Raising Monarchs - A Decade In... AMA Request
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- Опубліковано 13 вер 2024
- The summer of 2024 marks ten years since the Raising Monarchs series began. To help commemorate a decade of the endeavor, I'm sending out this AMA request! Leave a question in the comments section, and/or like other questions that you'd like to know the answer to. Have fun with it, and thank you for sharing some or all of the last ten years with me, and more importantly, with the milkweed and the Monarchs!
Here's the results!
"A Decade In...AMA Results"
• Raising Monarchs A D...
Start here!
Raising Monarchs Instructional Video Series Parts 1 - 5:
• Raising Monarchs Part ...
Milkweed Instructional Video Series Parts 1 - 4:
• Planting Milkweed Part...
I have different uses for milkweed. Some are for caterpillar food. Some for seeds. This is some food for thought if you're getting into this long term.
"Milkweed Categories" - • Raising Monarchs - Mil...
Quick Tip for getting seedlings started:
"TP Core Sprouts" - • Raising Monarchs - TP ...
Sanitation instruction:
"Sanitation" - • Raising Monarchs - San...
Risks of overcrowding and tips to avoid it:
"Overcrowding" - • Raising Monarchs - Ove...
Outdoor rearing example:
"Outdoor Rearing" - • Raising Monarchs - Out...
Discussion of the outdoor rearing University of Chicago study:
"Captive Rearing And Migration" - • Raising Monarchs - Cap...
Issues that can occur with the chrysalis:
"Chrysalis Issues" - • Raising Monarchs - Chr...
How to bleach treat eggs:
"OE Parasite Prevention" - • Raising Monarchs - OE ...
How to bleach treat leaves:
"Preventing NPV and Other Infections" - • Raising Monarchs - Pre...
How to make a proper honey/water solution and feed adult Monarchs (or any butterfly):
"How To Feed Adults" - • Raising Monarchs - How...
Options for when an adult can not successfully fly:
"When Adults Can't Fly" - • Raising Monarchs - Whe...
What the experts have to say about OE Parasites and when to euthanize:
"Should We Euthanize?" - • Raising Monarchs - Sho...
Discussion on the life cycle of OE Parasites and how they affect the Monarch Butterflies:
"What Are OE Parasites?" - • Raising Monarchs - Wha...
So very happy to see you back at it with our beautiful monarchs! Look forward to the answers on a few of the questions. Take care!
So nice to see you Rich! I recommend your videos to everyone who expresses an interest in Monarchs. A short report - This year I raised three non releasable Monarchs. Ruffles lived 87 days, Wobbles lived 105 days and Wingz made it to 130 days! Wingz was very unique in seeming to have a real personality, always studying me and wanting to engage. I cried a lot when he died, almost like losing a pet - go figure! When we went out of town weekly (by car) I figured out how to transport them as just part of my routine. We even took them to a B&B and the owner was transfixed by my guests, lol. I encouraged him to watch your videos and plant Milkweed throughout their beautiful garden. You are a wonderful advocate for the Monarchs so thank you for your short and educational videos. Put us all together and perhaps we can help them to survive. ❤
Greetings! Thanks for the strong words there. I appreciate them much. I'm sorry to hear of what losses you experienced, but it sounds like they were able to enjoy much of life. Bravo. 🦋🦋🦋❤
Thank you for advocating for milkweed and the Monarchs, for spreading the love of the entomological wonder, and describing my videos as "short"! 😁😃 That remains debatable!
(You stated, "Put us all together..." Was that a literal suggestion? Are you saying, convention? Or was that just a figurative statement? I'm not always good at reading the context such things.🙏)
Is there any other way to protect our caterpillars from predators (wasps, lizards, birds) without having to cage them?
Canada here.(southern Ont.) If it wasn't for you, I would never have known how to help raise Monarchs, so thank you for that. Still waiting for a first sighting. Last year they showed up after the milkweed had bloomed, they still laid eggs but I had to scramble to make sure they had enough food! Always a pleasure to see your videos.
