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I try to keep everything as natural as possible. The enclosures are 20 feet from the milkweed, outside 24/7. The location is northern Iowa.I never touch the caterpillars or the butterflies.
I didn't have a microscope until the 2024 season, so no OE testing was done prior to that.
I have learned that human sound near the enclosures, especially loud sound such as someone suddenly talking loudly, disturbs feeding caterpillars. Their heads jerk sharply if someone suddenly speaks near them. Therefore, I am quiet when near.
After emerging, I let a butterfly stay in the enclosure until it is ready to leave. I never reach in and take one out, and I never force one out. The average time for indicating that they are ready to leave is about four to five hours. At that time, many butterflies are flying all over inside the enclosure and visiting the door often. As soon as I open the door, they leave. (Yes, they know where the door is.) Sometimes, however, a butterfly stays beyond the four or five hours and does not go near the door. It will actually and apparently on purpose stay near the back of its enclosure, and no matter how long I leave the door open, it won't leave. Sometimes I have gone to bed and in the morning it is still against the back wall. It can take a long time for this situation to resolve, but eventually the butterfly will venture out.
In 2023, 53 butterflies eclosed and flew away, while five died.
2024 was a year when numbers of Monarchs seemed to be low everywhere, and the USFW proposed Danaus plexippus be listed as threatened. My numbers were down as well: 29 eclosed and flew away, and another seven died.
After such small numbers in 2024, I was not optimistic about what 2025 would bring, but to my surprise, it was a banner year. I had never seen anything like it. Every time I went looking for eggs or caterpillars, I found them. It was amazing all summer long. When the season wrapped up in October, I pulled together the data and found I had released 95 healthy butterflies, and 10 had died.
Photo at right shows two syriaca that chose to root right next to a fence post.
2022 2023 2024 2025
2022My first year. I didn't keep detailed data, as this was a trial run and I wasn't sure I would be continuing. I learned quite a bit about caterpillar and butterfly behavior over the summer: 1) Caterpillars are sensitive to sound. 2) Butterflies behave quite differently, one from another, upon emerging from chrysalis, as if they had personalities; some are very active, flying around the enclosure, continually revisiting the door and soaring out instantly when it is opened, while others "cower" at the back of the enclosure, will open and close their wings somewhat passively, but rarely fly around, and won't even go near the door for literally hours. If they were human, I would interpret their behavior as cautious, worried, reticent, or scared. 3) Constructing a workable process for understanding and raising Monarch butterflies takes time. 4) How to find eggs. 5) What green, black, and red fluids leaking from a caterpillar are, and what each might mean when you observe them leaking out. 6) That caterpillars have eating preferences; for example, one may prefer to eat tuberosa at some point in its development, and syriaca at another. 7) Tachinid fly predation. The only "incident" over the 2022 summer was that one caterpillar was infested with Tachinid fly. First butterfly eclosed: 20 June Last butterfly eclosed: 16 September Total: 22 survived and released 21 females 10 males |
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2022 2023 2024 2025
2023
| SEX F F M F F F F F F M M F F F FF F F F F M M M F M F M M M M FF F F M F M M M F F M M M M M M M M M F F M |
ECLOSED June 22 June 24 June 24 June 25 June 25 June 25 June 26 June 26 June 26 June 26 June 26 July 5 July 7 July 8 August 6 August 6 August 7 August 8 August 9 August 10 August 10 August 15 August 17 August 17 August 18 August 18 August 20 August 20 August 22 August 22 August 22 August 22 August 22 August 22 August 22 August 23 August 24 August 25 August 25 August 25 August 25 August 27 August 29 Sept 3 Sept 5 Sept 8 Sept 6 Sept 8 Sept 6 Sept 16 Sept 16 Sept 16 Sept 18 |
FATALITIES (5) June 24: Chrysalis fell and broke July 8: Caterpillar found dead on enclosure floor July 27: Caterpillar found dead from T-fly July 28: Caterpillar found dead from T-fly September 11: Caterpillar prolapsed and died |
 
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Total survived and released: 53
Females: 28
Males: 25
2022 2023 2024 2025
2024
First egg collected May 17, 2024.
