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Monarch Identification Bookmark/Chart
This 2-sided chart can be used to identify the sex of adult butterflies, the instar stages of caterpillars and to help find monarch eggs. Available on this website and Art Fire.
Monarch Butterfly Posters & Photos
Several monarch butterfly photos are available as posters and giclee photos on this website, Imagekind, Fine Art America, and Art Fire.
Monarch Butterfly Metamorphosis Poster
This educational poster includes 33 photos with commentary that highlight the differences between the sexes, an example of common milkweed, 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. Various sizes are available on this website, Art Fire, Imagekind, Cafe Press, and Fine Art America.
Shane’s Monarch Book, 2nd Edition
My son loves small books and he wanted a picture book of the monarchs. So I made one ACEO sized. This 14 page book has photos showing the metamorphosis cycle. I let Shane help pick the photos, so some are different from the poster. 2.5"x3.5". Available on this website and Art Fire.
Art supplies, framing supplies, resin casting supplies:
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Miscellaneous:
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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 received a book on insects for his 6th birthday from Aunt Angela. And so, the caterpillar came home with us and was the start of an ongoing family project. Actually, it has become a bit of an obsession. At times, I have sacrificed sleep in order to get the photos I wanted -- you have to live on the monarch’s schedule. This is an awesome transformation that we wish to share with you.
We would like you to know that we appreciate your emails and questions and as a result, I’ve expanded our monarch information to cover the most frequently asked questions and have added pages for different topics. The monarch segment of my website is meant to a photo journal of our experience with monarchs and I will include information that seems relevant or interesting. If you would like a more scientific discussion of monarchs, there are links on these pages and at the bottom of this page to sites run by monarch biologists. If you would like to swap website links with me, just email me.
You can also follow our adventure through Facebook and Twitter.
Valerie, Joel and Shane Evanson
PS: Below you will find a short Windows Media Player video that Shane made at school as a 3rd grade project on family traditions. The project culminated in this video, which was given to us at Christmas (2009) and was a surprize. Click on the play button to see and hear what Shane has to say about raising monarchs.
Starting in 2008, we decided to approach raising monarchs in a more scientific way. Our butterflies are checked for Oe with a microscope (Celestron 44340) before releasing them, and record all of our data on Excel spreadsheets. The data is then submitted to the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project (MLMP) website.
2008 Monarch Study: click to check out our general rearing data and procedures for the study. We wanted to know the average days of each stage, and here is what we found:
| Stage | Number of Monarchs Studied |
Average Days for Stage |
| Egg: Collection to Hatching | 43 | 2.4 |
| 1st Instar | 40 | 2.9 |
| 2nd Instar | 51 | 2.2 |
| 3rd Instar | 53 | 2.3 |
| 4th Instar | 56 | 2.7 |
| 5th Instar | 51 | 4.9 |
| Hatch Date to Pupa Formation | 34 | 15 |
| Pupa Formation to Eclosion | 41 | 10.7 |
| Hatch Date to Eclosion | 25 | 25.9 |
2009 Monarch Study: Our 2009 study has drawn to a close and the tallies are listed. We collected over 400 monarchs! We tried to grow common milkweed from cuttings (photo to the right), but were unsuccessful. We found that tropical and swamp milkweed eagerly rooted in water. Butterfly weed may root in water. The highlight of the season was the day we released 18 butterflies.
2010 Monarch Study: We are growing milkweed in the basement over the winter. We should see our first monarchs in May.
Here is a sample of my original paintings where butterflies are the subject. All of these pieces have been sold. To see if there is any new butterfly original artwork, go to my Original Drawings and Paintings for Sale page.
These websites will give you more information on monarchs and clicking on the link will open a new window with Java script.
Monarch Watch. Extensive biological information on monarchs. You can purchase caterpillars from them. We get our tagging kits through this group.
Monarch Larva Monitoring Project. We participate in this watch program. It also has a great Links page.
Monarch Parasites.org Lots of info on monarch diseases. They also have a monarch watch program.
Butterfly Encounters A great source for a variety of milkweed seeds.
Butterflybushes.com. You can purchase eggs and caterpillars from this website. I have purchased milkweed plants from them. You may want to order early, as they usually sell out quickly.
Educational Science You can purchase eggs, caterpillars, and butterflies from this website. They also sell special monarch food and a disinfectant for disease problems.
NY Site. More info on monarchs.
Butterflies and Wildlife.com Blog on Monarchs, butterfly gardening, birds and more in Houston, Texas. Great photos and videos.
Live Monarchs You can purchase eggs, caterpillars, and butterflies from this website in addition to milkweed plants and seeds.
Seneca Hill Perennials You can purchase milkweed plants from them.
The Incredible Journey of the Butterflies Beautiful film by Nova which traces the life cycle of the monarch from Canada to Mexico. Available from Amazon.