically on how to feed them. If you feel that the proboscis is stuck, try a tooth pick, as shown in the vid: ua-cam.com/video/CAks8lJ9SDY/v-deo.html
Good luck!
I watched your video on feeding did the tooth pick in the Proboscis and they did drink , it has been mid to low 40's at night here in Ct Tues. it will be around 55 at night so plan on a Tues. release on a 82 dgr. day. Thanks for all your help this is my 1st time raising a Monarch from egg to adult I just hope no predators get them before reaching Mexico :-)
I fed them the 1-6 ratio honey & water .
Yay! Success! Glad it could help!
I just got my very first Monarch! its 2:30 pm and it will get cold tonight, should I wait to release him tomorrow?
Keeping them (protected) for a day is okay to do. However, I wouldn't worry too much about the cold, provided we aren't talking about an anomalous cold snap that hits the freezing point. They survive cold bouts, thunderstorms, and things of that sort in nature often. But again, it's not a big deal to have them stay the night.
It's akin to them coming out the day of a rain storm. Not much flight or nectar finding happens on such a day, and they find a place, in trees usually, to wait it out.
Anyone know if this line is present/absent on other species of butterflies? Specifically the common buckeye?
If the most accurate survival rate is 3%, and your survival rate is 80%, and you started with 90 eggs, then aren’t your 90 eggs really worth 2,400 eggs in the wild?
I double checked it, and yes, your math is sound.
If I take in 90 eggs, and 80% survive, then that's 72 that make it to adulthood.
It would take, assuming a 3% survival rate, 2,400 eggs in the wild to produce 72 adults.
I favorited this comment, as it involved math, and anyone willing to pop out some math like that, I'm a fan of. Mathematics is power. I wish more people believed that, and didn't fear it.
MrLundScience It is a property of increased urbanization and reduction of “man vs nature” concerns and increase of “man vs man” concerns. Things become more centered in the relativistic and opinion. Numbers and measurement are objective. Whether someone thinks that 72 is “significant” or monarchs are “valuable” or not, the number 72 is still 72, and that is unarguable.
I fully agree. I'll be going into it a bit in the next video with the recent study that came out saying that Monarchs reared indoors have less of a chance of migrating. If we look at a worst case situation where they only randomly fly south, that'd be a rough 25% of them. If you take in 100 eggs, and we're generous and say that 10% would have made it in nature, that's 10 Monarchs migrating (during that later end of the season). If you raise those 100 eggs, and 80% make it (and usually, I'm above 80%), then 80 adults emerged. If only 25% of them migrate, that's still 20 migratory Monarchs vs. 10 if left in nature. I don't see where there's much room for people to debate that portion of the benefit rearing has. But, more details and discussion of them will be in the next vid.
MrLundScience Probably similar to Global Warming debates. Most, if not all, know that there is scientific evidence on Global Warming, however, is it significant enough to even call it a thing? That’s the mindset of most people: the “significance” is really just how much the individual cares about it.
I got one baby milkweed plant last year and then had a friend give me an adult milkweed taller than me it was 5'3 my guess. and it gave me MANY baby milkweed plants this year. But I did have a very big bug infestation so so many leaves got discarded but I have 4 Chrysalises now and I found two more caterpillars but not too sure if I can find them again. Now that I know I can take them in. I was worried if I did. And I did not have enough milkweed they would die. So I left them. But now that all my monarchs are in Chrysalis's I know I can take them in.
Here is an article: monarchlab.org/resources-links/blog/monarchs-in-the-buff-male-and-female-morphology
great video :)
Thank you for checking it out. Hopefully it was helpful!
+MrLundScience you're welcome
I realize this video is from 2016, sorry if somewhere along the line I missed your follow up on why the female chrysalides have that line. Apparently in the fifth and last instar, the male monarch cats have visible sex organs that are the predecessors to those little black dots near the chrysalis "stem" (www.monarchwatch.org/biology/sexing.htm). Maybe the structures just lend themselves to that final appearance (tiny dot versus tiny line)? I wasn't able to locate any pictures of the glands with a quick google. I don't have any monarch cats in that stage currently or a great setup for trying to get photos or video when my current babies (my first round flew away last week and my current round are still in their eggs) get to that stage, so I was hoping you would attempt to get some clear images this summer :)
I currently have 8 chrysalides and I dont see the line on any of them. Is it possible they could all be males?
Certainly possible. I was at a casino the other day, and at the roulette wheel, they had a screen showing the recent numbers. The previous 12 numbers were all red. In random systems, streaks happen. That's, in fact, part of being random. The law of averages definitely applies to roulette, and ignoring the green zero, 50% of the time, the number will be red, 50% of the time, black. But, it can take thousands of numbers in a row before the percentages start to look 50/50 like that. Flipping coins can be another prime example. It might sound boring (I don't think so...but hey...I'm a huge fan of statistics and patterns in math) but if you sit there and flip a coin 100 times and keep track of your results, you'll see how very common streaks can actually happen in the data. While I don't know if you'd see 8 heads in a row with only 100 flips, I bet 6 in a row of either heads or tails would happen somewhere in your data set. 8 in a row isn't impossible and could happen.
I recently had a day where 8 Monarchs came out, and of the 8, 7 were female and only 1 was male. Yep...it happens.
Not sure but I'm willing to guess that line on the chrysalis is most liely where her reproductive organ is located. Just a guess but it soulds logical to me. Oh, Merry Christmas and a HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and yours also Mr. Lund. ;-)
That does seem logical.
Happy Holidays!
i don't think butterflies have same way of reproducing as humans. ok maybe they have but i believe that their reproductive organs look a bit different.
i live in croatia where can i get monarch
and a lot more complex
and some butterfly species don't mate at all. the female lays eggs and the male fertilizes them later
I thought all large butterflies were monarch, but just found out that's not true. Can you do a video on different species of large butterflies? :)
There are many large butterflies. In Michigan alone, there are too many to name all here, but there are Tiger Swallowtails, Eastern Black Swallowtails, Giant Swallowtails, Pipevines, Red-Spotted Purples, Viceroys, the list goes on.
If you're interested, I would recommend picking up a butterfly field guide at your local book supplier (and if they don't have one, there's many high quality used ones online for low cost).
However, as there's readily available information out there on other species of butterflies, and I focus solely on the Monarch, I won't be making videos on other butterflies anytime soon. Sorry, and I hope you understand. There's a long list of topics the Monarch enthusiasts have asked to be made, and time making one on other butterflies would be time away from completing that list. In addition, I'd only feel comfortable making a video on something I know enough about, and for many of the other species of butterflies, I don't know them enough yet. Maybe it could happen someday, but for now, as the series is called "Raising Monarchs", I'm going to stick with just that - info pertinent to how to raise Monarchs.
That's cool. You still know more than me, so I'll be watching for new videos from you. Thanks for doing this!
Hey, if you've got a camera, why not choose a species and make a video about it? That's how I started all of this. I knew very little about Monarchs until I started wanting to help them. From helping, I learned, and once I knew enough, I wanted to share the knowledge.
LOL, I lack patience :) But I thirst for knowledge. Whatever I learn from obervation or from others I put to use for good. I do, however, take pictures of any critter guests who grace my garden.
Its June 29 no monarchs (yet)
It's July 21st...I still haven't found any eggs.
Thanks for the info, but I honestly thought you needed to get to the point as the title of the video says. All the other information should be in a separate video with an appropriate title. Sorry
You might notice, in a way, that's what I did this year.
I put this video out last year, and it was the first one of the season. So, some have asked that I discuss the numbers each time they come in, and at the time, I didn't think to put just "population status" as a separate video. This season, there is a 2017 population status video as a stand alone.
What I have come to find, though, through reading all the comments...I'm not going to please everyone all of the time. Some wish that I make short, bite sized videos. When I have, that leads to many many questions I knew would be coming in the comments section for me to try and answer. So, I try to trouble-shoot and make a longer video that discusses some of the likely questions, and some will say the video is too long.
It's pretty tough to balance the two, and I've learned that even when I try to put a whole lot of thought and consideration into it, some will still complain.
Even so, you aren't incorrect, and I'll do my best to take that advice moving forward. I apologize to any in advance, though, as there likely will be some video in the future that I will make that some won't like for some reason (and others will like for that same exact reason). In the end, they are what they are.
Thank you so much, though, for your efforts in raising the Monarchs!
Cool
I've raised 100's of monarchs as a kid it was a summer hobby every year. then I grew up and have only done it once as an adult. I hear In some places it's illegal to take them out of the wild so check the laws in your area.
I found a monarch in my backyard
I will help you with growing their population
Thank you, and welcome aboard!
Interesting video but please don't call it How To Sex The Chrysalis if more than half of it is about population. It's kind of misleading.
Bla bla bla.... just get to it (tittle of ur video) without all the bla bla bla!!! Boringgggg
Duly noted.
I find this comment rude. If you don't like the video you don't have to watch it. I enjoy watching Rich's informative videos and passion for helping save the Monarch population. If you feel the need to watch only certain parts of it maybe you can put up timestamps for others like you, but there really is no need to be rude. I think Rich's videos are wonderful as do many others. Keep up the great work Rich 😉😁