There are no doors on a cocoon

Pam in Ashburn think she has insect cocoons outside her balcony. I saw them for the first time today from ground level and have not opened the door since. There is no way they're going to be active in this freezing cold.
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Where to look for a Monarch Chrysalis in the Butterfly Garden?

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I have 2 that pupated about 9 days ago. I have another that pupated yesterday. The one that pupated yesterday has a pupa that is significantly smaller than the other 2 pupae. Is this a cause for concern? All you can do now is monitor and hope for the best…. I was wondering what to do with a chrysalis that has formed looking strange. Should I remove the good chrysalis and relocate it and wait and see what happens with the strange one or just euthanize the odd one? Thanks for all your help with these beautiful creatures!

I have been restoring habitat on our land for native plants, insects, birds and other wildlife. Caterpillar 1 — On Saturday I brought my first ever caterpillar inside to an enclosure on its sprig of Swamp Milkweed [Asclepias incarnata]. Within 24 hours it stopped eating and has become a beautiful crysalis hanging on a stick.

Caterpillar 2 — On Sunday I found another large larva eating Common Milkweed [Asclepias syriaca] and brought that cat inside to the enclosure on its sprig. Then it began to look for a place to pupate. All night it remained motionless parallel to the underside of a stick. The goal is success for the butterfly! The last frass prior to this was a medium coral color! A friend who used to raise all kinds of moths and butterflies just told me that the last frass prior to the last molt is often an unusual color or consistency, although orange is a bit unusual.

I had many chrysalises on my milkweeds but none of them successfully hatched this time. Some of them failed to fully come out of chrysalis, some of them came of with deformed wings and died. I am in NZ and the weather is fairly warm throughout year. It is the beginning of spring and those caterpillars were growing during the winter. During the summer every thing was ok, This winter we had too much rain but was not really cold. Can you think about any causes of deformed wings or death?

Observing the chrysalis I could see that it was shaped oddly on one side but it looked like the wing was intact. She was raised from an egg that I pulled from our garden milkweed and I tend to think this may be a genetic defect vs. Hi Andrew, sorry to hear about the lady with the missing wing…. I have a question about the relocation of a chrysalis: Currently, I have tied them with floss to sticks and they are on average 1. Most will start emerging at different times and I have done my best to stagger them ; but, there are a few that formed their chrysalis within hours of each other.

My son and I have been raising some caterpillars we found this summer in a hay field. We took them as the hay was about to be cut and they would have been cut down. They all seemed healthy and made it to chrysalis stage but now are not emerging? It has been 3 weeks and I am worried. They are all still hard to the touch and the beautiful green. Should we continue to wait? We have 9 and they all formed pupated within 3 days of each other.

Thanks for any suggestions you might have! Hi Jackie, if the chrysalises are green and look healthy, I would definitely continue to monitor. If the weather is cool, it can slow down metamorphosis although 3 weeks is a long time. Last month I found a monarch egg and was able to raise him and watch him pupate successfully. When he turned dark I thought for sure he would emerge with the 24 hour window but three days went by and he still had emerged. You the chrysalis looked healthy and you could see his wings, but everywhere I read they said that more than 48 hours and they probably died.

I was sad to think that had happened and took it outside and opened the chrysalis expecting him to be dead but he was still alive! I eventually just placed him outside on some plants. What do you think happened? I should mention that when I tried to hang him he fell a few times. Hi Ashlee, the butterfly was sick and I would have euthanized to avoid spreading disease. Hi Linda, not normal but should be ok if the dripping stopped quickly and the chrysalis looks normal. It pretty much just sits still most of the day. When we first got it it was very active. Should I be concerned or is this normal?

A few weeks ago I raised 11 caterpillars with all 11 successfully developing and I released 11 healthy butterflies. I removed the diseased chrysalis from the others. Any idea what might be happening? My first time raising monarchs. Thank you for your information. This round of caterpillars is a disaster. Seems I have a tachinid fly issue. I isolated an infected chrysalis and after a few days, I tiny white maggot emerged from that chrysalis. What a learning experience. I will only bring in eggs next year or ones that have just hatched. My wife and I have been reporting Monarch migration sightings for a number of years, and even collected a few cats and raised them successfully.

