Our rearing method taught on the
drop down menu item on the this website here:https://craigthebutterflyman.com/raise-monarchs-1 Our method was observed and approved by members of the "LEPIDOPTERIST SOCIETY" at Peabody Museum on the Yale University campus and Displayed in the renowned "Discovery Hall"
This video describes our rearing procedure as taught at Yale University Farm in New Haven Connecticut in 2019. We developed and now use the improved setup below. Click here to find RESTCLOUD monarch hatcheries/nurseries; https://www.google.com/search?q=butterfly+habitats+for+sale&rlz=1CAHKDC_enUS975&oq=butterfly+habitats&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j69i57j0i10l8.14578j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
This video describes our LEADERS PROGRAM. Go to our 600,000+ members organization of Facebook groups YOUTUBE CHANNEL linked here to get a video education to become a top monarch butterfly conservationist and educator https://www.youtube.com/@craigthebutterflyman4387/videos
Common Milkweed is 2' tall in June everywhere in the monarchs summer breeding grounds. You can harvest 24" long stems with one or a few eggs on them and/or net a monarch you see laying eggs, check her for OE, and put her in the hatchery to lay eggs or put the stems in a one gallon milk jug in the hatchery. We now use GOOGLE: "butterfly habitat hatchery" to rear. Get the RESTCLOUD brand because it is durable and easily disinfected as described below.
MONARCH BUTTERFLY ENTHUSIASTS IN CANADA ARE PRESENTLY LIMITED TO REARING 60 MONARCHS PER SEASON. There's no limit in the U S. Touching monarchs is illegal in California at this time.
It has been determined by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service that the monarch butterfly population and it's spectacular migration occurring yearly involving the United States, Canada, and Mexico is threatened and endangered. 95+% of all monarch eggs, caterpillars, and chrysalis are consumed by increasing numbers of natural and unnatural predators before they become butterflies and are able to fly away and protect themselves. Of course, the natural predators are necessary for our wildlife food chain too. We increase them and the monarch migration population at the same time.
WE TEACH YOU HOW TO PROTECT THE VULNERABLE EARLY STAGES OF THE MONARCHS DEVELOPMENT EARLY IN THE MIGRATION SEASON STARTING PROTECTING EGGS NO LATER THAN JULY 15th, IF POSSIBLE, SO THE GENERATION THAT NEEDS TO MIGRATE TO MEXICO DEVELOPS IN THE WILD SO THEY HAVE ALL THE TRAITS REQUIRED TO MAKE THE TRIP TO MEXICO, OVERWINTER, AND RETURN TO TEXAS TO LAY EGGS TO START THE MIGRATION ALL OVER AGAIN
Our YouTube channel has over 300 videos starting with recent videos teaching how to protect monarch eggs from predators until they are adults and released to save and increase the monarch migration population.
https://www.youtube.com/@craigthebutterflyman4387/videos
Dr Lincoln Brower, the Xerces Sociey, Center for Food Safety, and Center for Biological Diversity Petitioned the U S Fish And Wildlife Service to modify the original petition to list the monarch butterfly as threatened by asking that households should raise up to 100 monarchs each season for conservation and education . The link to that petition modification request is here: https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/8ef0052a-9ec6-4eb5-8373-35e15f18d1e4/downloads/monarch-esa-petition-4d-rule_61731%20(1).pdf?ver=1705591291171
THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT HAS ASK THEIR CITIZENS TO RAISE UP TO
60 MONARCHS each season
Below is the abstract of a study by top rated monarch butterfly scientist Dr David James and his wife Tanya supporting protecting monarch eggs until they are adult butterflies and releasing them to help increase the spectacular monarch migration
The study is referenced and acclaimed in the following publication
https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=27559
ABSTRACT. The fall migration of Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) was studied in an unfunded citizen science project during 2012–16 by tagging 13778 reared and 875 wild Monarchs. More than a third of these Monarchs were reared by inmates of the Washington State Penitentiary (WSP) in Walla Walla, Washington. Sixty (0.41 %) tagged Monarchs were recovered from distances greater than 10 km (mean: 792.9 ± 48.0 km) with most found in California, SSW of release points. One WSP-reared Monarch was found 724 km to the SE in Utah. Monarchs tagged in Oregon flew SSE to California. No Idaho-tagged Monarchs were found in California but two were recovered at locations due south. No wild tagged Monarchs from Washington, Oregon or Idaho were recovered. Monarchs from Washington and Oregon were found during October-February at 24 coastal California overwintering sites spanning 515 km from Bolinas to Carpinteria. A single wild spring Monarch tagged in May in northern California was recovered 35 days later and 707 km ENE in Twin Falls, Idaho. This study provides compelling evidence that many Monarchs in southern and central parts of Washington and Oregon migrate south in the fall to overwintering sites along the California coast. It also provides some evidence for southerly and south-easterly vectoring of migrating Monarchs from eastern Washington and Idaho, indicating the possibility of migration to Arizona or Mexico overwintering sites. In addition to improving our understanding of Monarch migration in the PNW, this study also contributed to conservation by adding nearly 14000 butterflies to the population. The incredible involvement of incarcerated and non-incarcerated citizen scientists generated much community and media interest which in turn led to greater involvement by citizens. Increased awareness of Monarchs, their biology and conservation in the PNW has been an unexpected but important spin-off of this study.