| SEX F F F F F M M F F M M M M F F M M M M M M M F F M M F M M |
ECLOSED June 21 June 21 June 21 June 22 June 22 June 22 June 22 June 23 June 23 June 23 June 23 June 23 June 23 June 23 June 24 June 30 August 5 August 8 August 10 August 18 Sept 3 Sept 16 Sept 19 Sept 22 Sept 22 Sept 22 Sept 25 Sept 26 Sept 29 |
OE TEST Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear |
COLOR 2,5 2,4 1,5 2,5 2,4 1,1 1,4 2,5 1,4 1,5 1,5 2,5 1,4 2,5 2,5 1,5 2,5 2,5 2,5 2,3 1,2 2,5 2,5 2,4 2,2 1,3 2,4 2,4 3,4 |
SIZE (mm) 50 47 44 45 47 48 51 50 50 51 50 52 50 47 50 49 50 50 51 44 50 50 47 49 49 51 47 49 51 |
FATALITIES (7) Over the breeding season, I collected five caterpillars at 2nd or 3rd instar from the same section of tuberosa. Over the next couple weeks, each one of these five would repeat this pattern: Caterpillar appeared normal and seemed to progress well; then, found it hanging from a feeding cup, the lower half of its body bent outward at an almost-90-degree angle. I would quarantine it. It would remain hanging in this gravity-defying position for several hours, then resume feeding. But some time later, I would find it lying in a vast pool of green vomit. Then, again, each one appeared to recover and resume feeding. But a few days later, I would find it dead, curled up in another pool of vomit.June 12, a Green Lacewing larva attacked and killed one of the caterpillars (photo at right). September 17, one eclosed with a small, crumpled, left hind-wing that had failed to develop. Could not fly. Color Evaluation Chart:  COLOR DATA: First number: forewing; second number: hind wing |
F=12
M=17
2022 2023 2024 2025
2025
 Total Released Alive and Healthy: 95 Males: 52 Females: 43 First four caterpillars found and collected in early June, all quite small, 1st or 2nd instar. This was an interesting bunch. They had similar "personalities:" quiet, efficient, calm. They ate much of the time, but also rested. Actually, they rested quite a bit. I would be surprised to find three eating and one just lying still, except for a kind of soft rhythmic breathing. I worried that it was sick and checked for discoloration or signs of vomiting, but everything looked okay. After some time, the resting caterpillar would simply resume eating. This happened three or four times. I have no way of knowing if it was the same one each time, or different caterpillars. There was never a time when one left the milkweed and went restlessly exploring, as so many others have done in past seasons. These four just ate and rested quietly. When it came time to pupate, each one calmly moved away from the milkweed, crawled up the side of the enclosure, and settled down, apparently content with the first spot it came to. After awhile, each one went into a J-position. They did not deviate from that behavioral path. None of them roamed the enclosure for literally hours, often lifting its head and turning to look all around, then resuming the roam, as if constantly dissatisfied with everything it saw, as many did last year and the year before, searching, twisting and turning, going back down the enclosure and then back up, around and around. These four simply got to the top, chose a spot, and settled in. Three of them went into chrysalis the next morning. The fourth was a little behind and took another day. I have seen caterpillars exhibit all kinds of behavior and these four were remarkable in their serenity, focus (if you can call it that), and lack of aggression. These first four all went into chrysalis on June 18 and emerged on June 27, strong, healthy, and calm, just as they had been as caterpillars. They had good color, flew perfectly, and were clear of OE. Later in the season, I was to observe some of my newly emerged butterflies behave crazily and wildly, and caused me to reflect on these first four's calm. The question arises again: Do butterflies have personalities? I don't know what causes them to behave one way or another. Something they eat? Genetic coding from their ancestors?  