Raising Book Resources
Raising Hope for the 2020 Migration- Raise the Migration Results
Raise The Migration is an annual North American challenge to raise monarch butterflies to release for fallโs annual monarch migration. The time has come to share your 2020 experience and raise it forwardโฆ
The raising season is coming to an end, so weโd love to hear how many butterflies you released for fallโs annual 2020 monarch migrationโฆand more importantly, what lessons youโve learned through this amazing raising experience?
If youโve still got some raising to do, raise on! But please post in the comment box at the bottom of this page after youโve released your last butterfly.
Every year, I start Raise The Migration in early August, but monarchs raised at that time arenโt actually migration generation butterfliesโฆtheyโre actually the parents to that amazing generation of travelers.
Thereโs 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 regionโฆ
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 companionshipโฆmigratory 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 youโre 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:
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:
Accidental Deaths?
There have been two accidental deaths this year...seems fitting for 2020. ๐
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. ๐
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:
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:
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...๐ฅถ
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, hereโs the part Iโm most excited aboutโฆhearing 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 populationโฆremember 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 first year raising the beautiful monarch butterfly.
It was a wonderful experience and I was able to be release twenty healthy monarchs.
11 girls and 9 boys.
I was heart broken when one of my butterflies, the second to the last fell of because of something that I did. When I noticed that the chrysalis was becoming unattached, I used tape to keep it attached and little did I know that when it was coming out of the chrysalis it was perhaps too slippery for it to hold on to. Huge mistake on my part and now I know not to do that.
I also had another one that came out of the chrysalis about one hour ago and I found it on the bottom of the net. It looks like she wasnโt fully developed and her wings are very small. She is crawling around trying to walk. I donโt know what to do in this case. If anyone could advise me on what to do or if anyone had this problem please let me know. Thank you
Long Grove Illinois
Released 90 Monarchs in total this year. Included were cages given to two different families so that their children could experience Metamorphosis process from first Instar to release. As many have commented Monarchs arrived in August this year and found our 13 potted Milkweed plants in IL.
Final results for 2020
-Accidental death: 0
-Disease or Parasite issues: Spring =4, Summer =6
-Unexplained death: 0
-Healthy Males: Spring = 24, Summer =4
- Healthy Females: Spring =22, Summer = 4
- Survival Rate: 90%
-Lessons learned: This summer I witnessed for the first time multiple female wasp searching every single milkweed leaf for baby cats to feed their young. I cried the first time I saw how the female was stings a baby cat before carrying it off to their young. Nature isnโt always fair and Tony addresses this wasp behavior in one of his past emails on how it prevents an over whelming number of cats devouring milkweed garden.
If you want to save baby cats from wasp in the summer time, itโs best to take baby cats from the garden to rear when they are instar 2 because they wonโt make it to instar 3 due to wasp.
From my two swamp milkweeds I released about 36 Monarchs, more females than males.
My neighbor was helping her friend pull weeds off her chain link fence and found 3 big fat
Monarch caterpillars on honey vine weed. Two became healthy male Monarchs and one
died from a parasite. But as we cut honey vine weed stems for her to feed the caterpillars we found more Monarch eggs in our own yards! When my two swamp milkweeds got splotchy and dried out I was able to switch most of my caterpillars to the honey vine weed. Most of them ate it well and that gave my milkweeds time to shoot out new branches at the end of summer. Please donโt plant honey vine weed in your yard as it is a very obnoxious weed and will be trying to take over your yard forever! But if it is already there it may be helpful if you ever have a food shortage for your Monarch cats. It saved about 10 caterpillars for us this year. It was a bad year for the Black SwallowtailsโฆI think our new neighbors are putting pesticides on their yard. I will have to move the rue to the other side of the yard. We did have 8 healthy Giant Swallowtails early in the Spring which was wonderful. Thanks so much to Tony for all his help and the wonderful cages for raising the butterflies!
I released 57 healthy Monarch butterflies. Only about 18 were males. Calvert County MD
9/24/20