THIS IS A PEER REVIEWED SCIENTIFIC STUDY AND RESEARCH DEMONSTRATING NATURAL AND UNNATURAL PREDATORS ARE THE NUMBER ONE KILLER OF MONARCHS KILLING OVER 95%+ WHILE THEY ARE DEVELOPING THROUGH THEIR VULNERABLE EARLY STAGES UNTIL THEY ARE ADULTS AND CAN FLY AWAY FROM DANGER.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-50737-5
NATURAL MONARCH BUTTERFLY PREDATORS INCLUDING ANTS, WASPS, AND SPIDERS ARE ALSO NECESSARY IN THE WILDLIFE FOOD CHAIN.
THE MORE MONARCHS WE PROTECT AND RELEASE THE MORE THE ENTIRE WILDLIFE FOOD CHAIN BENEFITS
THE IMPORTED INVASIVE RED FIRE ANT HAS BEEN STUDIED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO AND PROVEN TO CONSUME 87% OF THE VULNERABLE EARLY DEVELOPMENT STAGES OF
MONARCH BUTTERFLIES. LEARN ABOUT THESE UNNATURAL PREDATORS HERE: https://youtu.be/R7pEAUUqmM0?si=EofO6CvLn51w_TGk
IMPORTED INVASIVE RED FIRE ANTS ARE PRESENT AND ACTIVE IN MOST OF THE STATE OF TEXAS, ALL OF THE SOUTHERN STATES, AND CALIFORNIA WHEN MONARCHS RETURN FROM MEXICO IN THE SPRING AND LAY EGGS. THESE FIRE ANTS ARE PRESENT THROUGHOUT THE SOUTH AND CALIFORNIA.
https://youtu.be/8DmnM_oFNx8?si=1YEgv6LJi2ydh91z
THESE FIRE ANTS CAN"T SURVIVE IN CLIMATES WHERE THERE ARE EXTENDED FREEZES ! THIS IS WHY WE PROTECT EGGS WHERE THERE ARE LONG PERIODS OF FREEZING TEMPERATURES.
Order a RESTCLOUD collapsible approximately 15" x 15" x 24" hatchery to raise 1-25 monarchs at a time or better you can order a collapsible approximately 24" x 24" x 36" hatchery to raise 1-50 monarchs at the same time as shown in the large picture above . If you want to raise more than 50 monarchs at a time just use multiple hatcheries. You should always raise your butterflies all at once in each hatchery so they develop all at once and then disinfect the hatcheries as explained below
The picture above is what your setup should look like near a window on a table. Make sure you get a hatchery that looks like the one pictured above because it is collapsible to a flat circle for easy disinfecting before and after you raise your monarchs.
YOU MUST KEEP YOUR HATCHERY AND ANY OTHER EQUIPMENT DISINFECTED BEFORE AND AFTER YOU RAISE MONARCHS IN IT SO YOU DON'T RELEASE UNHEALTHY MONARCHS INTO THE MIGRATION. .
THIS IS WHY WE TEACH RAISING UP TO 50 AT A TIME IN THE LARGE HATCHERY BECAUSE IT WILL KEEP YOU FROM ADDING INFECTED EGGS AND/OR CATERPILLARS INTO THE HATCHERY. WHILE OTHER BUTTERFLIES ARE IN DIFFERENT STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
TO DISINFECT YOUR HATCHERY AND OTHER EQUIPMENT COLLAPSE YOUR HATCHERY INTO A CIRCLE AND COMPLETELY SUBMERGE IT IN A 1 PART UNSCENTED HOUSEHOLD BLEACH AND 4 PARTS WATER SOLUTION FOR 12 HOURS. REMOVE THE HATCHERY AND RINSE IT THOROUGHLY WHILE IT IS STILL COLLAPSED AND OPEN IT AND LET IT DRY.
WE TEACH YOU HOW TO PROTECT THE VULNERABLE EARLY STAGES OF THE MONARCHS DEVELOPMENT EARLY IN THE MIGRATION SEASON STARTING PROTECTING EGGS IF POSSIBLE NO LATER THAN JULY 15th, IF POSSIBLE, SO THE GENERATION THAT THEY PRODUCE NEEDS TO MIGRATE TO MEXICO AND NEEDS TO DEVELOP IN THE WILD SO THEY HAVE ALL THE TRAITS REQUIRED TO MAKE THE TRIP TO MEXICO, OVERWINTER, AND RETURN TO TEXAS TO LAY EGGS TO START THE MIGRATION ALL OVER AGAIN
YOU CAN COLLECT STEMS WITH EGGS ON THEM OR IT'S BETTER, IF POSSIBLE, TO ACTUALLY NET A MONARCH YOU SEE LAYING EGGS AND PUT HER INTO YOUR HATCHERY AS PICTURED ABOVE. SHE WILL LAY EGGS ON YOUR BOUQUET OF MILKWEED OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. IT SAVES YOU A LOT OF TIME LOOKING FOR EGGS ON MILKWEED LEAVES. THIS IS A SHORT VIDEO SHOWING MONARCHS LAYING EGGS ON MILKWEED. LINKED HERE" https://youtu.be/UsgZd8cFJOg?si=-3CTX_TWNgDUhg0G
The "common" milkweed in the Midwest and Northeast is 2 feet tall in the Midwest and Northeast by June 1st as shown in this video. It's ready to harvest to put in your one gallon milk jugs in your netted pop up hatcheries you place near a window ona table indoors.