Yesterday a friend of mine while moving a big rock from a field found a large number of intact chrysalises underneath, like something had stored them there. He brought 49 to us that we are now seeing if they will hatch. Lots of milkweed in this field. I have a hard time imagining that they all crawled under this rock and piled up together. I suspect chipmunks or mice were collecting them for winter.

Have you ever heard or seen such a thing. He said there must of been of them but sadly a lot were killed when he moved the big rock with his tractor. I found your site looking for hatching information. We live in upstate NY and the monarchs are just hatching out. There seems to be more that in the past few years.

That is fascinating Keith…I would guess mice or rats but you never know unless you catch them green-handed. Hello Tony, this is my first time rearing Monarch caterpillars. One amazing cat molted 3 times in one week and is as big or bigger than ones hatched 3 weeks ago! I read that this is where their heart is and could possibly be a sign of disease or genetic defect. Any ideas on what could cause it? Or releasing diseased cats. But there have been seemingly healthy cats with the dead and different cats, prior to symptom recognition and isolation.

Now I am working on monarch butterfly life cycle. On dated pupa has been done arround 9: Arround 8 pm accidentally pupa has been holed at bottom and leak out some amount of black color liquid.

After that holed area covered and now no liquid coming. I want to ask you what will be the effect of the pupa growth, it will damaged? But if it stopped leaking and still looks normal, you should hopefully be in good shape…good luck! I have about 5 chrysalides in a 10 gallon aquarium and had another 4 in a mesh pop up. They still all look healthy.

The only difference I can think of was I had the aquarium on the front porch at first but brought it in when it was cooler, whereas the pop up habitat has been in the house since the start. Is there something wrong with the ones in the aquarium. We have a crysalis that has attached to the side of our cage. There also are four others that are hanging from the top. Would it be okay to unhook the screen and raise it so he is hanging vertically from the cage rather than horizontally.

There is alot of silk on the screen and I am afraid the one side of the crysalis appears to be flattened. I am so afraid to hurt the crysalis. We thought about cutting out that part of the screen and attaching it to the top of the cage but I am so afraid I will hurt it. Hi Lisa, yes, allowing the chrysalis to hang down sounds like a good plan. We have had 3 Monarchs for about 21 days now. After a couple weeks, our biggest formed a chrysalis without any problems.

It has about 3 days to go. As for the other two, they have been caterpillars for over 20 days now and have stopped eating about three days ago. One is just resting on a milkweed leaf and the other is on the underside of a branch. I believe they are dying as the upside down cat will release its rear from the branch once in awhile like he is too tired to hold on. We are in Southeastern Michigan and last week temps dropped at night to below 50 degrees. The cats are inside but maybe the house was too cool? We are not sure what to do. All you can do is provide fresh milkweed and hope they start eating.

I am raising monarchs for the 1st time outdoors and have 2 issues. I currently have about 8 cats in different stages and 8 chrysalides. One of the chrysalis emerged last night, but the butterfly was on the floor of the box and his wings were still soft. They are on my back porch and it dropped colder than I expected last night…. Could the cold have been the problem or something else? Also, a cat fell in the beginning stages of chrysalis development.

It was a soft landing as I have shredded paper in the bottom of the box, but since it was still moving I brought him indoors to finish. There was some fluid emerging from the chrysalis, but not a lot and there is now a small black spot on the outside of the developed chrysalis. I was able to hang it and it looks fine other than the spot.

Hopefully it was just a fluke…good luck. Hi, I found this site after a google search about how to help a fallen chrysalis. I love how excited my students get about these little guys. I recently had my first chrysalis. Today I went to clean the enclosure and found another chrysalis on the ground! I never saw him hang at all so I think he just formed on the ground. Should I just let him try to hatch on the ground? Hi Annette, you could rehang by tying waxed dental floss around the black cremaster above chrysalis or place the chrysalis on a mesh cage floor by a mesh wall so the butterfly can climb when it emerges….

Last night, my monarch caterpillar was hanging in J and fell. He was still in the J shape but laying on the floor. I read somewhere that you can touch his last set of prolegs to the silk button and he will stick to that. That seemed to work, so I left him hanging there overnight. This morning I woke up to find him with his skin split only at the bottom- near his head. He is just hanging there with a little bit of his chrysalis exposed.

Do you think that I should assume that he is dead? Should I try to peel back the rest of his skin? Thanks for any insight you can provide. Sorry Amy, your monarch died trying to form its chrysalis. Hi, I have 8 monarchs in the chrysalis stage indoors. The first one started 14 days ago and still looks the same- none have emerged. Are they supposed to take this long or is something wrong? Hi Sandy, it can take longer for them to emerge when the temps cool down. If the chrysalis still looks healthy I would not worry….

