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by Tony Gomez

3 years ago

Raising Book Resources

Raising Hope for the 2020 Migration- Raise the Migration Results


Share Your Raise The Migration 2020 Experience in a Comment Below

3 years ago

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By Tony Gomez

Raise the Migration 2020- Share Your Raising Butterflies Experience

by Tony Gomez

3 years ago

Raise The Migration is an annual North American challenge to raise monarch butterflies to release for fallโ€™s annual monarch migration. The time has come to share your 2020 experience and raise it forwardโ€ฆ

Raise the Migration 2020- Share Your Raising Monarch Butterflies Experience

The raising season is coming to an end, so weโ€™d love to hear how many butterflies you released for fallโ€™s annual 2020 monarch migrationโ€ฆand more importantly, what lessons youโ€™ve learned through this amazing raising experience?

If youโ€™ve still got some raising to do, raise on! But please post in the comment box at the bottom of this page after youโ€™ve released your last butterfly.

Every year, I start Raise The Migration in early August, but monarchs raised at that time arenโ€™t actually migration generation butterfliesโ€ฆtheyโ€™re actually the parents to that amazing generation of travelers.

Thereโ€™s no way to tell whether butterflies will mate or migrate, but one telltale sign of a migration generation butterfly is its size, which is dependent on how much the caterpillar eats. The first super-sized caterpillars start to form chrysalides around the first week of September in our northern regionโ€ฆ

In the garden, you can tell non-migratory butterflies by their worn out wings. Non-migratory males are also more aggressive, chasing off potential competition while seeking out female companionshipโ€ฆmigratory monarchs are in sexual diapause and only interested in stocking up on nectar for the long journey ahead.

So how did our Raise The Migration Monarchs fare this season and what lessons did we learn raising forward?

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If youโ€™re interested in a step-by-step guide digital guide with free updates (before each monarch season begins in spring) please check out the monarch raising guide by clicking this butterfly photo:

Raising Monarch Butterflies Book

For anyone who purchases the guide (or any other item) from Monarch Butterfly Life, you will be invited to our closed facebook group where you can discuss raising monarchs with other raisers and post your photos.

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Here are Raise the Migration results from the past seven seasons:

2019- 81% survival rate

2018- 93% survival rate

2017- 100% survival rate

2016- 96% survial rate

2015- 96% survival rate

2014- 90% survival rate

2013- 100% survival rate

As you can see from the results, this raising system is consistently producing healthy monarchs to help support the struggling monarch population.


Raise The Migration 2020 Results

I am counting our 2020 migration generation as all butterflies that eclosed September 1st and after.


Caterpillar Escapes

Since using food container hatcheries for eggs and baby caterpillars, this has helped us to easily keep track of the wee cats until they can be placed in the larger mesh cages. We have not lost a caterpillar for years...


Unexplained Caterpillar Deaths

None to report in 2020


Caterpillar Diseases and Parasites?

There were no caterpillar disease issues to report in 2020. Check out a pre and post molt of one caterpillar graduating from instar 3 to instar 4:

A Monarch Caterpillar is about to molt with protruding face cap
BEFORE
A Monarch Caterpillar After Shedding its skin and face cap
AFTER

Accidental Deaths?

There have been two accidental deaths this year...seems fitting for 2020. ๐Ÿ™ƒ

1. This was an odd fluke that happened in an egg hatchery. There was one container with two eggs that looked like they might have fungus issues from the leaves I found them on.

After monitoring, I thought one of the eggs had succumbed to a rust-like fungus that was growing around it. Little did I know, the caterpillar had hatched and crawled under the paper towel that lined the hatchery....there was even a fresh milkweed leaf under the fungusy leaf piece.

This has never happened before so I was shocked to find the dead baby cat as I cleared out the hatchery.

2. On a cold morning in the 3-season porch (low was 40ยฐ F), I picked up the floral tube/racks (with milkweed and caterpillars) and walked it into the kitchen without using the boot tray. Two of the cold, lethargic caterpillars fell to the floor. I rescued one...and stepped on the other. ๐Ÿ˜”

Chrysalis Problems

Chrysalis formation was perfect this season. I conducted 6 removing/rehanging experiments this year: 3 chrysalides hung up with pins, 2 hung up on a microfiber cloth, and 1 taped to the floor:

6 Monarch Chrysalides Rehung- Raise The Migration Experiment

All 6 butterflies eclosed with no issues and the butterflies were released to join the 2020 monarch migration. The last male emerged Sunday October 11th, and was released on Monday October 12th:

6 Monarch Chrysalides Rehung- Raise The Migration Results

Butterfly Eclosures

All butterflies emerged from their monarch chrysalises without issue.

Final Results

2 accidental deaths

0 disease or parasite issues

0 unexplained death

4 healthy males

5 healthy females

82% survival rate


Lessons Learned?

