Monarch Butterfly Mania
It all started on a family hike in July 2007 when Shane said, "Look, a monarch caterpillar!" He was right! He had learned about the life cycle of monarchs in Kindergarten and had just received a book on insects for his 6th birthday. And so, the caterpillar came home with us and was the start of a family project. Actually, it became a bit of an obsession. At times, I sacrificed sleep in order to get the photos I wanted -- you have to live on the monarch’s schedule. This is a awesome transformation that we would like to share with you.
Milkweed, Eggs & Caterpillars: With a bug collecting container in hand, Shane (photo A), is searching for eggs (photo B), which are about 1mm in length, and young caterpillars on the underside of the leaves. Because monarch caterpillars eat only milkweed and the eggs are laid on milkweed (which is easy to spot in late summer because of the unique seed pods, photo C) , our quest for more food led to acquiring more caterpillars. When we find an egg or small caterpillar, we usually take the whole leave to avoid injury to the egg or larva. The recently hatched larva in photo D is actually 1/8" long, which is too small to touch! Caterpillars that are 1" or longer can be handled safely.
Housing: I decided to set up the monarchs in our old plastic aquarium (photos E left). At first they shared their space with a woolly bear, who is a fast-moving caterpillar that likes to dine on my daylily leaves, but then we moved Mr. Woolly to his own container so that Shane could play with him without disturbing the monarchs. You could house the monarchs in a jar with holes punched in the top or in a plastic container like Mr. Woolly’s (photos E right), which has a hole cut out of the lid and a piece of screen taped over it, but we prefer the aquarium for the monarchs.
In the aquarium I placed 2 glass dishes filled with stones and water. The water level has to be kept below the top layer of stones to prevent accidental drowning of small caterpillars – we learned this the hard way. The stones anchor the leaves or stalks and keep them fresh until devoured. I usually put a leaf or 2 on the bottom of the tank in case someone falls or wanders and needs a snack. If there are large caterpillars, I also place a stick in the aquarium for chrysalis formation. I anchor the stick in a jar with stones or marbles so that it can be removed without disturbing the chrysalis too much. Shane finds it amusing that these creatures seem to be eating, pooping machines. For me, it means that I have to clean the aquarium every other day for small caterpillars. If there are 2 or more large ones, I sometimes clean it twice a day. Cleaning includes washing everything (except for the caterpillars) with 10% bleach to kill any parasites. I then put fresh water with stones and provide fresh bleached milkweed.
Shedding the Skin: Normally, monarch caterpillars are very busy with eating and growing. Although we haven’t put them on the postal scale, they appear to double in size every 12 hours. Long periods of rest signal that either the caterpillar is sick or that it is about to shed it skin, which it will do 5 times. In one instance, we had 7 larvae of various ages, 5 of which had been introduced the previous day. For several hours no one ate anything and I was getting concerned that they were all sick. To my relief and surprise, they were all about to shed their skins! In photo F1 the face capsule is still attached and the skin is halfway off. In photo F2 the face capsule has been shed. Notice the yellow head. In F3 the larva is shaking his butt to get the skin off. 30 minutes later the black stripes on the head have started to appear in photo F4.
2 Weeks/2 Inches: After the caterpillar reaches about 2” long (photo G), which is around 2 weeks of age, it’s soon time for it to pupate. Instead of eating, they tend to wander about the aquarium, often walking on the lid or on the stick. Sometimes they spin lots of silk on the side of the aquarium. Then they might go back to eating for a little while before deciding where to spin the final silk pad.
The J: It starts with the larva spinning the final silk pad (photo H1, note arrow). Eventually he will hang in the shape of a "J" (photo H2) from this pad by his last pair of prolegs. Most of our larvae hung in the J formation for 12-15 hours before pupating, although one hung for 24 hours. Shane and Joel helped with recording the times that the larvae started their J formation, so I would have an idea of when I needed to be ready to photograph the change to the pupal stage. In photo H3 you can see that the larva’s tentacles are rounded and have some rigidity. You will also begin to notice the green pupa underneather the skin (photo H4 arrow). About an hour before the larva is about to pupate, the tentacles (photos H2 and H4) will wilt.
The Pupal Stage: A larva shedding its skin is interesting, but the transformation to the pupal stage (chrysalis) leaves you in awe! After the tentacles have wilted as discussed above, the larva may wiggle around, the mouth parts will move and it will begin to push its skin towards the last pair of prolegs. Then it will hang straight and the skin will split near the head (photo I1). If all goes perfectly, it will take about a minute for the skin to be completely shed from the pupa (photos I1-4), which will hook its cremaster (photo I4 arrow) into the silk pad.