The chrysalides still all look healthy and green.

I have 4 more coming along. They appear to be in the 3rd instar. I had a butterfly that hatched but it fell to the bottom of the container rather than hanging to dry its wings. Hi Katrina, you can either put it inside a plastic baggie and put in the freezer, or place inside a paper towel and squeeze. How long will it take to die in the freezer? Also I just found a Monarch outside that has curled wingtips, thus unable to fly. I brought it in and put in my butterfly pen with some sugar water — but is there anything I can do for it or should it be euthanized?

Hi Katrina, I would leave them in for about 24 hours if you use that method. Whatever works best, Tony. My sixth one is concerning me. I had to move the stick the black chrysalis was hanging on. As I did if fell about 12 inches onto a stack of papers. It is now lying there without the top. Will the monarch still emerge? Have I inadvertently killed the boy little guy? Is there anything I can do to help it at this point? If you have a mesh cage set it by a wall so it can climb up to hang. It will have to hang right away so the wings can dry properly….

Thanks for this fantastic resource on Monarchs! I am trying to raise Monarchs for the first time. I have 1 chrysalis, 1 medium cat, and 3 eggs. Will my Monarchs still have time to mature and migrate? Any special precautions I should take? I just had a cage of cats die and I think it might be from some milkweed I recently purchased at a nursery. Yes, if you cut back, it should be fine to use next season. I have a few chrysalide and one of them turned to a brown almost black a couple days after it formed should I be worried and is it possibly dead or diseased?? Let me know please thank you.

Same exact thing happened one a chrysalis I have. Formed on the 7th of Sept. I removed it today and it has a crack on the one side. I successfully raised 11 cats this year for the first time and released 11 healthy butterflies so this is disappointing. Hi, I had one of my cats form his chrysalis on the side of the fish take a use to raise my cats. I thought about moving it several times but I was afraid to do it. Now the chrysalis is turning black and could hatch tomorrow or the next day.

Is it too late to move it now? Otherwise, it can be moved any time…good luck! I ended up moving him last night anyway and when I got home from work today he had come out of his chrysalis along with another. I should be able to release him tomorrow morning as long as the weather holds! I have 2 chrysalis. They do not look normal what should I do? Hey Kate, I would continue to monitor. If you brought these in as caterpillars it could potentially be tachinid fly parasites. Unfortunately, it sounds like a serious issue…. They acuallly hatched healthy! The red one turned out to be fine and the one that had fallen had hatched with its uper wings a little smaller, and she is darker, but she hatched fine: First, thank you for this site.

I come here A LOT for information and answers. I found and brought into an enclosed milkweed it is outside but wrapped in toulle , 4 smaller cats that are probably 2nd or 3rd instars. Last night I noticed they had all taken on a strange position and this morning, they are the same and it is worrying me! Are they too cold? Did the new milkweed make them sick? Are you on Facebook? I have been raising milkweed for 3 years now and this year I finally see half a dozen cats on the milkweed.

Can you kindly help me learn the monarch way?? Monarch Butterfly Garden Facebook. I was given some caterpillars and chrysalides from a friend. The 2 larger ones both attempted to hang and started forming their chrysalis but both died in the process. This was very disappointing. Thanks for your help! Hi Elaina, sorry to hear about your monarchs. Dying during pupation is common when caterpillars have ingested an insect growth regular pesticides. My question is I just had 4 Monarch caterpillars go to chrysalis but instead of the skin shedding outside the chrysalis normal the skin is visible inside the chrysalis the very top.

I live in Randolph Ctr. This year a healthy crop of milkweed decided to sprout up in my perennial garden. Over the past few weeks I have had the pleasure of observing many Monarch caterpillars, chrysalises chrysalides, which is the proper plural? I have been trying to track the caterpillars and have been eagerly awaiting the emergence of 4 butterflies from their chrysalises. I have taken many pictures throughout their life cycle. I have read in several publications that monarchs are usually only in the chrysalis for 10 — 14 days.

The oldest chrysalis that I have been tracking has been in the chrysalis stage since August However, I do worry that too many camera flashes had an adverse affect on them. I would appreciate any thoughts you might have. Thank you so much for your time. What is the longest time that it has taken a butterfly to emerge from a chrysalis? All the information that I have found states about 10 to 14 days.

