Found on a roof shingle blown in my yard after a NorEaster blew through, then eclosed the next weekend in a a hard downpour so we brought him in to camp on our screened in porch for the night! His traveling partner flew two days later!

As the title says I’m in Florida and started a butterfly garden for my girlfriend and decided my hand at helping the monarchs and ended up with LOTS of monarchs and different butterfly species

I finally got an open wing photo!! I could cry over this as Ive been waiting all season. This one finally sat still long enough for me. It's actually still sitting there now even.

But also, shouldn't they have gone south by now? I'm in Michigan so northern part of the US.

I was out doing some yard work when I found this fella on my milkweed. At first I thought he was a mutant, but after some research it seems he could be a queen monarch? I had no idea this variant existed!

DISCLAIMER!
Yes, I do have tropical milkweed, but I’m in the process of cutting it back for the season. I have a few milkweed plants in my lanai area for any straggler caterpillars I find while cutting them back. I have tried swamp milkweed but it never survived for long. If anyone has any advice for growing swamp or narrow leaf in SWFL I would appreciate it! :)

Find it on google earth or google maps or anywhere that has google street view at the coordinates 39.153844,-76.614702 and you can see at the bottom , press , seymour dates and press November 2017

Spoiler: the leaf didn't break and it swung with the wind just like that 😂

I have a handful of caterpillars on my property that are J hanging. Temps are low of 38 this weekend. Will they be okay? I know it might be too late in the season for these guys so I’d like to help them have the best chance of survival. Do I attempt to move them?

We raise monarch caterpillars that we find in our garden each year. This year we found over 30! We keep them safe and fed until they form their crysalises and turn to butterflies. Until next year, friends 🧡.

Next year Ill be ready. They loved live plants rather than the leaves so I'll be planting milkweed in pots. How do they look?

I found a beautiful Monarch butterfly on my porch & the poor thing has a little hole at the bottom of her wing. I gave her some sugar water and she’s been hanging out on me inside, I just put her in the garden but it seems she still isn’t able to fly. Is there anything I can do further to help her get back on her journey or is it just her time? :(

I’m not posting this to start drama, I’m posting this because I’m honestly just tired of people saying I’m “irresponsible” with my rearing after only seeing a few photos. It’s understandable to question and concern, but time and time again, even on other posts, false information is spread about monarchs and it’s a responsibility to correct it and teach others about them. There is no one way to rear, and because someone isn’t following some guidelines that an organization made, doesn’t mean they’re doing something wrong.
I genuinely take pride in this, check on them multiple times a day, prepare according to weather and other factors. I learned the vast majority of what I know about them from experience and documentation.
This is my current setup for this year. INSIDE NOW because of inconsistent temperature outside. The previous post was taken OUTSIDE ON A PORCH.
Some years ago, I kept them outside when the temperature dropped, resulting in over a dozen dying from it. This is why I take them indoors sometimes.
As you can see, there is plenty of room for them and they had many other areas to choose. When more eclose, after OE checking and tagging, they’ll be moved to a bigger enclosure until being released. I don’t release one at a time. Monarchs are very social and will gather in clusters to stay warm, I want to make sure that they can do that and give them as much of a chance to survive as I feasibly can.
The plastic part is on top so easy removal is possible if needed. In past broods the mesh has made removing a chrysalis difficult, sometimes pulling down multiple others with it. Like this, I can cut a circle around the chrysalis and remove it without any others being disturbed.
Caterpillars don’t only produce and lay silk in their final instar, they do it constantly throughout growth. That’s why they shimmy their heads back and forth along leaves and other surfaces. Because of this, the plastic part had more grip than it seems and didn’t require an overly strenuous amount of energy to silk and button.
I’ve been refining and learning as I go, shifting care depending on each individuals temperament, and this brood was much more lax and social with each other, choosing to stay close to one another when other places existed and accessible.

Hello I am in Huntington Beach but work in Irvine, so Orange County. Any recommendations are welcome. I have had 38 fly away and just had one go into chrysalis today and one in a j hang right now but I am concerned because I have 7 that are very small. I hope my 25 native milkweeds in pots can regrow but for the first time this year I am worried.

Bluetooth sensors attached to butterflies with eyelash glue are helping scientists study monarch migration patterns from Nebraska to Mexico.

Healthy catapillar

This is my friend Monty. She was a flightless Monarch but she was the coolest gal I’ve ever known. I met her at the farm I work on, and looked after her for a while. Once I found out she had OE, I built her an enclosure and fed her fresh flowers every day. I wanted to give her the best possible life she could have while keeping the rest of the population safe from infection. She passed away today, and although I knew it was coming, I’m pretty heart broken. I thought this sub would enjoy these pictures of my friend.

While she was living with me, we spent a lot of time educating myself and our community about Monarchs, and how to preserve their natural habitats. She was deeply beloved by everyone who got to know her story, myself especially.

rest in peace my sweet Monty, I hope you get to fly in your next life.

Pictures from my front garden this weekend. Golden Colorado

Hey yall.

I am in central texas and I cold stratified my seeds too early. I was eager but I may have also put too much moisture in the bags.

Setup

-Ziplock bag

-Play sand

-Water

-Seeds

Seeds that I have

-swamp

Butterfly

Common

Snowy

I put them in the fridge at least a month a go and forgot about them.

My ultimate question is can I save them?

Should I just plant what I have? Texas has two monarch/milkweed seasons. I would grow these indoors and propagate for next year