Of course, larvae do not always attach themselves to the most ideal surfaces. After several hours, the chrysalis is dry enough to move. If I want to take good photos of the chyrsalis, I will take the time to carefully scrap it off the surface (photo J1) with an exacto knife and then glue it to stick with a super glue or a thick craft glue. The easiest method is to tie it by the cremaster (photo J2) and then scrap it off and tie it to a stick (photo J3) or screen (if you have made an emerging cage). At this point, I usually keep the chrysalis in my studio, where it safe from our cats and it makes cleaning the aquarium easier.
The chrysalis (photo K) is one of God’s works of art! It is a delicate jade green with metallic gold and black accents. You can see where the wings will form. The head of the butterfly is at the bottom and the abdomen at the top. You can weigh the chrysalis periodically to check on its development, but I have not bothered to do this. If all goes well, in 10-14 days the butterfly will be ready to eclose (emerge).
Eclosure of the Monarch Butterfly: Watching the butterfly eclose from the chrysalis and unfold its wings is every bit as amazing as watching the chrysalis form. L1 was taken at 9 days at 12:50pm. The rest of the photos were taken on day 10. L2 was taken 12 hours later at 12:57am after I got home from work. By the time I got up, the chrysalis was even clearer at 9:16am. By 1:15pm I noticed a ridge had formed (photo L4 arrow). At 2:36pm I noticed that a second ridge had formed (photo L5 arrow). This second ridge has not occurred in all of our crysalises. When I checked on the butterfly 10 minutes later, he was coming out of the chrysalis and I barely had time to grab the camera (photo L6).
Even after the butterfly ecloses, it will be 3-4 hours before he is fully dry. The butterfly needs to stretch his wings (photo M1) while hanging onto something rough. If the butterfly is unable to hang and let his wings dry, then they will dry folded and he will not be able to fly. We came up with 2 quick emerging cages, which prevent our guests from flying around the house and getting into trouble with our cats. The first is a large snack container (photo M2) with a piece of burlap (screen material also works well) dangling inside the container and a piece of nylon mesh over the opening. The second is a mesh shower tote (photo M3) I found at the drugstore on sale for $3. Either of these containers can be disinfected if the butterfly is infected with Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (more on this in a moment). I also dispose of any sticks after one use to prevent potential spread of parasites. If we are unable to release the butterfly within 6-8 hours, we also provide fresh flowers and/or a sponge soaked with fruit juice (photo M2). The local butterfly house also feeds their butterflies mashed banana or melon.
Diseases and Parasites: It is worth reading about the diseases and parasites that plague monarchs if you intend to try raising them yourself. You can visit the webpage links at the bottom of the page for more detailed reading. Some of the problems we have encountered include the following:
- Ophryocystis elektroscirrha or Oe is a microscope parasite that is the arch enemy of monarchs. The dark brown coloration on the chrysalis in photo N1 started to occur on day 9. After reading on the web I realized that it was infected with Oe and destroyed it. I have noticed the spots occurring as early as the beginning of the 2nd week. Oe could be responsible for some of these other problems, but they could also be caused by diseases, viruses or other parasites.
- We had 2 caterpillars stop eating and die.
- We had 2 caterpillars turn black and die.
- Our most frequent problem has been the failure of the larva to fully pupate as shown in photo N2. This fellow got stuck at this point, oozed green juice and died. They do not always ooze juice. After we started bleaching our milkweed, we had less problem with this.
- Parasitoids are another problem. In this case, the monarch larva becomes host to the larva of a fly or wasp. We have had at least 2 caterpillars with this. One night I came home to find a caterpillar hanging from the back of a leaf by his prolegs. Brown spots (photo N3 arrow, incidently this is not the caterpillar in the story) had developed on his body. I snipped the leaf and moved him to a jar. After doing some kitchen tasks I came back to find a yellow maggot wriggling out of the monarch carcass. It was just like a sci-fi flick! I was horrified and destroyed the maggot.
- In one instance we had a larva hang in J formation for 24 hours and then it took him about 45 minutes to pupate. The chrysalis finally dried to the shape shown in N4. Eventually the chrysalis developed brown spots as shown in N1 and it started to fill with brown fluid instead of a butterfly. We froze it in a plastic bag to kill the Oe and threw it in the trash.