Could they actually still be alive? They are still alive!! Two butterflies emerged today. Hi Tony I have 2 monarch chrysalides that turned dark and can see the wings today. I am preparing for two more healthy releases and have 4 more to go! I live in Chicago and the days are typically warm and in the 70s but at night it drops down into the fifties and even the upper 40s. If I release my monarch butterflies tomorrow during the warm day will they be able to survive the cold nights?

Those night time temps are not a problem. They can survive temps below freezing so I would not worry at this point…good luck! We had a cat that was just shedding its last skin to form into a chrysalis. Our neighbor girl was blowing on it and knocked it to the bottom of the cage and it split the chrysalis as it was still soft. I left it alone and it has hardened and turned green. It remains split about 1cm wide and 2cm long and I can see something moving inside. So far, we have separated it from the other chyrisalises we have but left it.

Is there anything else we should do? Hi Sarah, I would tie waxed dental floss around the cremaster and rehang. All you can do at this point is monitor and hope for the best…. It is crinkled up at the top of the chrysalis under the cremaster. Can I leave it there or should I try to remove it? If it has to be removed, what is the safest way to do it?

It appeared to me that they wanted to hang themselves into J from them! It was really demented looking. It became about half its original size. The hemorrhaging stopped… yippeeeeeeeeee! Since then, when the caterpillars about to go into j at the top of the enclosure start bothering each other, and the chrysalides I separate the pre-Js out by putting them into empty pre washed salad containers. Never tried raising Cats before, but after seeing one get attacked by a wasp, started hunting for eggs mid August.

I have 4 pupae; three are hanging from the mesh or top edge of the aquarium I have the in, the fourth attached himself to the side. I was worried that he might not have been able to pupate from that location, but he managed. Do you recommend leaving him as is, or should I consider reattaching him to hang straight down from the mesh? Hi Bob, you could try removing either the caterpillar or chrysalis and rehanging with the attached silk…. Hi David, there are mesh enclosure alternatives on the supply list…we will have cages back in stock sometime in October:.

I have 3 chrysalises in two cages, which formed 2 days ago. The two in the other cage with no leaves are still. I removed most of the milkweed because they had a lot of poop on them. Hi Melodie, monarch chrysalides only move before they are full hardened but swallowtails chrysalides can move at any time.

I always remove the milkweed after the caterpillars are done feeding, but you could also discard after the butterflies emerge…good luck! I have 15 cacoons. One of the caterpillars was smaller but still turned into cacoon today. I am watching it and I think I see something brown. Should I remove it from the cage? Half of the cacoons I taped on a stick. But it is in my living room they are not in cage so I was wondering can a fly do something to them?

The flies parasitize the caterpillars, so more likely to be a disease issue unless your brought in caterpillars from outside. Then, it could be either…. Sad to hear all the incidents of the spraying for mosquitoes. Any ability to spray the MW with water and wash off the mosquito spray? Hello Tony, A friend and I raise caterpillars to monarchs and have had successful years and learn more and more as we go.

We cannot figure out why. I know they have many predators, but never…. Here are some ideas where to look:. Where to Find a Monarch Chrysalis Outdoors. My husband and I are raising 80 monarch caterpillars. One of ours just shed its skin and turned into a chrysalis. However, The silk button did not attach. The skin is attached where the button should be attached. It is leaking a pale green liquid and seems to be deflating. There are two black lines on the chrysalis and we are guessing he is dieing although he is still moving. Should we remove him and put him in the freezer?

The woman from monarch watch who is my mentor wants any maggots or flies that might be around. Not sure how to handle this. Hate losing any of them. Sorry to hear this, but congrats on raising 80 monarchs. Tony, my last of only 3 is trying to get out if his chrysalis and is having trouble. Hi Hollie, you can try to carefully remove the butterfly by cutting away the chrysalis, but this usually indicates heavy OE infection.

If you successfully remove him, make sure he hangs right away to see if his wings can expand and dry properly. Our Monarch Caterpillar started his final shed into Chrysalis today…. He got to a point of about a Lima Bean size of green and then seemed stuck! Can we help him? Is it too late? Hi Tina, if the caterpillar stops mid-pupation, the monarch has died. Four are green and one is black…hoping for an emergence today! We still have one caterpillar who has yet to pupate; he stopped eating more than a week ago and simply makes slow circuits of the container, seemingly avoiding the fresh milkweed at the bottom but no closer to his J-shape.

