How do you guys do it? I also have swallowtail catapillers

Brought in two more tiny striped ones today

Hope this helps.
https://texasbutterflyranch.com/2013/04/05/how-to-raise-monarch-butterflies-at-home/

https://monarchbutterflygarden.net/how-to-raise-monarch-butterflies-inside/

Thanks! Learned new stuff from it

I have 7 3-4 day old catapillers, and 3 1-3 day old catapillers
It takes one day to get their stripes, but they are at most a 10th of an inch long

For some dumb reason, collecting them is kind of addicting. I have 14 here...9 in chrysalis form. I was watching a monarch depositing more eggs on the Milkweed in my garden yesterday.... so let the dumb fun continue.

Lol I know, I spent half the day yesterday looking for them and watching them,hope they make it!!

They about doubled their size in last 24 hrs, the swallowtail are close to pupa stage I think, one was partially silked to jar, then it was off

I found another small monarch catapiller, and a mid sized swallowtail catapiller

Another monarch eggs hatched, tiny thing is eating the eggshell now

The swallowtail catapillers are going into pupa stage, one is changing, one is hanging, they stopped eating today

WOW!

The one had didn't live even with the cage and all the vegetation and natural environment conditions.

Is there any way you can post some pictures?

I tried few weeks ago but it didn't work, I can text you pictures

In my experience Moncats won't eat every milkweed plant(something needs to be right about which are eaten) so I like to collect the plant I find them on if I can or at least provide them with several fresh plants to choose from(collect early in the morning as they do no like wilted plants). Young Moncats can be canabalistic(so don't put many really young close enough to find each other) and often might need a change of milkweed before they mature. Keep them well contained as they can travel a long way in search of a place to enter chrysalis stage. One year we had several escapes and free flying monarchs appeared through out the house for awhile(kind of fun). Putting a many limbed dead branch in the cage can attract them but as often as not they won't use it. Chrysalis's can be delicately removed at the attachment fibers w/razorblade and relocated to where you want them with thread around attachment stem or glued. Hoped to get rich as a kid from the "GOLD" stops on the chrysalis's but alas it was more Fool's than fool gold, lol.

Ya next year I'll separate the new ones from bigger ones, I'll have a better setup, I've never done it before, except to have one change to butterfly, I've never seen the eggs hatched before, had wife bring in a new plant yesterday, it had a 3-4 day old one and a newly hatched
One too
In water the plants barely make it one day before drying up some

Monarchs are growing fast now, eating like lil striped pigs!
Another swallowtail is looking for a place to hang, two have changed into pupa

I have been looking at milk weeds and don't see anything but Last evening I saw about 10 Monarchs flying around in various locations. Could it be that they are just laying their eggs here in Pa.? How long does the whole process take?

We have been releasing monarchs for a couple of weeks now. Look for eggs under the leaves by bending the plants over. It can vary from 2 to 3 weeks from egg to butterfly.

I found some eggs , just hatched and ate eggshell ones, and 1/4" ones. Look for single cream-white eggs usually under the leaf

I think if leaf dries out fast the egg might fail, not sure on it

Looks like one of the swallowtail is attaching it's self to the side of the jar, it isn't upside down though, I thought they all go upside down to make a pupa

If they are anything like catalpa worms, you just take a small stick and shove their head all the way through until they are inside out and put them on your hook.

Two swallowtail are hanging head up, I think they are sposed to be head down,

One more turned into green crystalis, swallowtail, this one is head up on the side of my jar
Lol I went out to get a fresh milkweed, the fourth swallowtail she'd his skin, now four of the five are crystalis

Temp does effect speed of development. So does amount of edible milkweed for cat.

My first one hung itself this afternoon, another looks like it is too!

Two monarchs hanging now, looks like one of first four swallowtail didn't make it, turned brown

If you collect enough caterpillars and have them all in one location, you can hear them munching on the leaves if it’s quiet. Are you tagging them when you release them?

No, I've never done it before, your probably right about the chewing noise, my ears ring too loud to hear little things

Weird ,one that hung up died, it was a darker color than the other when it hung up, something must have gone wrong

Bic they have been here for several weeks now. The catipillars I mean have been here for a while.....jk

Last September we picked 350 pounds of swamp milkweed off of my family duck swamp. That’s pure live seed pounds! We sell it to native seed companies. It all goes into butterfly mixes.
Doing my part for the Monarchs!!

They get preyed upon by a little wasp species that was introduced to prey upon corn cut worm caterpillars. Except they forgot to send a memo to the wasps regarding which caterpillar to prey upon. If you look close in your cage, you will find a single strand or two of silk leading down to the cage bottom. There you should find the wasp pupae in a semi hard shell. The wasp lays an egg on the caterpillar and it hatches and uses the caterpillar for food.