- When our butterflies first started to emerge, we noticed that they seemed to have two proboscises (photo N5 arrows). I wasn’t sure if this was a mutation or a result of the Oe. I was concerned and contacted biologist Karen Oberhauser, who specializes in monarchs. She said that it is normal for the proboscis to be split, but that it should fuse together shortly after the butterfly ecloses. If the butterfly is weak or infected with Oe, it may not fuse together.
I am guessing that we will be continuing our butterfly project next year and will choose one of the monarch research projects to be involved with. Joel would like to get Shane a reasonably good microscope regardless of the monarchs. We have a cheap one, but only Joel can get it to work. Then we will be able to check properly check the monarchs for Oe (even an apparently healthy monarch can be infected). I am going to sow some milkweed seeds this fall in my gardens. And our plans for raising them next year will be to collect only monarch eggs, which will be transferred to bleached milkweed. We might try raising them in separate containers also. This would minimize our risk for Oe and eliminate the parasitoid issue.
Monarch Artwork from Evanson Art & Design
Sales from this website or eBay are directly through me. If you cannot find inventory for an item at my eBay store, it has sold and will be relisted as soon as I print more. If you would like to be notified when the item is relisted, email me. For Cafe Press items, I provide the images and control what products they are on, but Cafe Press takes care of all the printing and business. Links to Cafe Press and eBay use Java Script to open a second window to those sites and you may have to click on Allow Blocked Content on your tool bar content to access those windows.
 |
Kitten & Monarch Original miniature acrylic painting on canvas, resin frame, 1 7/8" x 2 1/4". Sold |
 |
05P12 Monarch Butterfly Monarch butterfly exploring a purple coneflower. Giclee photos available on this website. Sizes: ACEO, 4"x6", 5"x7", 8"x10" |
 |
Monarch Butterfly Metamorphosis Poster This educational poster includes 30 photos with commentary that highlight a monarch egg hatching, a caterpillar shedding its skin, the 5 instar stages, a caterpillar changing to a chrysalis, the changes in the chrysalis, and the butterfly emerging. Great for butterfly buffs. Perfect for teachers, especially if you raise monarchs in your classroom. Posters printed by me in sizes 8.5"x11" or 13"x19" are available on this website. Posters are available on eBay and Etsy Also available through Cafe Press. Sizes include: 11"x17", 16"x20" and 23"x35" |
 |
Shane's Monarch Book My son loves small books and he wanted a picture book of the monarchs. So I decided to make one ACEO sized. This 16 page book is printed on heavy glossy paper and has photos showing the egg hatching, a caterpillar shedding its skin, a caterpillar changing to a chrysalis, changes in the chrysalis, and the butterfly emerging. I let Shane help pick the photos, so some are different from the poster. He did not want any words with the photos, so I put a brief description of the photos on page 16. 2.5"x3.5". Printed on 48lb. HP glossy brochure paper. Available on this website. Sometimes available on eBay. |
 |
Monarch Images on Cafe Press These images are exclusive to items I sell via CafePress. Just don’t hang around ... Transform! This image is available on the front and back of several t-shirts and sweat shirts plus a few items. Monarch Metamorphosis and Monarch Butterfly Are available on various products, particularly clothes. Monarch Metamorphosis (black background) Is available on cards, magnets, post cards, stickers, etc. Some of these items would be great momentos to give students if you are teaching about monarchs. Cafe Press gives discounts for bulk orders. Monarch Metamophosis Calendar The first 8 months show the metamophosis process with commentary. The last 4 months are butterfly photos. Metamorphosis (bottom image) Is available on mugs. |
Monarch Websites
These websites will give you more information on monarchs and clicking on the link will open a new window with Java script. Please note that federal regulations only allow monarch caterpillars and eggs to be shipped to certain states. Each website should detail which states they ship to. The links below use Java Script to open a second window to those sites and you may have to click on Allow Blocked on your tool bar content to access those windows.
Monarch Watch. Extensive biological information on monarchs. You can also purchase caterpillars from them.
Monarch Larva Monitoring Project. This is a project that anyone can be involved in. It also has a great Links page.
Monarch Parasites.org Lots of info on monarch diseases. They also have a monarch watch program.
Butterflybushes.com. You can purchase eggs and caterpillars from this website. They also sell milkweed plants.
NY Site. More info on monarchs.