How much longer can he go on? I hope you are able to figure out the issue that is affecting your monarchs:. Monarch Diseases, Parasites, and Prevention. We have a monarch caterpillar that went into the j position last night. How long does it take for him to form a crystallis from there? Hi Sarah, they can take awhile…like 24 hours.

I just wanted to join in on the discussion… it seems there are a lot of issues this year with monarch rearing. No questions, just comments to add to the discussion here. I reference this page often. Then I helped some cats that were in a community garden and running out of milkweed on a plant already overrun with aphids.

I have checked my plants every single day since they came up. I have seen no eggs and no adult monarchs. I only found instar 3 cats. The first one I found was even younger, in instar 1 he was leaping off a leaf, attached to silk, fleeing the granddaddy longlegs and ants that were after him. So a total of 7 this year for me. Nothing since the last one. But this year just seems like a dud. I agree — I think the widespread mosquito spraying for Zika is to blame, and it is heartbreaking to watch the effects within my butterfly community.

I have 4 in chrysalises. When it was touched, he immediately fell. An hour later, the green started to drip from him. An even larger pity because you could already make out his eyes, antennas, and wings. The last one was very lethargic yesterday.


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I figured he was taking his 24 hour feeding protest before moving to the top of the cage. But overnight, he moved to the top, became a J, and pupated. My family member got home and said he had fallen as well, with some of his skin attached to the top… another hour before I can see what she means. One of the 4 chrysalises that have been hanging for a few days now also looks like it has a hole in it — almost like something bore into him, but nothing did.

Oh… the first cat I found, instar 1. He made it to instar 2 and then just stopped eating, rolled over, turned black. He was no larger than a partial fingernail clipping. I had no issues like this last year! Hoping at least 4 of mine make it to adulthood. I have photos on my Instagram as well, should anyone be interested: The Caterpillar seemed so active and healthy, and a few days after pupating it looks like this:.

Hi Kit, maybe tachinid flies? OE is typically more spotted. I would separate and monitor…good luck! Your information has been ever so helpful in my families effort to help the Monarchs! So far we have released 4 healthy, strong butterflies. We will be releasing 5 more tomorrow and have 16 more chrysalids. Our success rate this year has been fantastic as we have been rigorous about washing food and cleaning out the cage daily. We have only lost two cats- one after emerging from his eg and the other made his J but failed to make his chrysalis.

The bubble was gone the next day but his wing looks a little crimped where the bubble was and he is having trouble flying. We have tried to release him twice and he always lands on the grass after trying to fly and my kids are terrified to leave him outside. Do you think his wing could get better? Or do we have a pet? Hi Yvonne, congrats on all your success this season. You can try feeding your grounded buytterfly fruit,gatorade, or honey water to see if that makes a difference before the next release. Otherwise, you could keep him as a pet…he will probably live for a few weeks, but less if he is sick.

They seem to enjoy them. Hi Elizabeth, caterpillars often feast on immature tropical milkweed pods, swamp pods, and even common milkweed. Let them eat…good luck! But this last round has me stumped. I had about 16 seemingly healthy cats go into their chrysalises. The first 2 emerged normally and I released them. I had to go out of town and left the remaining chrysalises with a friend.

The third emerged normally and my friend released it. The next 9ish have all turned black my friend keeps updating me but there are obviously problems. The first 3 oozed black and smelled, and she removed them. At least one chrysalis had white-looking wing areas, and another had a white abdomen area. Thankfully, another one darkened and then emerged normally yesterday.

Monarch Chrysalis Problems, Solutions, and Normal Development

The remaining 4 or so were later to chrysalis and are still green. Some background—I have several milkweed plants that I believe are pesticide-free. I had to cut them all back to stalks earlier this summer after a nasty aphid infestation took over when we were out of town. So everything these cats ate was new growth. I found most of them as first instars, a couple second, and one fourth instar kept him segregated because he had a funny black diagonal line.

I used a cardboard shipping box as their chrysalis site, tipped on its side to provide overhang, which they seem to gravitate toward naturally. They spaced themselves out about an inch apart. The bathroom is probably degrees at any given time, and the shower provides some humidity. The bathroom also gets a lot of natural, indirect light.