This bites, your right, I saw a maggot crawling on top of box by dead catapiller, dang I never knew that would happen, hope the rest are ok, 12-13 left
My first two died from that dang bug

Maybe that's part of the reason we have fewer butterflies?

The Missouri Conservation magazine had a article about the Decline might be related to Milkweed declining around all the farm ground. They recommended planting Milkweed around areas you want butterflies cause its important for the Monarchs. Free to subscribe to the Missouri Conservationist also, some good information at times.

Also millions died in a winter storm in Mexico a few years back
One more monarch is thinking of hanging, hope it's ok

I found one wasp that was used for work control, they said it layed eggs inside of worm or catapiller egg, thus preventing it from being a catapiller, this killer came out of those two when they went into changing into butterflies
I suppose it could be a different parasitic bug

Also increased grazing of cattle in areas where monarch bunch up. On cold nights they fall off trees by thousands and cattle eat them up like popcorn before they warm up and return to treetops.

That's pretty crazy, never would have thought that, stupid cows! Lol
Third one is attached, ready to hang by silk

My third one just dropped it's skin, first crystalis, found a monarch catapiller with a bad leaking hole, it's still alive, but probably not for long, I found grub responsible for killing it,

First Two pictures are ones in my garden that disappeared to have crystalis, next one is my first monarch to make a crystalis
Third picture is swallowtail catapiller, then monarchs eating milkweed, then another swallowtail, and two swallowtail in crystalis or whatever they call them

Two catapiller were killed today by the parasitic bugs
I think I was wrong looks like one was just shedding it's skin

Natures way is that not all born live a full life. Everything is sustenance for something else. Every species needs to beat the odds - or its EXTINCTION.

T-2.0, the swallowtail pupae need to be overwintered to mature as they "hatch"(metamorph) in the spring.

Let 3 monarchs go yesterday and another 2 ready to fly the coop (as soon as it quits raining). 9 more getting ready to emerge.

Oh wow!! I had no idea! So just keep them in climate controlled, or can they also be in cold garage?

Lots of info on the web depending on what you want to winter. Some can be done as eggs, cats or pupae. Google "over wintering swallowtail pupae" as a start.

Thanks
Looked at site, thanks again, well darn I wanted to see them soon!
Well the monarchs are almost done, I think I had 17+ before 3 died from bug

WOW! Those are good pictures and you have done a great job taking care of them. Keep us posted and I will continue to search for eggs or larva to see if I can raise some butterflies.

Thanks

Next summer, plant a lot of parsley plants. The swallowtail caterpillar will eat them for food. Sometimes get a dozen or more on a plant.

Ya parsley, carrot, fennel, dill. I have a bunch of dill, I've seen them there before I just never thought of bringing them in

I thought the swallowtail tail picture there was good, it's one that already is in cocoon
Two of three monarchs are hanging, and one crystalis

I think five of 17 so far we're infected with the wasp grub
I thought one of the swallowtail died in cocoon because it turned brown and others were green, I guess some are brown and some green, naturally, good thing I didn't throw it away

Most swallowtail chrysalis's before and into winter around me. Might be a camo tactic for when green disappears for the winter and they change chemically to be able to survive freezing. Nature is nothing if not amazing in its ability to adapt to survive, IMO. The generation of Monarch you are raising should be the SUPER Monarchs that will migrate to Mexico/Central America(Monarch east of the Rockies,west to S. Cal/NW Mexico). But you are south enough where you might get one more generation. Here they will be heading south soon as the wildflowers(milkweeds, liastrises - favorite, peak and go to seed). They will never return. You would never see one you might tag to track migration return like birds.

You can sex them by the size of the black "spot" on lower/underside wing. Female adult Monarch butterflies are slightly darker and have wider black lines on their wings.

Way cool!
I just spread the seeds from areas with tons of MW to areas that don't have much if any.

Thanks for the info drake, it's kinda cool to help them if I can improve survival rate, make up for the 3-4 I hit this year with my truck!!
So if swallowtail comes out in cold weather , what do I do? Where will it go?

My best method of overwintering pupae or cocoons is placing them between glass and screen of a window(any but south) or in screened porch and let Nature run its course. One must be attentive in the spring so they can be released once a butterfly. In the spring if they are black or very light(weight) they probably succumbed to something. You can also move them inside or outside in mid-spring if you can't watch them(but outside they are at Nature's mercy like others.