Things I Learned this Season: I learned that monarch butterflies like to lay their eggs in separate little patches of milkweed, even hidden or outlying patches, rather than in a thick concentration of milkweed. It seems that monarchs are incredibly adept at finding isolated milkweed plants. Since learning this, I have been weeding out my heavy patches, letting singletons and patches of 2 or 3 grow, and next year will make sure to have many small groups of plants, rather than big concentrations. I learned a new caterpillar sickness and what it looks like: the bacterium Serratia marcescens, which apparently got two of mine this year. It is characterized by red liquid that can swell up the caterpillar's body under its exoskeleton, and sometimes drip out the anus and stain everything around. I learned that a caterpillar can bleed large drops of black blood through injury, but still recover, pupate, and morph into an apparently healthy butterfly. I learned that this species is virtually helpless in cold weather. If the temperature is under 50 degrees in the morning, the caterpillars are slow to move and very frequently are in strange positions in the enclosure, holding their upper bodies twisted or bent away from the cups and anything else solid, as if trying to avoid touching anything. If a butterfly emerges from its chrysalis in 50-or-under temperatures, it is weak and lethargic. Only being placed in the warm, bright sun can help, acting as a battery to jump-start them. I learned that some particularly energetic newly-emerged butterflies can damage caterpillars and chrysalises with a kind of crazed grabbing and cutting activity. If at all possible, chrysalises should be in a different enclosure than caterpillars, as eclosing butterflies can actually damage J-hangs and other chrysalises. |
| 2025 EMERGED June 27: FOUR: 2 males and 2 females July 5: THREE: 2 males and 1 female July 6: THREE: 2 males and 1 female July 7: TWO: 1 male and 1 female July 8: ONE: 1 female (1) July 16: ONE: 1 female July 23: ONE: 1 female July 24: ONE: 1 female July 26: ONE: 1 male July 29: ONE: 1 male (2) July 31: TWO: 1 male and 1 female August 5: ONE: 1 male August 6: ONE: 1 female August 8: THREE: 2 males and 1 female August 15: TWO: 2 males August 16: TWO: 2 females August 17: TWO: 2 males August 18: FOUR: 3 females and 1 male August 19: ONE: 1 male August 20: ONE: 1 male August 28: ONE: 1 female September 1: ONE: 1 female September 3: ONE: 1 male (3) September 5: ONE: 1 male (4) September 7: ONE: 1 female (5) September 8: TWO: 1 female and 1 male (6) September 10: TWO: 1 male and 1 female (7) September 11: ONE: 1 female (8) September 12: THREE: 2 males and 1 female (9) September 13: FOUR: 2 males and 2 females September 14: FOUR: 3 males and 1 female (10) September 15: FOUR: 4 males September 16: EIGHT: 4 males and 4 females (11) September 18: FOUR: 2 males and 2 females September 20: THREE: 2 males and 1 female September 21: ONE: 1 female September 23: FIVE: 3 males and 2 females September 24: ONE: 1 female September 25: THREE: 1 male and 2 females September 26: ONE: 1 female September 27: ONE: 1 male September 30: TWO: 1 male and 1 female (12) October 2: ONE: 1 male (13) October 7: ONE: 1 male October 10: ONE: 1 male (14) October 11: ONE: 1 female |
NOTES (1) July 8. Female which had been sick (vomited as caterpillar) and put into hospital to pupate, emerged with symmetrical holes on both sides of her forewings. I took photos and released her. She was able to fly well in spite of the holes.Photo at left. (2) July 28: A storm with strong winds blew down my taller enclosure and the bottom broke out, leaving that side exposed to the dirt and grass. One caterpillar had climbed to the top and chosen a corner to snuggle into while it prepared to J-hang, but when I went out after the storm subsided, this one was gone and was never seen again. A second caterpillar was already in a J-hang so was more securely attached, but was soaked and kind of stuck to the side of the enclosure. I did not touch it. Amazingly, it dried out and went into chrysalis at 12:30pm! Also, there was one chrysalis at the time. It was soaked by the storm and blown down. I retrieved it and laid it in hospital on a soft rag. It subsequently dried, hardened, and cracked as mud would in the sun. The butterfly actually emerged the following day (July 29). It was a male. One leg was stuck to the side of the chrysalis's transparent shell and he fought vigorously to free it as he tried to climb up from the soft rag, and up the wall, to assume a proper vertical eclosing position. I pulled the chrysalis shell off his leg with a tweezers and he calmed down and rested on the wall. Four hours later, I released him; he flew well and seemed healthy. 