Of the two caterpillar accidents that occurred this season, one was a fluke that will likely never happen again.

However, the 'stepping' accident could have been easily avoided if I would have just followed my own advice for caterpillar safety. If moving caterpillars outside of the cage, place them on a boot tray so they will never fall on the floor.

I also learned that keeping chrysalides in the 3 season porch at night (during the fall) is a bad idea for our northern region. Cool night time temps slowed down metamorphosis by at least a week, meaning the excellent window I had to release butterflies in warm weather, quickly shrunk to just a few days.

The chrysalises get plenty of exposure to natural lighting and temperatures during the day through open windows. If these monarchs would have been left to fend for themselves outside, their wintry fate would have been sealed...๐Ÿฅถ

Also, my preferred way of rehanging chrysalides is pinning the silk to the top of the cage. Really though, all 3 methods work well, so do what you're most comfortable with when you need to rehang a chrysalis.


August 2020 Migration Memory

And now, hereโ€™s the part Iโ€™m most excited aboutโ€ฆhearing about all the valuable lessons you learned raising monarchs over the past few weeks!

Share Your Results?!

Please share your results below by letting us know how many monarchs you released to help boost the struggling monarch populationโ€ฆremember to include your location.

More importantly, please share the most valuable lesson(s) you learned about raising monarch butterflies, that you believe can help others raising forward.

Thank you for helping to Raise the Migration in 2020

348 comments


  • This is my third year raising Monarchs. My last five were released October 13th. I found 24 eggs and 26 caterpillars in all: 23 Eggs hatched. Of the 26 caterpillars I had 6 known deaths, but more tiny ones disappeared. I could not tell what happened to them, but obviously they were infected or diseased in some way, unless they were eaten by other caterpillars, which I doubt since they were all in containers with others of similar size. I released 35 healthy butterflies, 21 females and 14 males. I had a difficult time trying to keep an accurate record this year, as Iโ€™m sure others probably did, too. Iโ€™ m eagerly anticipating next yearโ€™s Monarch season. I miss them so much when they are all gone!

    ELizabeth Burritt on

  • I found 3 caterpillars on my milkweed, (9-13-2020) placed them in one of the tall nurseries Iโ€™d purchased from you. The two larger ones formed their chrysalis on the same day, (9-18-2020) one in the morning the other in the afternoon. The smaller one kept eating and growing forming itโ€™s chrysalis a few days later (9-22-2020) . The first monarch/female emerged 10-1-2020, and was released the next day. Shortly after No.1 was released monarch/female No. 2 emerged (10-2-2020) and was released on 10-4-2020. That afternoon monarch/female No.3 emerged and was released the following day (10-5-2020). Although a small contribution I guess each one we release helps to make a difference. I hope next spring we will be able to hold all of the herbal and plant festivals we missed out on this year. I sure had planned to get more milkweed plants. Fortunately the ones I had last year came back up and helped to produce these 3 beautiful monarchs.

    Tracie Taylor on

  • The start of Monarch Season this year (for me in Clinton Twp., MI) was incredibly slow. The milkweed was up and ready to go, but there were no takers till June 30th, when I finally found the first eggs.
    I have not had much success raising the eggs. The milkweed leaves would whither and die, even using floral tubes. Just about 1/2 the eggs died/failed to hatch. Add to that, a large number of praying mantis babies/aphids/ants, high temps consistently in the 90 + degree range along with very little rain at the south end of Clinton Twp.(rain either went to the north or south of us. I would eagerly watch the weather radar show rain heading our way, only to have it split in two and miss us).
    This season I wound up sending 12 monarchs out into the world. 5 boys & 7 girls. We had to two caterpillar failures. They just failed to grow past 3rd instar. I didnโ€™t use any type of โ€œanythingโ€ on the garden, so I doubt that they were poisoned, so Iโ€™m still scratching my head on those twoโ€ฆ..
    I have been concerned about the lack of Monarchs I have seen over the last two years. And with the fires out West, it is truly concerning! I hope everyone else fared better than me!

    Leslie Bowman on

  • I am sorry that I was unable to raise any migratory monarchs this summer, but I did learn a valuable lesson this year. Due to our extremely mild winter here on Johns Island, SC, my tropical milkweed didnโ€™t die back from freezing, as it usually does. Therefore, in the middle of January I discovered nine monarch cats on my milkweed and my neighbor also discovered 20 cats on hers. We raised the cats and were fortunately able to release them during some favorable weather. Now I plan to cut back my milkweed before winter and not wait for a freeze to happen!

    Lynne Bauman on

  • Here in central Florida we are still in a Monarch season. I currently have 5 that just reached the chrysalis phase. There is still a lot of Monarch activity in the milkweed garden.Our success rate has been good this year only loosing two out of about 25. One died in the chrysalis phase. The other came out in perfect physical shape but never could get the hang of flying.

    BobD on

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