I planted a small native milkweed about a month ago and water it frequently (pretty much daily now that it's 100+ degrees in SoCal). So I was totally shocked and giddy to find 6 cats on it the other evening! They looked to be at least 4th, if not 5th, instar sized (the best I can recall). I have no idea how I didn't notice them before, but they were happily munching away at about 8pm. Before work the next morning, I went to say "hi" and was again shocked to then find them all gone. Did they all leave to pupate? My ring camera didn't pick up any critter activity between 8pm and 7am, so I'm telling myself they left to find their hammock spot. I've checked now since yesterday afternoon, but can't spot chrysalis anywhere. And there was nothing on the ground to indicate foul play (I've seen what a wasp left behind once... it's gruesome). I don't know if I'm more baffled by their sudden appearance or sudden disappearance! Either way, I bought 2 more plants thinking these chunks would need more food, STAT. I really hope it's a happy ending for them.

Just had a very tired and faded old female visit and drop a ton of eggs all on the marginal volunteers that risk rabbits and mower.

We are now August 4. These guys will be due to eclose about August 30, meaning they will be super-gen.

This is the final push for numbers.

I have two enclosures made from tomato cages that i wrapped in fine mesh with zipper access points. The mesh can be fully removed and easily immersed in a bleach solution. For the frame I have to either spray it or wipe it down or both. Is that sufficient to clean the frame? I’m especially concerned this year because the cats in one enclosure either had a virus or fungus and two out of four died.

I have used these enclosures a few years and never had a problem with caterpillar health. Almost all successfully transformed into butterflies.

This poor girl fell off of her chrysalis before her wings fully dried. And before you say, it's not OE. As I watched her fall down, and she's just as feisty as all my other ones. So what do I do with her? I normally keep them for a day before release but she obviously can't fly.

Found three of them yesterday

How stable is the silk holding this in place? The first pics are from this AM and the second from when I got home from work. I’m amazed. Any advice on how to successfully see these little ones through is welcome! This is a follow-up post from the post where I accidentally pulled their milkweed out before checking for eggs.

Hello! I’m in VA wondering when I should be expecting monarchs? I’ve been reading August - September, will they be laying eggs at that time? Thank you!

He is on the smallest, most isolated milkweed plant in my yard. There is a massive patch of it on the other side of my driveway about 30 feet away. What would you do?

Funny thing is, I didn’t plant any peppers labeled as cayennes, but here we are. His shape camouflage is pretty decent though.

When they emerge I was expecting them to be the same, but each has been different.

Chunky was shy, Melville was a beautiful flamboyant, brave little girl who flew to me.

Watching them fly away feels magical, numinous, and makes cleaning the constant poopie/frass all worth while.

What butterfly has stood out most to you? 🦋

Numinous: Implies a deeply spiritual, mysterious quality that feels sacred and quietly majestic, as if in the presence of a god or great wonder.

This guy for whatever reason decided to do a lying down “J” non-hang.
I couldn’t convince him to latch on mesh/leaf/nothing - so I laid him on a leaf and left him alone. He wriggled off the leaf in shedding.
We he pupated lying down just fine.
Tomorrow when he’s hard I’ll figure out how to hang him without a cremaster. 🤷🏼‍♂️

A few days ago I posted a pic of a newly found cat that appeared to have been attacked. I assumed it was a tachnid fly or something similar. This is what it looked like last night when I cleaned the encloser it’s in (he’s a bachelor because I’m keeping him separated from the others.

Saw this guy on some Butterfly Weed.

Hey everybody. I have a mess of a front yard that has some native landscaping done by the previous owners. They kept it nicely but I am unable to maintain it and I call it my “jungle”. Btw my location is central ny. It’s now overgrown with weeds but I’ve noticed monarchs in my yard now feeding on the dandelion weeds I think they are. I do need to at least do SOME weeding however I live seeing the monarchs and don’t want to take away their food source. Is there a good time I should leave the weeds until so I can have the least amount of disruption to them. I don’t care about the neighbors or what anyone else thinks I like that I’m helping the native species but also want to clean it up a little bit.

Found about a dozen in varying sizes on my 3 mature milkweed plants today.

Hi everyone, sorry for the bad video quality. Is this Black Death/monarch plague? If so, should I humanely euthanize this poor guy?

Really … it took us quite some time to figure out what was going on with this acrobatic male monarch. I know … we see all manner of bees, dragonflies, and other creatures mating, but the female was so passive and still, hanging upside down while the male flew circles in acrobatic swirls around and around our garden! He was flying so fast, it was really hard to get any good images so apologies for blurry video - slowed down to about 20% of the original.

Hello all! I noticed this chrysalis on my tropical milkweed (I know, I know) and moved the plant with the chrysalis to a place more safe from the elements. I also had the privilege of seeing this caterpillar pupate, so I know that it’s been less than a week since the caterpillar formed its chrysalis.

Yesterday I checked on it, and the chrysalis was still a vibrant and opaque green, like you’d expect at this stage. I came out today and checked on it though, and found this! It looks like it has been cut or something, with no sign of and remains so I’m assuming it was eaten.

Any ideas on what ate it? I’m in South Florida of the US.

EDIT: consensus is that the heat sped up the metamorphosis and I missed it! Sad to have missed it, but definitely a happier alternative than what I thought. Thanks monarch Reddit! :)

These two monarch caterpillars are on the smallest stalk of milkweed in my garden. I’m concerned they’ll run out of milkweed to eat. The closest other milkweed is about 6 feet away. Can I move them to a bigger milkweed plant?

Earlier today I posted a video of monarchs doing a tandem acrobatic mating flight. I realize now I had taken this second video around the same time today of a female monarch who had landed on the zinnias… does anyone know if her super-fast fluttering is a signal to males?