(3) September 3. Beautiful male emerged, large and dark orange, perfect in every way, but lethargic. Slow to flap his wings and try to fly. After 4 hours, I tried to release him, but he moved very slowly and then simply fell — I caught him on a paper towel as he fell and put him back in the enclosure. Important note: It was cold and windy outside. Next morning (September 4), he was still quiet and unmoving, hanging in the NW corner of the enclosure. I brought him outside and put him on the sedum in the full sun when the temperature reached 60. He very quickly became active and began to pump his wings. Then quite suddenly he lifted off and flew away.(4) September 5. Male emerged at 2pm, looking perfect, but lethargic and weak. Temperature outside was cold. Also cold inside the house; in fact, this was the first time I had turned on the furance. After 4 hours, I took him out and put him on the blooming sedum, but he was weak and kept falling and stumbling, so I put him back in the enclosure. In the morning, I waited until there was full sun and then released him. (5) September 7. Female emerged from chrysalis and fell straight to the floor, before she even dried or straightened out, just a wet, crumpled heap. At first I thought she was dead, but then she began to move and struggle. I watched while she slowly made her way up the wall to the top and then just hung on. Next morning, she showed no desire to come  out when I opened the door. I plucked her out and put her on the goldenrod, but there was a horde of bees on the goldenrod that immediately began attacking her! I moved her to the sedum, but the same thing happened with a bunch of honeybees, aggressively flying at her and hitting her. So I moved her to the milkweed and there she stayed, weakly. Next morning, she was still there. Later, I found her just sitting in the grass.(6) September 8. One male and one female emerged in the evening, both beautifully formed and colored. As it was late, I let them stay in the enclosure until the next morning. In the morning, they were still unmoving. I had to prod and poke at them to wake them up and even then, they did so gradually. They were in that butterfly trance, where it seems nothing can make them move. I put a stalk of goldenrod in their faces, and they both grabbed on, so I carried the stalk with the two of them over to the patch of milkweed, where yeterday's female was still holding on. When I came back an hour later, all three were gone! (7) September 10. Two emerged, a female at 1:00pm followed by a male at 2:00pm, both perfectly formed, bright orange, and healthy. However, the female was the WILDEST creature I've ever raised. Within the first hour of emerging, she was beating her wings like crazy and traveling all over the enlosure, up and down, across one way and back again, then flying right into the other chrysalises and caterpillars carelessly and wildly. She kept coming up against one J-hanging caterpillar that OF COURSE decided to pupate just at that moment!  I watched in horror while his chrysalis began forming at the back of his head and at the same time, she was smacking it with her feet and wings. The pupating process stopped completely, and the caterpillar began curling up tightly in defense, even as hung onto it, cutting it with her feet and beating it with her wings. Her assault began to damage it and it started to bleed black from several cuts. A pool of blood formed on the paper towels underneath. I changed them out, but soon there were three more big drops. She was so wild and damaging, I just opened the door at 2 hours post-emerge and she flew out immediately.
The male, which had emerged an hour after the female, behaved normally at first and then suddenly went berserk just like the female had, and began crawling, flapping, climbing, and flying all over and beating his wings wildly, banging into the hanging chrysalises, flapping at them with his wings, grabbing and hanging on, etc. After a period of time during which he did not stop this frantic activity, I just opened the door and let him go. It was still short of 2 hours since he had emerged, but he flew out immediately. I thought back to the first four caterpillars of the season, how calm they had been. They would have never behaved this way.
The caterpillar that had begun to form a chrysalis during the fiasco with the female was showing injuries and was wet with black blood dripping down. An hour later, I checked on it and it looked terrible. Its "chrysalis" was still aborted at the very beginning, about the size of a dime, and the rest was still caterpillar, its body now thin, twisted, and elongated. It looked terrible and I thought if it wasn't dead, it surely would be soon. But just on the chance that it might survive, I moved it to the hospital. (8) One female, large and dark orange, emerged, and as the one yesterday, very active, beating her wings, flying around, appearing desperate to get out. I opened the door for her at just 2 hours and she flew out immediately, but wasn't strong enough yet and just landed in the grass. I walked toward her and she flew again, but only about 10 feet and landed again in the grass. I picked her up and put her back in the enclosure. I gave her one more hour, then went out and found her beating her wings and flying crazily around. In her frantic beatings and moving around near the chrysalises that were still hanging, she had cut one of them, likely with her feet or her beating wings, and it had begun to bleed drops of blood. I opened the door and she flew straight out and this time went up up up and I lost sight of her. The injured chrysalis dropped blood for awhile longer, and then stopped. I will wait to see how it comes out. I took a picture of it.
(9) September 12, three emerged, beautiful and healthy, 2 male and 1 female. They were energetic and strong. The 2 males had emerged at exactly the same moment — 11am — and I let them go at 2pm. The female had emerged an hour later. I tried to release her with them, but she wasn't ready and landed in the grass. I put her back in the enclosure for another hour. (10) September 14, four emerged at exactly the same time — 9am — three males and one female. It was amazing to watch them all break out at once. They were all big, perfect, and bright orange, very active and eager to go. I released them at 3-1/2 hours and they all flew beautifully. One of the males had been in hospital since being sick as a caterpillar. No sign of any sickness or injury now; he was active and perfect. (11) September 16. Eight butterflies emerged, 4 male and 4 female, all healthy and eager.
One of them hung onto the J-hang-caterpillar right next to it, instead of holding onto its own chrysalis shell, as would have been proper. The J-hang reacted to its grasp and began violently curling and twisting. But the butterfly clung on tightly! I had to reach in and pull it off the J-hang. I moved the butterfly to a different part of the enclosure. It had just emerged and was still wet. The impression of my fingers caused a strange crimp in the wing as it dried. Awhile later the same day, I went to check on it and a drop of blood had congealed at the bottom of the chrysalis (see photo at left). October 2: Update: The butterfly (male) appeared to be perfect upon emerging. I couldn’t immediately tell if anything about it was malformed, but the wings were fine. After 3 hours, I went back out and now I could see all the legs and antenna and everything looked fine. He was flapping and moving around, so I opened the door and he raced out! (12) September 30, two butterflies emerged at exactly the same second; one male, one female. Both perfect and healthy and raring to go. 