Thanks I was thinking my unheated garage would be good, I still have one window with an old type screen on the north side of the house, I'll try that,
I thought one was missing yesterday, it hung itself under the foil covering the water, I looked all over my kitchen several times, three more hung on outside of the box last night, five crystalis hanging on outside of the box now, I think I have one more of the last four that will die, he's not eating, must have a grub in him

Keep us posted and to be continued.

Nice! Thanks Mike Joe.

Thanks Mike, too! I gotta figure out how post pictures myself,
I have nine crystalis, and one that just stopped eating and went to top of box, looking for a place to hang!
I thought this small one that didn't move for nearly a day was a gonner, one with a killer grub, he started moving, I set him on a leaf and it eating like crazy!

My wife and 4 year old love doing it, Ive gone a few times its a fun little hunt weve got 40 plus hanging now had 4 butterflies so far

Holy cow that's a bunch, I would need a lot of weeds for forty, do you keep a half weed in water for them to eat?

How long does it take for them to go from egg to chrysalis?

I think it's 10-14 days, unless I read it wrong,you can barely see the wing pattern through the crystalis
I need to look at link again, someone put it up earlier in this post, maybe it 10-14 days in crystalis I forgot
Egg to fifth instar, shed skin fifth time, 10-14 days

My first swallowtail just emerged from it's chrysalis! So pretty. Nine monarch chrysalis, one hanging ready to drop it's skin

Very fun thread guys! Brings back memories from when I was a kid.

Thanks! I remember doing some at home on farm, and our teacher had one in class.
I think more swallowtail are ready, four left
Video taped a western tiger swallowtail on my purple cone flowers today, I filmed one time at two feet away from the butterfly!
I picked up a 3 day old and about 4 day old monarch catapiller today, I have 10 monarch in Chrysalis

Released my second eastern swallowtail today, man they don't mess around, they see open sky and gone!

Thanks for sharing the pictures and process.

No problem! I picked up three more small monarch catapillers tonight, it's addicting lol, hoping for more swallowtail too, got a new one hanging, and another ready to hang.
The one that didn't eat for a day is growing , that one is last of older ones, I think I have four-five new little ones.

Picture doesn't show the yellow on the black wings, looking at picture before posting you can see the yellow and shape of wings
The butterfly is 3-4' to the right of bball hoop

If they didn't zoom away fast I could get abetter picture, next time I'll have her film it

Our third eastern swallowtail hatched today, it took a while to dry out and fly away, she got some real good pictures of it

Two monarchs are nearly ready to emerge, the first one in Chrysalis is furthest along, they are orange n black now

The first monarch a female just flew away, first flight it landed on my truck tire, I picked it up by letting it crawl on to my finger, and it flew the length of my back yard n disappeared somewhere there, the second monarch came out while we were filming the first one

They sure fill out fast, their wings are only 2/3 the length of the body, in ten fifteen minutes they are almost full size

The one I thought was gonna die, turned into a chrysalis, it's skin didn't completely fall off, hanging by a Small piece of green, I hope this one is ok

Two more will come out today sometime

Thanks Mike, three will come out today
Yesterday my customer had asked if she could bring her grandkids over to see butterflies come out, they got to see new butterfly dry out, told the young kids all I learned and knew about the monarchs and swallowtail, showed them the garden and my two bunnies, it was fun
Maybe one of the four kids will help butterflies too? Those swallowtail sure look cool

I think because of the rain today those three took longer to get ready to fly, I had them just inside the open garage door, three left, and five more coming soon

One of last five hung on a milkweed, I think it will die, it wasn't full sized and isn't shedding skin
Had one missing this morning, found it hanging on my kitchen wall about 4" off the floor! I guess I'll keep my eye on it lol

One nearly grown catapiller just laid over n died! The one that hung early looks dead, maybe a grub in them?

I guess Cardinals like monarch one ate my two catapillers and two chrysalis, dang it I thought Cardinals were neat

Hey Tach.20---enlighten me into how you can tell a male from a female Monarch. If it involves Birds and Bees stuff just PM me. Thanks.

You can tell when wings are open, or down, the rear wing on each side look at the black veins, black lines, the females are thicker, the male his veins are thinner and on each side in a vein you will see a black dot, it's a little wider than the vein but easy to see if wings are open and sitting still

I brought in a smallish catapiller two days ago, I saw a stink bug or some type of bill bug with a spike sticking into the catapiller, stupid ugly bug, I didn't see an injury, but catapiller was dead an hour later, I went out last night and cut a fresh weed, I spose that bug came in that way, dang there sure are a lot of bugs n birds that kill these awesome things