Hi Rich - I began raising swallowtail in 2021 and was new to raising monarchs in 2022- successfully released about 60 with around 5 losses - from 1st and 2nd instars just dying, to one being accidentally eaten by a 5th instar (i now carefully keep them separated). But in 2023, although I had a vastly more abundant yard filled with pollinator plants and lots of milkweed, I had far less cats. The ones I found and brought in had about a 60% failure rate. I was stunned to see such a huge difference from one year to the next. Also, I had a beautiful abundance of insect life in my yard last year. It was an absolute joy to see so many insects I had never seen before in my 27 years in this house. Unfortunately, we have tons of wasps - about 5 different varieties that I recall. We have solitary wasps that I know, take caterpillars and then parasitic wasps as well. I don’t know if the paper wasp or regular wasp are predators? anyways, my question is: is there any way to combat the over abundance of the wasp population in an effort to help reduce caterpillar loss?
For some reason this year is the most yellow jackets I have ever seen. Wondering why!
@@barnowlwatcher Haven’t seen quite as many yellow jackets as the huge black and shimmery blue wasps. Those are all over my spotted bee balm every day
@@Cathy_MidwestHome_Hens Blue wasps? I just looked them up. Pretty wild, they go after spiders!! bugeric.blogspot.com/2022/06/wasp-wednesday-blue-mud-dauber.html
Greetings Cathy!
Due to the realities of editing and video length, I wasn't able to place your question into the AMA Results video, so I wanted to make sure to swing through and answer the questions that still came my way.
Concerning wasps and yellow jackets and the similar assortment of flying insect predators that make meals of the Monarchs, unfortunately in my ten years of doing this, I have not come across anything effective enough worth passing on. (And even the stuff not worth passing on is slim pickings and doesn't really work.)
I certainly don't claim to know everything. That's for sure. But I can say, for 10+ years of doing this, I've never stumbled upon something clever that someone has come up with, nor do I have the chemical engineering lab to put together the Monarch friendly, predator-not insecticide.
Not sure of your whereabouts, but if you are able to take the Monarchs into controlled environments, that really has been the solution that I have found. If they are out in nature, though, they are just as it sounds, at the whims of nature.
I hope that they can calm down for you and your Monarchs this season. Good luck!
Dude I have been raising monarchs for 5 years now and your videos are my Idol
Why did you start raising monarchs, who/what is your inspiration?
Waiting for the first Monarchs to show in central Ohio. The milkweed patch is healthy and blooming
Hey, Rich. I watched your original video series 10 years ago when I was 9 and have been raising monarchs with you ever since. I even wrote my college application essay on my work with and passion for these butterflies and I mentioned your channel. My question is: What do you think about the monarch population numbers as compared to 10 years ago. Do you think the increase in conservation efforts over the last decade has made a difference and are we on the right track to long-term stability of monarch populations?
Thanks for the decade of monarch education! 🎉 16 years of raising monarchs in south jersey for me, started with my 6yr old son. ❤ Where do you see the monarch population in the next 10 years? Better or Worse?
Mosquito spraying - do these chemicals harm monarchs at any or all stages in their lifecycle.
Hello. Your videos have really helped me with raising monarchs. For those outside of the Michigan area, could you talk about different milkweed species in different parts of the United States and Canada? Thank you.
10 years!! Holy cow, Rich. Where has the time gone? We had pretty bad drought in Minnesota the last two years... and we saw very, very few monarchs. This year so far, precip has been high, the drought is over....we have seen some monarch caterpillars in the wild, but moreover, we are seeing many many more types of caterpillars (we would guess for different types of moths and butterflies). Question: Do you recommend using similar methods to raise other species, or should there be caution used as perhaps they are invasive species?
How do you keep the aphids off the milkweed? Thank you
Not sure if this will be helpful but I like to blast it with a hairdryer to blow them off (I catch them in a plastic bag lest they come back). But mostly I find that squishing them with fingers has been the best bet. I read somewhere that if you do that, they don't come back as soon. For what it's worth though, people say aphids do not harm the caterpillars and can even serve as decoy prey for predators. I think the plant would thank you for getting rid of them, though!