(13) October 2, one male, perfectly formed, but quiet and lethargic. I tried to release him after 4 hours, but he just dropped to the grass and sat there. After awhile, I picked him up and put him back in the enclosure, since it was getting dark. Next morning, he was still listless, but at 10:30am when the temperature rose to 53, I put him in the direct sun on a yellow Rudbeckia. He hung on for half an hour, and at 11:00am, he took off and flew up to the garage roof and settled down. It is very sunny up there and the asphalt shingles are probably the warmest place around. Right now it is 56 degrees. (14) October 10. One male. This guy had been put in the hospital because as a 5th instar, he had begun to bleed for no known reason. I had found large black pools of his blood on the paper towels. I moved him to the hospital to protect the others from his unknown malady in case it was contagious, and within the first 24 hours, he had pupated and the chrysalis looked normal. He emerged October 10 in the afternoon and looked good, but lethargic. As it was evening, I decided to let him stay overnight. In the morning, he was still lethargic, but I moved the enclosure into the sun to help him jump-start. He did become more active, and around 12noon, I opened the door and he came out. He flew about 3 feet to the wildflower patch and just hung on to a stalk. I finally left, but came back later and found him in the grass, just settled down. As I got nearer to him, he flew up and made his first really long flight, up and around the yard and then into the neighbor’s tall tree. That was the last I saw of him. There were three 5th instar caterpillars in September in my tuberosa garden that I did not bring in. I checked on them several times each day and they always appeared fat and healthy. On October 1, all three vanished. I searched for J-hangs and later for chrysalises, but never found any. I like to think, since they had beat the odds and survived that long, all three crawled off to some secret hiding place, pupated, and flew away. |
FATALITIES 
July 26: One caterpillar, collected as 4th insta ejected at least one large, red, liquid drop from its anus, and died. The area around the anus was stained reddish pink from the liquid. I took photos and shared the information and the photos on a Facebook Monarch group. This red liquid seemed to be quite unusual, as most responders were bewildered, but two suggested the caterpillar had a bacterial infection of the Serratia or Pseudomonas group. Photo at right.July 26: A caterpillar I had collected as 4th or possibly 5th instar discovered in the morning, just rolled over on its side, dead. No clue. July 26: A caterpillar I had collected as 5th instar died of T-fly. Photo left July 28: Lost one caterpillar when the enclosure blew down in a storm. July 30: A caterpillar collected at 5th instar assumed J-hang, but his J was sick right from the start: not a tight fat J; rather, it was just a limp hang, no muscle tone, and antennae straight down in a sag. Soon died. August 1: A mature-collected caterpillar repeated the same sick, limp J-hang as the one on July 30. I recognized it immediately and removed him from the enclosure. August 10: Found a caterpillar dead on the floor, exactly the same as July 26, just rolled over on its side and dead. No clue. September 5: A chrysalis turned a strange, solid black (not normal). In the morning, I found it had opened and the (male) butterfly was on the floor of the enclosure. Its left side appeared normal, but its right side was badly distorted, both left wings crazily crumpled and malformed. It was flopping around vigorously, but unable to move with any organization. I tested it for OE, and the results were negative. I took pictures and put it outside under the sedum to let nature take its course. September 9: When the antennae of a caterpillar in the J-hang went straight and limp, I hung around to watch it pupate, but it didn't. Instead, it would periodically curl up tight and squirm as if something hurt. After several hours of being in the limp-antenna position and not pupating, I knew it was doomed. In the morning, I found it dead, hanging straight down, dead, but there was no T-fly string or larva. 
 September 12: A 3rd instar caterpillar stopped eating, crawled to the bottom of the enclosure and just lay there. I left it alone, but the next day it looked swollen, twisted, and very sick. I took it out and put him on a paper towel to study more closely. At this point, it was dead or near-dead. Its body was very swollen, to the piont of almost bursting, and was a strange pink color like a pig, bursting out between segments of the exoskeleton. The end of the body had a darker, reddish color. I took photos. Maybe the same bacterial infection as the one on July 26? Photo right. |
Contact: MonarchsMidwest@gmail.com.Thoughts and comments welcome.
