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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


  • See below;
    Monarch Butterfly Report 2019 and 2020
    2019 (an early spring)
    First Bโ€™fly seen โ€“ May 30.
    First Egg found โ€“ June 2
    First Cat hatched โ€“ June 7
    First Pup forms โ€“ June 19
    First Bโ€™fly hatches and released โ€“ June 30
    Total Bโ€™flys released โ€“ 322
    Lost Cats and Pups โ€“ 13
    Last Bโ€™fly released โ€“ September 13.
    2020 (a late spring and much hail over flight path)
    First Bโ€™fly seen โ€“ June 23
    First egg found โ€“ June 26
    First Cat hatched โ€“ June 9
    First Pup forms โ€“ July 5
    First Bโ€™fly hatches and released โ€“ July 15
    Total Bโ€™fly released โ€“ 206
    Lost cats and pups โ€“ 8
    Last Bโ€™fly released โ€“ September 15
    Note; both years, major source of eggs (about 95%) and cats (about 5%) were milk weed in my garden, plus some from local park areas. This is primarily common milkweed, also some swamp milkweed, eggs much harder to find on latter. We also have numerous flowers that attract and feed the Monarchs. It could be that the significant drop in numbers this year, compared to last was because of the late spring and significant hail over Michigan and South-west Ontario during the peak of the north-east migration.
    Location; Don Mills, north of Lawrence Ave, just west of the East Don River in Toronto.
    Chris Smith, chrismith32@hotmail.com

    Christopher Smith on

  • 54 Monarchs released from Westport, CT!

    Anne-Nicole Hanus on

  • Forgot to put my location on my message โ€“ Owatonna MN

    Jeanne w on

  • Oct 2020 โ€“ First year of raising Swallow Tails โ€“ found 8 eggs and gave 4 to my friend. All 8 have hatched and are on their way!! I have raised Monarchs for several years now. This year I raised 218. I had 4 chrysalisโ€™s die and had to euthanize 2 butterflies. My last butterfly was released on September 23rd. I have the most trouble with eggs and caterpillars being infected after the first of September. My common milkweed is in two different areas of the backyard and my Swamp Milkweed is along a back fence. I seem to find the most eggs in the Swamp Milkweed and use the Common to feed them. We were vacationing in August this year so I had a month without collecting eggs. I tend to leave any caterpillars I find outside where they are. I donโ€™t have real good luck bringing them in โ€“ most tend to get sickly. I keep all my cats in individual cups so no outbreaks of disease getting to others should one get sick. As far as migrators I released a total of 4 in September.

    Jeanne W on

  • Greetings from Quaker Hill, CT:
    This is my second year raising my caterpillar children into beautiful adult Monarch Butterflies.
    I have released 80 butterflies with a late bloomer still in its chrysalis.
    The arriving Monarchโ€™s from the South were late this year. I collected my first 12 eggs the first and second weeks of July and let them go in August.
    My best experience was seeing a Mama Monarch laying her 31 eggs on my Common Milkweed which I collected, raised and set free in early September along with 21 released at the end of September. The last 16 headed for Mexico, I sent on their merry way this week.
    I had rogue caterpillars that made their chrysalis on the zipper of the cage, pegs of the tube holder, leaves of the Milkweed, and on the rocks I use to secure the cage- since my babies were raised outside.
    Sadly, I had three chrysalids turn black, two emerging butterflies, from their floor chrysalids, had deformed wings and were euthanized (I did not have this issue last year), one caterpillar and one chrysalis were in an accident and succumbed to their injuries (this broke my heart).
    In total, I released 25 males and 55 females.
    What a sight to behold, a brand new Monarch Butterfly, released into the sky and headed to join the Monarch Butterfly Migration!

    Erna Franco on

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