Greetings Vicki!
My apologies that your question wasn't in the Results video. I always feel like a poo poo when I have to edit things out, but the video was pretty long. Still, I wanted to give you the respect deserved, and certainly answer your question!
First, if you haven't seen it, really I'm showing my answer to your question in the recent "Cinnamon, Ants, & Aphids" video: ua-cam.com/video/DhhMMbVtSGA/v-deo.html
Essentially, though, it's not that I am able to keep the aphids off (anymore than someone can keep sand off of a beach, it feels), but I am constantly keeping their numbers down by daily thumb squishing (I truly turn over every leaf, and quickly, rub out any I see) and with cinnamon around the base of the milkweed (my second year doing it) as shown in the episode. The cinnamon somewhat keeps the ants away, which act as bodyguards for the aphids. No ants, and the aphids can't get as well of a foothold on the plants.
Also, though, in fairness, I have only nine stalks to concern myself with. If there more, it could be a losing battle, and I might have to just focus on which milkweed stalks to keep up with, and which might have to be aphid food.
I hope this helps! Thank you so much for participating in the AMA. I hope this still counts in your book. Thank you for all that you do for the Monarchs! 🦋😃👍
@MrLundScience Thank You
Rich - Three questions.
1. How do you combat rust on common milkweed?
2. I smash all lantern flies I see, but could their presence hurt developing monarch cats on milkweed?
3. I’ve noticed more bird activity in my milkweed/aster/goldenrod/phlox beds, could this also prove to be a danger for young cats?
Long Island, NY.
And only one monarch sighting this year.
I raise both monarchs and black swallowtails. And it’s looking dismal for both. But on the bright side, if they find my garden, they will find many native plants.
Thank you for the time you’ve given to create your series. ❤
Greetings Anna Marie! My apologies that these questions didn't make it in. Time was of the issue with the length of the episode, but still, I didn't want to leave you hanging! Here's what I got...
1. I don't. But, that's also because I'm not exactly sure what you mean. Like, rust rust? Like iron oxide rust? I don't have rust on my plants. I'm now very curious...do you have rust on your plants? Is this just an autocorrect situation, and "rust" is something else like "ants"? 😃
2. Unless the lantern fly physically collided with the caterpillar enough to accidentally knock it off the plant (and even then, it'll likely find it's way back), then I don't see much of a way that the lantern fly could really disrupt a Monarch. They are easily something that coexists.
3. More bird activity? Yes, definitely. The overwhelming majority of birds don't come equipped with the instinct to not eat Monarchs, but they instead need to learn it by eating (or trying to eat) one at least once. Then, typically, the foul taste is remembered, and not sought after again. Thus, any unschooled avians out there might attempt to snack a caterpillar. (Further, if they learn not to eat caterpillars, they still need to learn separately not to eat the adult butterflies. They see them as different food items completely, and learning about one doesn't transfer to the other.
I hope this helped! Thank you again for participating in the AMA! 🦋✌
I have a chrisalis that is darkening i am excited GR, IN
Southern California here and have only seen a few Monarchs. Last year began late and I expect this year to be the same. Have two cats in an enclosure. Looking for more!
Hey Rich! Thanks for doing an AMA. My question is- is it possible to see OE spores on a chrysalis? I’ve been having a lot of OE positive monarchs and have noticed asymmetrical black spotting on the chrysalis before and after they eclose. It’s been really heartbreaking to end up with so many OE positive butterflies lately. Trying to focus my energy on obtaining more native milkweed and only taking in eggs as I’m able to bleach them. I’d love to hear your thoughts, thanks!
I have only been raising Monarch Butterflies for two years, but this time last year (this is New Zealand, so it is early winter now. Here they breed all year round), there are very few caterpillars compared to last year. I have 100 times as many swamp plants ready in my garden as last year, but less than a tenth of last year's butterflies and eggs. Last year, when the wasps, my natural enemy, are gone for the season, they were breeding to the point where I had no food for them, but I don't have enough experience to judge yet whether last year was an abnormal reproduction or whether this year is abnormally low.
What nectar plants do the Monarchs in your yard love the most?
Lots of Monarchs and caterpillars here in the SF bay area in my yard and my dad's yard. We planted a ton of milkweed and nectar plants a couple years ago. Sadly, it is illegal in California to touch them (let alone raise them). But they seem to be doing well!
If you had to go back and do it all over again, what would you do differently? Would you change, approach, methodology, R&D, other?
I like that hat.
😃Respect.
I've been raising monarchs and swallowtails since 2019. An old freind of mine got me into it as an extension of my gardening. Thank you for being a great resource to provide my housesitters who need information when babysitting both my cats & caterpillars.
My question is how would you help somone who is proud to share their hobby, but clearly isn't taking the care to clean the frass or containers the caterpillars are being housed in?
The AMA Results video is out, and this was an excellent question to ask! I think that others might be helped by this too. Thank you so much for asking it.
Looks to be you are in Michigan as well. Hope your season is working out well!
About to begin my 4th year doing this, thanks to your videos. Follow you on Instagram, too. Some dummy on FB yesterday tried to argue with me that monarch caterpillars also eat dill. Some fights are not worth our time.
I have seen a dog eat a screw once. I didn't walk away with the conclusion that dogs eat screws just because I saw it happen, only the conclusion that that dog could eat that screw. What happened days later, I didn't know. Likely, the dog was okay, but perhaps not, and in the long run, I think better off if the screw had been a healthy dog treat instead.
I hope this analogy lands well. 😉
I had some milkweed come up where they mow so I pick it and froze it but my caterpillars won’t eat it…
Gathered my first generation eggs last week..I believe they lay eggs next, so when does that begin? I have raised last generation here in ohio in late July, August...will be my first time with 1st and second generation..first group looks fantastic so far!!!! I'm in Northern Ohio
Thank you so much for your monarch series videos! They were so helpful to me when I got into monarchs a few years ago. I would recommend to anyone who has that interest to watch all of them before starting as they can really help prepare people for all the issues they may encounter. I have lots of milkweed in my yards in southern CA and have just started seeing monarchs and caterpillars. I’ve taken a more hands-off approach as of last year, although I’ll still keep pop-up tents on my patio to give wandering caterpillars a safe space to j-hang and chrysalize as so many of them die from tachnid flies 😢. Since your previous video about moving to a new home and starting over with milkweed, etc., what are the biggest changes you’re experiencing in your activity? I recall you mentioning in an older video that tachnid flies aren’t so much a threat where you lived. What is the biggest vulnerability for monarchs in your area?
I'm in north Carolina and usually at this time I have already raised like 200 or so ,but now no monarchs 😢what's going on. I have tons of milkweed and no butterflies. I've been rasing monarchs for years.
On average, when do you first begin to see monarchs in the spring where you live? And when would you say is the latest you've released one in the fall? More specifically, what is your typical monarch season? Because I raise them too, I've had friends and family tell me they've spotted monarchs already. However, in the area where I live in Canada, the monarchs and eggs don't start to appear until July and they need to start migrating south at the end of August or beginning of September, so my season is relatively short.
PS - 6/14 and I have zero monarch or swallowtail cats in my yard. Very strange year
Rich - for some reason this year, right now, I have never seen so many yellow jackets. I also have Passion Vine and have the most number of Gulf Fritillaries ever. I am wondering if you advise hanging one of those yellow jacket traps you can buy at the garden center? Or just leave them alone and let Nature decide who lives? You should see them hover up and down and in between the plants stalking their victims. I live in the S.F. Bay Area.
Greetings! This question (and another like it) were both very close to being in the AMA Results video, but unfortunately due to length of the video, and that there was a similar question answered, it didn't make it. Still, I wanted to certainly show you the respect deserved, and I'm certainly happy to field this one. Of my own opinion, I'm usually quite the "live and let live" guy with nature. Not so much with aphids, but that's another story. With wasps, I certainly keep in mind, they too are pollinators. So, with wasp traps, that could be counterproductive to what many wish to do in their yards. You can likely understand my responsibility in this too, and a Raising Monarchs video that shows how to kill a bunch of pollinators likely isn't coming out soon. 😉
That said, if it's a true overabundance, I don't see a real issue with someone choosing to do it. I slaughtered many wasps that were trying to take residence in my shed last week. If it helps your Monarchs, I suppose you could try it.
What do you do if you have a caterpillar that you know is infected with flies or NPV. What should you do
Milk weed is getting ready to bloom, but monarchs never show up till around September.
N.E. Ohio
wowwww i remember when i started watching about monarchs in 2016-2018 and raising some. You helped me take care of them. I hope you’re doing well!! 🤍
I'm in Southern California. I had some Monarch catepillars in chrysalis during April that I transferred to another room to make space for visitors. The room is close to the smart meter on the back wall of the house. I didn't transfer them back to the kitchen until beginning of May and as they came out, the butterflies had bloated body, too heavy to fly, some with crumpled wings, and a few others appeared normal but could not fly very well. One tried to fly, and it would end up flapping its wings upside-down struggling. I fed them sugar water until they died, which did not take long. Now that my cages are back in the kitchen, they are coming out of chrysalis normal and flying away healthy. Was it due to the exceptionally cool weather as I don't heat the house, or was it the meter? I grow my own milkweed and rinse them off before feeding to the catepillars. All new from seed sprouting up every year. I don't use pesticides or herbicides. I pull weeds by hand. What caused this? Have you had this happen to your monarch butterflies? I noticed similar problems to some of my yellow sulphur butterflies as well. I have never seen this happen before. I've been raising them for almost 10 years.
Greetings. I'm sorry that this happened, but a quick answer to this is, I am not sure at all. (Full honesty, I don't know what a "smart meter" is, but if it measures things, I'm not sure at all how it could affect Monarch butterflies if it just measures temperatures or humidity or something like that. Temperature perhaps could affect development, but I don't think radically like this. It could be an infection, something that still got through the sanitation process, or it could be some other unknown variable yet identified. Without a proper forensics investigation, it's tough to diagnose this one from afar.
As I didn't really have an answer, I still wanted to give what reply I could. Whatever the case, try to continue to rear out of that area and see if the Monarchs stay consistently healthy. That's what I would do if I was confronting the same mystery, I suppose. Good luck!
First
Anyway thank you for your videos
Has there been any progress in developing a cure for OE?
I have learned everything about monarchs from your videos! For the past two years, we have been helping Monarch and swallowtail caterpillars! We have planted several host plant gardens and added milkweed everywhere. I am in South Jersey and I’ve had early activity with Monarch this year. I have had four caterpillars already die from T fly we didn’t see the cats until they were bigger unfortunately. My question is, I am assuming the leaves on the plants they were wandering on are safe, because the flies infect the caterpillar and it’s not until the caterpillar dies and the larva comes out that it is a problem for other Monarchs?
Also is the only way to tell if it has OE besides testing the butterfly, that the chrysalis turns brown or the monarch emerges deformed? I’m assuming there’s no way to tell if a caterpillar had OE?
Once again, thank you for all your help!
Greetings Sarah! I won't be able to get all questions into the video, but for some that I don't fully know the answer to, still wish to help where I can. For the T-fly question, you are correct, the fly injects into the caterpillar it's eggs, then buzzes off. Nothing about the leaf has changed, and if it already was safe, it still is.
For the OE situation, I haven't done it so I can't speak with any real knowledge on it (thus, not something I can really truly answer other than, I don't know), but, next time I can I'll perhaps test it out...I would imagine that with a microscope, one would find spores on the internal side of the then empty chrysalis casing, particularly where the abdomen touches the casing, as that's where the majority of the spores develop. Either casing itself, or a tape test against the casing's internal wall would likely work, but both involve a microscope to be able to see. Handheld ones that do the job are available online for $10 - $15 that can do the job, though more expensive exist. I think mine was $12.
I hope this helps!
@@MrLundScience update since my disappointing start this season with four dying immediately from Tfly, I have since had 112 healthy monarchs released. I look for eggs as you have taught and bleach them, of course we do find a straggler out there. The good news is this is the most monarch activity I have ever had. I encourage everyone plant more milkweed! Thanks again for your help.
How did your OE bleach-treated eggs do when you tested the butterflies for OE before release?
Greetings! My apologies that your question didn't get into the AMA Results video. Length was an issue (many awesome questions) and some were unfortunately left out. Still, I wanted to certainly still try to attempt to answer your question, and also begin by mentioning, one of the reasons it wasn't answered in the video is that I don't have the most quality answer for you. By "quality", I mean data. I haven't taken the data on how many individuals have had it each year. Partially this was a choice I originally made because I would (and still do) take in caterpillars that could have already ingested OE, and thus, pollute my data.
The other reason that I don't have the best data for comparison is that, I don't have anything really to compare it to. I know that OE in Michigan is "low", but what exact percentage of the Monarch population has it, I'm not sure. Does it vary much across the State? I'm not sure there, either.
For example...I *do* know last year, I released 52 adults. Two of the 52 had OE. (I did not euthanize, as 2/52 is quite low (less than 5%) and not an issue to Michigan's environment. But...what can I compare that to? Before I knew about OE, I obviously wasn't testing for it. As soon as I knew, I looked up how to kill it / prevent it, and began bleach treatment of my eggs and leaves. So, I don't really have a year of data, or any time period, where I was testing for OE, but not bleach treating.
Each year, since testing, I've had some OE positives. It's always been a "one at a time" kind of thing, perhaps four to six a year if I'm over 100, which I don't really get close to any longer. Being only "one at a time" and not an outbreak of, say, ten, I've always released. If it were ten at a time or something similar, I'd have to look to my system/methods and find where the weakness is/was. (And it is possible some or all of the OE positive I find comes from the caterpillars I also take in.)
What I can speak on is that since I started bleach treating, I have not had any NPV outbreaks (one of the major reasons I started doing it, too), nor any other type of infection taking out multiple. Certainly, I still might lose one here or there (for Unsolved Mystery reasons) but no mass losses.
So, truly, whether the bleach treating is doing it's job with OE spores, I certainly want to say yes, but fair is fair...there's not much OE in Michigan to know for sure. If I were in Florida where the OE is 60% or higher and I was getting 2/52 only that were OE positive, I'd have high confidence saying that it's definitely doing it's job.
I suppose worthy of note - I haven't had anyone from Florida, California (where OE is also high) or elsewhere contact me to let me know that they've been bleach treating and still turning up OE positive adults, and I imagine knowing the internet, if it wasn't working, they'd let me know.
I hope this helps! Thank you again for participating in the AMA!
🙏🙏🙏😃👍🦋
I thought of another few questions, I hope I'm not too late. Do you still raise all of your monarchs outdoors? After doing it for some time, what issues, if any, have you run into by doing it this way?
I remember seeing an article that said they have even found tagged monarchs down south that had been raised indoors in rooms with little to no natural light. They still somehow found their way. I was curious if you had read the same article? I believe it came out the year following the study that suggested indoor rearing could cause monarchs to not have the same environmental cues.
For my question, there seems to be advances in micro chipping and data collection on monarchs as they migrate, specifically, last year, which led to the discovery of the 60% loss of fall migrants into Mexico by observations this past spring. We were wondering if there's more details now known so far from the university who is heading this new tech and study analysis.. The M3 Michigan I.T. project. Perhaps you could contact them and get the skinny on their goals and progress for the past year, 2023/2024. There is a second device called mSail talked about in April 2024.
Would you speak to the male monarch butterflies being territorial? I’m in south Florida, east coast area, I’m finding that I have to release the newest males & watch them because the patrolling males are attacking them. It has been very disheartening to see this happen. My garden has double the milkweed & half the population this year.