The area where she keeps them is a little darker, her house is a little cooler between degrees , and she covers the box at night to keep them safe from her house cat and AC drafts. We are both sad and perplexed at the disastrous outcome of a cool process that she and I and our kids all enjoy.

There has been mosquito spraying in my area recently, so I thought maybe that could be why the early ones made it and the later ones are dying. OE and temperature change are other guesses, but we have no idea, and it could be something else entirely. Any insight or suggestions would be helpful! Hi Christy, sorry to hear you are having issues. Monarch Diseases and Prevention. One of my monarch chrysalises turned black three days ago and looked normal I have everything documented on Instagram.

Into the afternoon of day 1 it did start to crack open, but nothing else: I read about waiting 3 days before calling it. So when there was still nothing by the middle of the afternoon of day 3 and the edges of the crack were started to look dry and flakey I assumed the butterfly was dead inside and decided to pull the shell off so I could study how the butterfly is folded up inside: I left the body on my desk and a few hours later I discovered it moving, wiggling around!: And now I am overcome with guilt!

Would this butterfly have had a chance if I had just been a bit more patient? You did nothing wrong by trying to help it out on day 3.

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The butterfly should have hatched within 24 hours after the chrysalis started to darken. If it was stuck inside, there was an issue like heavy OE infection. OE is a common problem in your region. This has been a mixed year for raising monarchs. Lost four monarchs from the first—two eclosed deformed, possibly with OE, one refused to eat, and one acted like it had been poisoned—but my entire second wave got sick. I have a few milkweed patches to draw from and absolutely not treated with pesticides. What is going on?! One only made it halfway, one made it almost completely but was still deformed and eventually deflated, and the third seems to be okay for now.

This has been absolutely horrible to watch, especially because nothing really seems to be working and the cats just lie there before dying and turning dark. Hi Kitt, if it happened right when you switched out the milkweed is it possible there was mosquito spraying in your area? So far, it seems to be working. Help… This is my first year trying to help the caterpillars. I currently have One of which is halfway formed but came off its attachment while I was cleaning its cage. From what I read, I need to wait til it is completely formed and then try and hang it?

One other is really having difficulty. I am a mess about this one. I can see him breathing and move his head ever so slightly. If it does, you can try rehanging the chrysalis after it hardens in hours. Do they rest between moulting? Hi Dianne, congrats on your 4 chrysalises! It was a torrential downpour when we got home, so kept the plant inside with a mesh liner on top. The next morning the caterpillar had started making its chrysalis on the plant. We have chrysalises all over the house and plants outside, but typically they are in the shade.

Is it too late to help this little guy along? How long does it take to make the chrysalis? My monarch emerged while I was gone for about half an hour. I came home to find it on its side on the bottom of the butterfly habitat. The left wings are not extended and it seems to have a difficult time with balance. It walked on my hand for awhile without trying to straighten its left wings.

I put it outside in the sun. Is there something else I should do? Hi Phyllis, if it fell there may be a disease issue like heavy OE infection. You could also keep it as a pet and feed it gatorade or honey water:. Feeding and Releasing butterflies. A Monarch butterfly emerged from the chrysalis about 8: Once it came out of the chrysalis, I put it outside in next to my house and window box full of zinnias.

It was able to hang. When I got home about 5: I startled it and it flew across the street but never more than a foot off the ground. I got it and put it in an enclosure on top of the flowers with an opening so it could get out if it wants. Can it take an extended time for a new butterfly to get the strength to fly? The wings look OK but seem like they may not be flapping correctly. Hi Jill, if the butterfly was out in the sun it should have been in great shape for flying. This is a follow-up after my original question to you asking if there could be an extended delay before a Monarch could fly correctly since the one I had could only fly close to the ground.

I brought the butterfly in for the night and took it back out in the morning again. I put it out in the enclosure and draped a piece of zinnia from my window box into it along with some cut butterfly bush flowers in a vase. The butterfly started to take nectar from the flowers and I left it there with the top of the enclosure open. When I came home later that day, the butterfly was gone. Thanks again for your help! I received my CSA with what looked like a monarch caterpillar on my parsley. It was munching away, so I put it in a mesh cage with the parsley.

