Raising Book Resources
Raising Book Resources
Find Your Supplies
MILKWEED
- Asclepias curassavica (tropical milkweed)
- Asclepias incarnata (swamp milkweed)
- Asclepias purpurascens (purple milkweed)
- Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed)
- Calotropis gigantea (giant milkweed)
- Gomphocarpus physocarpus (giant swan milkweed)
- Gomphocarpus fruticosus (swan milkweed)
- Suggested Vendors for Buying Milkweed Online
CATERPILLAR and BUTTERFLY CAGES
- Food Storage Containers for Hatching Eggs and Baby Caterpillars
- Butterfly Cages w/ PVC Window (4 sizes to choose from)
- Buttefly Cages w/ see-through Mesh (4 sizes to choose from)
OTHER RASING SUPPLIES
- Magnifying Glass for Tiny Eggs and Baby Caterpillars
- Keyboard Vacuum Cleaner for Cleaning up Caterpillar Poop
- Hand Pruning Shears for Milkweed Cuttings
- Floral Tubes + Racks to keep Milkweed Cuttings Fresh
- Boot Tray for carrying cuttings containers
- Plain Paper Towels to line food containers and for cage cleaning
- Cotton Pads to feed adult butterflies
- Disinfecting bleach or bleach wipes for cage cleaning
- Monarch Egg and Caterpillar Vendors
Prepare Milkweed Plants
- Growing Milkweed in Containers
- How to Win the War against Aphids?
- Asclepias curassavica- tropical milkweed
- Asclepias incarnata- swamp milkweed
- Asclepias purpurascens- purple milkweed
- Asclepias syriaca- common milkweed
- Calotropis gigantea- giant milkweed
- Gomphocarpus physocarpus- giant swan plant
Hunt, Gather, & Protect Monarch Eggs
- Midrib of Leaf
- Bleaching Monarch Eggs Info (consider this in continuous growing regions where pathogens/disease are a common issue)
Feeding Monarch Caterpillars
- Floral Tubes and Racks (preferred caterpillar feeding method)
- Feeding Monarch Caterpillars with Cuttings
Cage Cleaning Tips
Big Cat Care
- 5 Caterpillar Instars: Photos and Info
- Caterpillar Molting Videos
- Milkweed Emergencies- 9 options?
- How to Revive a Drowned Caterpillar?
Monarch Diseases and Prevention
Chrysalis Problems and Normal Development
- Chrysalis Problems and Normal Development
- Do Chrysalises need to be Rehung?
- Diseased Chrysalis Photo
- Caterpillar Forming Chrysalis Videos
- Large Pins to Pin Up Chrysalides by Silk
Hatching Butterflies
Safely Release Butterflies
- Male or Female Butterfly?
- Clear Hummingbird Nectar (for feeding adults)
- Butterfly Pick-up Demonstration Video
- Fall Blooming Nectar Plants for Migrating Monarchs
- Butterfly Photography Tips
- Monarch Release Video
- Tagging Butterflies Programs
More Raising Monarchs Resources
- Monarch Butterfly Garden (butterfly garden blog articles, gardening tips, + butterfly gift ideas)
- Monarch Butterfly Life (raising butterflies supplies shop, raising tips + butterfly gifts)
- Butterfly Tips Newsletter (Tried and true tips for both pollinator gardening and raising healthy monarch butterflies…includes Raise the Migration emails in late Summer/Fall)
- Closed Facebook Group (Post questions, photos, and comments about raising monarch butterflies)
4 comments
“Hi Tony. I have a chrysalis that has become unattached from the leaf. It has no stalk where I can grip a peg on it. It will be hatching very soon. What can I do?”
Hi Teresa, please refer to our chrysalis problems page for an answer to this issue:
https://monarchbutterflylifecycle.com/blogs/raise/monarch-chrysalis-problems-solutions
Hi Carol, this sounds like heavy OE infection. There’s more info about options for flightless butterflies in this post: https://monarchbutterflylifecycle.com/blogs/raise/hatching-butterflies-monarch-emerges-chrysalis
Please help me! I have 2 butterflies left from yesterday with wing issues. One has 1 wing that is a bit tattered. The other has both wings folded and they have not opened since yesterday. Both are in the big net cage and moving around and fluttering their wings and eating from cotton soaked with hummingbird nectar food. Do I have to euthanize them? I don’t want to but don’t want them to suffer. The folded winged one tries to flap his wings often. I have seen the other one fly in the cage a couple of times – do I dare let him out and see what he can do? I have to keep them overnight now because it is hazy (from western smoke) and the sun is going down with 61 deg predicted for tonight, warm tomorrow and 66 tomorrow night. Please help me know what the right thing to do is. I will find it very hard to euthanize but I or better yet my husband can do it. Their 3rd cage mate flew out the door when I was bending down watching one of the others so I trust he is fine and will find a place to keep warm. This is my 1st attempt.
I started raising monarchs in 2015 when my mom went in the nursing home. There was a man there they called the butterfly man. I learned a lot from by sitting and talking to him. He built his own butterfly houses and when the butterflies were ready to be released the residents would come out to the garden and watch them being released. I’ve read many books and raised and released quite a few monarchs