Since watching I have released a little over100.My question about breeding.Are male monarchs breeding like bees or are the able for multiple fertilization?Thanks for all your help.
Greetings Sea Dog!
I'll be answering your question in the AMA results video (upcoming soon) but also wanted to provide this link here that answers a bit about Monarch breeding and things I've discussed prior to it.
ua-cam.com/video/I1olDWhrneo/v-deo.htmlsi=SK6hU89a7kOm_3pw
There can be genetic and ethical concerns with the breeding of Monarchs.
That said, your question may be just out of curiosity, in which case, the quick answer is that male butterflies (of all species that I know of, though there may be exceptions) are capable of multiple fertilizations. I imagine there's a limit.
I have watched the video you suggested. I raised the number over several years. During that period I had many neighbors plant milkweed. On my releases I would have young neighbors release butterflies. This began the “help” me spot eggs. Their young eyes were much better at spotting eggs than my aged eyes. Keep up your work on education.
I would like to know more about the different populations of monarchs (western U.S., eastern U.S., Hawaii, Spain, Australia). Are these the same species? Are they able to mate with one another? Hypothetically, if you could raise a caterpillar from one population and release it in the habitat of another, would the new monarch know where to migrate to it would it be disoriented?
Who is smarter, Beavis or Butthead?
BEST question!! Very good to see you, Rich!
When my neighbor Plants BT corn, I have 100% mortality in anything I try to raise. When my neighbor Plants soybean, I have good success. But research says that BT corn does not affect monarchs. Any thoughts about this would be appreciated because when I see corn in my neighbors field, I don’t bother to try to raise monarch anymore. 😢
Are they spraying a pesticide or herbicide on their plants?
As I don't have a 100% answer here, I won't be putting this one in the AMA video (my answer is officially, I don't know) but still wish to help...
I was able to find that if we look up if BT corn can harm Monarchs, most sources say no, because caterpillars use milkweed, not corn, and leave it at that, case solved. If I ask some online AI the right question, if a nearby crop of BT corn could affect the Monarch caterpillars on a close by milkweed plant, according to the results, there have been some studies that suggest, yes, the BT corn can affect and possibly kill the Monarchs eating the milkweed leaves. The research that exists (that I didn't delve into) suggests that it's the BT corn pollen that gets on milkweed leaves and causes the problem. Thus, some questions to be asked, are you speaking of Monarchs you've taken in, or Monarchs that are on an outdoor plant? Next, and related, where do you source the food for your caterpillars, and how close is it to the BT corn in this situation?
Hey Rich, I'm a newbe this year at raising monarch. I'm here in Southern California. I have 27 Chrysalis and it looks like they will be emerging out today or tomorrow. I have one question. One caterpillar was changing to a chrysalis and I noticed a black spot on it and within a few hours it was all black and dead. Just wondering what would cause that. I felt so bad for that poor guy who worked so hard to turn into a butterfly 🦋.
Greetings Danny.
Welcome aboard! I'm very sorry for the loss that you experienced with this. It's not something I can exactly answer in an AMA video, but I do still wish I to be helpful. If this occurred while changing into a chrysalis, you say you saw a black dot on "it". Was "it" at this time the caterpillar still, or the chrysalis itself? Did the chrysalis fully form? Did the caterpillar skin molt fully off? Is it the chrysalis that turned black and dead, or the caterpillar, or some combination of the two?
I have a chrysalis that has 6 uniform dots on the top of it. Do you know what this means?
Thank you for doing this! I have a couple of questions.
What are some early stages of NPV you’ve noticed if ever? I’ve looked online but none of them properly show me early in stars having any signs.
What type of bleach do you use in your solution to clean plants and eggs? So many online sources are now recommending that plants do not be bleached at all and I am concerned about hurting my caterpillars .
What does your grieving process look like? I’ve had some loses due to pesticides and it devastated me. How do you continue to do what you do even when you lose a couple, or many? What encourages you to keep moving forward, to keep trying again and again?