I was wondering if this is normal? Is this maybe due to region NJ or another type of butterfly? Hi Jennifer, congratulations on finding an eastern black swallowtail. You will have to keep it over winter. How to Overwinter Swallowtails. Where can I send a pic to show? Hi BG, if there is a thread hanging from the chrysalis and there is discoloration, your monarch could be parasitized by tachinid flies.

I expected it to pupate by this morning. My others have not moved since last night either vi keep fresh milkweed on the cage Any thoughts please. I believe it is dead. Had same problem last year. Sterilize, clean, feed etc. I wonder what might be the problem. If they are dying during pupation this could be a sign of pesticide exposure. They can also die before pupating if they have tachinid fly parasites.

If this were the case maggots or pupae would emerge from the caterpillar. Hi I was wondering if you know what triggers a monarch to pupate. I always thought it was age. I raise monarchs, and breed them so end up with a lot of caterpillars of the same age.

They always pupate and emerge in sync. However, my daughter saw a post online saying monarchs would eat pumpkin in the last instar, and is now doing a science fair project on the topic. To my surprise the pumpkin fed caterpillars are delayed by at least two days and counting. So do they have a drive to eat to a certain body mass before pupating? My son just accidentally knocked down our chrysalis and the black piece is still hanging without it should we still try and rehang them? Will they survive with out the black part? Hi Michelle, I would lie them down on a paper towel.

If you have a mesh cage, place them by the wall so they can climb the wall to hang when they emerge. My chrysalis has been black for two days. Is that too long to be a normal butterfly? This is my first year raising them and usually after 24 hours they are a butterfly. I am wondering if it is dead. PS…they usually start getting dark the afternoon before they emerge so less than 24 hours. I was worried about trying to move it but now realize I should have while it was still wet. Chances it will develop normal? Hi Julie, when I had one fall it was a caterpillar about to pupate I left it on a paper towel until it formed the chrysalis and dried.

It was a little misshapen on the bottom, but the butterfly came out perfect…good luck! First time for me. I have released it and it quickly flew up into a maple tree. The other one has been stuck in its chrysalis… It started emerging yesterday like at 2pm, very active, struggling for 20 to 30 minutes, then rest, then try again, rest, etc. Almost looked like a dancing pepper outstretched antennas were legs and 2 feet were hands moving all over the place. Later, I noticed his one antenna kinked up. Hi Christina, they emerge quickly within a couple minutes. If the butterfly is still stuck in the chrysalis it will probably be badly deformed if you do get it out.

It may have OE parasites and be diseased. If the butterfly seems weak, I would euthanize. Your other option would be keeping it as a pet and feeding it gatorade or honey water:. Feeding Adult Butterflies Info. Sorry for the long post. My wife and I are building a house on 8 acres of hayfield in Northeastern CT. We have a lot of milkweed in the fields.

About 3 or more weeks ago we went out and counted the monarch caterpillars in the milkweed. We stopped counting once we hit fifty. Some plants had multiple caterpillars on them. So now this past week we went out to see how many chrysalis we could find. Unfortunately we could only spot three total. And there were only a handful of caterpillars left on the milkweed. Any ideas where all the caterpillars went? Did something eat them? Anything we can do next season to prevent this kind of loss? I think next year we will bring some indoors and then release them outside. Is it true they will keep coming back to where they were released?

Hi Stiggs, if the descendants of monarchs return to their overwintering grounds, it would seem like a good possibility that monarch descendants could return to the same milkweed patches on their northern journey. Monarch Diseases and Caterpillar Killers. At first everything seemed to be great but when they started forming into crysalis there was this one cat that started disturbing them and even trying to at least to me it looked like that eat one that was nearly done transforming. So I tried to be as fast as possible to separate them but it looks like it got a piece from the poor thing. So the current situation is that it hangs for the third day now and moves sometimes a little but it has this huge crack on one side where it looks just black now — kinda like there is no protection anymore.

Anything I can do? Hi Sabrina, at this point all you can do is monitor. It was supposed to hatch a few hours earlier. The corners of its wings were the only things out of the chrysalis. I had pried it out of its chrysalis, and it refused to hang from the top of the cage. Is this a disease, and is there a way to save it? Hi Julia, if a butterfly is stuck in its chrysalis and too weak to hang from the cage it probably has OE and should be euthanized.

Today is day 11 and the wings were starting to be visible yesterday afternoon. This morning both chrysalises were nice and dark, but the orange wings, etc. How late is too late for the to emerge for me to release them today? It will be dark by 8: