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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


  • Raised and released 50 monarchs this year. Lost two. Still have three chrysalides left to eclose. It was a very good year!

    Marie McDowell on

  • This is our 3rd year raising Monarchs. This year was not a good one. We have 1 chrysalis yet to eclose. So our total released is 70 apparently healthy Monarchs. We had 27 sick ones this year. 10 sick caterpillars, 6 sick Chrysalisโ€™s, 9 deformed butterflies & 2 released butterflies that Iโ€™m not sure made it. They seemed weak & couldnโ€™t fly more than 3โ€™ off the ground. Have to wait & see what the last chrysalis does.

    Debi Holt on

  • Greetings from western monarch region. This is our first year of raising these beauties. On September 23 we released number 202. We shared the experience with many friends and family of holding a Monarch. The youngest was three. It was the first time any of them had ever held a butterfly. We started with the small cage, cuttings from several milkweeds were placed in tubes. Then our experience mushroomed. Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point, had undergone new ownership this past year. Prior owners had a Monarch Sanctuary which seemed of no interest to the current operators. I met with management in January asking that they live up to their namesake by planting milkweed somewhere. They did immediately. In late March we visited those plantings every other day. In a week we brought home 38 cats mostly the 3rd or 4th instar. To handle the volume, we opened the large mesh enclosure and inserted a two gallon milkweed that was with great foliage. Within a week it needed replacement, but by that time we had many chrysalides. We added milkweed to our small patio, so along with finding more cats at the resort, we added those that were now growing on our property. We started releasing in May, and by June 4th we had turned loose 43. June17, a total of 53. July 14, 74. With the eight milkweed plants on our patio we were visited each day by up to four Monarchs. By the end of July the number rose to 129. Of that total, there were only six casualties. But then we failed to keep the plants clean, and casualties increased. Deformed wings, cats that formed Jโ€™s but failed to become a chrysalis. It started shedding final coat but died he next day) We reverted back to stem cuttings placed in tubes but several cats failed to even become Jโ€™s. Today is September 26. Observed only 1 Monarch flying over our patio past two days. We have 4 chrysalides and only two small cats. While visiting the resort this week we saw no cats or eggs on their 20 plants.
    Of the total of 202 releases, 8 had deformed wings and unable to leave the premises. Total number of cats that failed to mature was 17. Doing the math suggests a success rate of 88%.
    An interesting experience occurred after we released a male and he failed to leave the milkweed onto which we had placed him. Within hours, another male began attacking. He would not stop. I picked up both of them with the predators legs locked onto the new monarch. I had to pull them apart. Male territorialism confirmed.
    Due to the absence of yard space, we are unable to plant shrubbery like Tony has done. But we will continue this enjoyment next year. Having shared this activity with others, there are now three more families doing the same.

    Roskamp on

  • This is the first season weโ€™ve ever done this; a couple months ago we were at a plant nursery and saw a milkweed plant with three fat monarch caterpillars on it โ€“ brought it home and put the plant inside our pool cage โ€“ 10 days later we had three butterflies. They (a male and 2 females) mated and laid eggs, and we released them outside. The proceeds from the egg-laying way overwhelmed us; Iโ€™d estimate at least 100 cats, 8 big milkweed plants stripped to sticks in a couple days. We put some of the plants outside because they were crawling everywhere and we were stepping on them and scooping them out of the pool. Still, we ended up with about 12 mature butterflies that we released. Third generation was from a potted milkweed that was outside and I spotted some tiny cats on it โ€“ by that time, Iโ€™d bought a butterfly cage and we raised them โ€“ 9 mature butterflies released. Now Iโ€™m not sure what happened, but the one milkweed plant thatโ€™s been inside the pool cage suddenly exploded with caterpillars โ€“ Iโ€™d say there are close to 50 about 1 inch long, and Iโ€™m not sure who laid all those eggs, because the plantโ€™s been indoors for at least a month. Weโ€™ll be putting that plant inside the butterfly cage tomorrow and should have a HUGE batch next week if I can afford to keep buying milkweed plants. Itโ€™s been fun, and weโ€™ll continue to raise monarchs for the foreseeable future.

    Anne D on

  • This was my first year raising more than just a few monarchs. I was saddened that I had more deaths than I anticipated.
    Released:
    10 females
    8 males
    Deaths:
    1 tachinid fly death
    4 turned black as chysalis
    1 fell as J
    2 died as J
    3 cats died
    1 wing deformity.
    Iโ€™m hoping for a better survival rate next year.
    Amy- MN

    Amy on

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