It's Monarch Time!

Zac has been checking the swamp milkweed in our Pollinator Garden carefully and this morning discovered three fifth instars. So we brought them in and set up the big glass terrarium which is their usual indoor habitat.

Note: If you don't do this, your caterpillars will disappear! Stage 5 cats move fast, eat a tremendous amount, and then walk as far away as possible and climb high before finding a hidden spot to form their chrysalides. A chrysalis on the milkweed plant would be obvious and easily susceptible to predators.

Monarch Life Cycle
monarchjointventure.org

floral tubes for milkweed cuttings

We've raised monarchs in our homeschool for several years. In 2022 we had 15 caterpillars become 15 healthy butterflies. Here are my previous notes:

Monarch Notes 2021
Sep 12, 2021

Problems with Your Monarchs
Sep 2, 2021

Monarch Notes... and the Fate of Butterfly "M"
Sep 23, 2020

A Marvelous Monarch Monday Morning!
Sep 21, 2020

9 Monarch Caterpillars
Aug 18, 2020

Milkweed Books
Aug 16, 2020

Laurence Pringle's book makes a wonderful bedtime read aloud. It's amazing! It is by far the best chapter book for learning about monarchs; the best picture book, in my opinion, is Monarch and Milkweed by Helen Frost.

It's extremely important to disinfect your habitat and milkweed tubes and rack before you raise caterpillars again the following year. PLEASE do that! Here are the best notes I've found on disinfecting caterpillar cages.

Note: Our aquarium/terrarium is 24 inches long, 12 inches wide, and 17 inches high. It has a specially made wooden lid, which my friend Lou made years ago when we designed it to be a habitat for my Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches. It has four handles to make it easy for two children to lift up together plus a big mesh panel for ventilation. The caterpillars love it and often form their chrysalides on the underside of the lid (only on the wood, never on the mesh)!

When we use this as an aquarium for tadpoles, I take out the piece of mesh and put in a different piece of mesh that has a hole in it for the airstone.

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