You will add a female that you net when you see her laying eggs.
https://youtu.be/QUni-F01YgY?si=pHLB31LGz4Epe4KE
If you want to find monarch eggs on milkweed or net a monarch laying eggs to put in your hatchery to lay eggs, this is what common milkweed looks like at 4-5 feet high in mid July. The first of June it's about 2' tall in the Midwest and Northeast.
watch this: https://youtu.be/HiYObguY1XI?si=K7BeuoTxri4xk9qk
Here's another video that shows you how to identify common milkweed that's found in the Midwest and Northeast and it's about 2' high by the first of June.
The common milkweed in this video is about 5' high and it's about the middle of July" https://youtu.be/-FPIX5Wb5w4?si=5Uhpywew_63LiAVB
NEVER TOUCH THE MILKWEED AND/OR SAP AND RUB YOUR EYES OR FACE. THE SAP CONTAINS AN IRRITANT. IMMEDIATELY RINSE YOUR EYES AND SKIN AFTER TOUCHING THE MILKWEED AND/OR SAP !
1) If you're new or just want to share the miracle of the monarchs"metamorphosis" , we teach you can raise one monarch on a milkweed stem with 10 leaves , with an egg on a leaf immersed in a disposable paper cup with a lid and a straw hole, full of water, setting on a paper towel indoors near a window as shown above. That's easy peesy and FREE
THE STEMS MUST BE IMMERSED IN THE WATER IMMEDIATELY AFTER THEY ARE RINSED AND SPLIT AT THE BOTTOM TO STAY FRESH.
BEFORE YOU RELEASE YOUR MONARCHS YOU SHOULD ALWAYS CHECK THEM FOR OE LIKE THE BUTTERFLY LADY TEACHES HERE: http://butterfly-lady.com/what-is-oe/
GOOGLE: $2 - 40x power mini-microscope free shipping
NOW YOU'RE A SCIENTIST ;)
If you have more than one egg on a stem with 10 leaves you can carefully roll the egg with your thumb off the leaf and put some milkweed sap on a leaf of another stem that doesn't have and egg and use the white milkweed sap to stick the egg to the leaf.
NEVER TOUCH THE MILKWEED AND/OR SAP AND RUB YOUR EYES OR FACE. THE SAP CONTAINS AN IRRITANT. IMMEDIATELY RINSE YOUR EYES AND SKIN AFTER TOUCHING THE MILKWEED AND/OR SAP !
2) You can also collect more stems with eggs on them and put them in more cups and share them with friends, take them to schools, or watch them develop into adult monarchs yourself, check them for OE, and if healthy, release them so they will breed in the wild and produce more healthy monarchs that develop in the wild that wouldn't have existed without originally protecting there mother from predators.
Each healthy monarch you raise and release wil be responsible for about 15 monarchs in the next generation
NEVER TOUCH THE MILKWEED AND/OR SAP AND RUB YOUR EYES OR FACE. THE SAP CONTAINS AN IRRITANT. IMMEDIATELY RINSE YOUR EYES AND SKIN AFTER TOUCHING THE MILKWEED AND/OR SAP !
The monarch hasn’t been listed under the ESA yet so there’s no regulations on handling monarchs or limits on the number you raise except in California. Below is the exact wording of the document sent to USFWS .
In Canada you need a permit to protect up to 60 monarchs until they are adults and can fly and avoid predators.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROTECTION
Citizen Handling of Monarchs Protected Under
Endangered Species Act Petition
The Center for Biological Diversity and Center for Food Safety as co-lead petitioners joined by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and Dr. Lincoln Brower petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the monarch butterfly as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The petitioners suggested that the Service adopt a “4(d) rule” to allow citizens, educators, and scientists to continue to handle monarch caterpillars and butterflies even if the monarch becomes a protected species.
WHAT IS A 4(D) RULE? Under the Endangered Species Act, monarchs can be federally protected as either “endangered” or “threatened.” When an animal is protected as “threatened,” the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service can adopt a 4(d) rule to issue regulations deemed “necessary and advisable to provide for the conservation of threatened species.” Typically the Service uses 4(d) rules to incentivize positive conservation actions and to streamline the regulatory process for actions that would have minor impacts on the species. A 4(d) rule is often used to clarify or simplify what actions are and are not prohibited towards the species.
PETITIONERS HAVE SUGGESTED A 4(D) RULE THAT WOULD ALLOW HANDLING OF MONARCHS TO CONTINUE. To facilitate monarch butterfly conservation, science, citizen monitoring, and education, the petitioning groups requested that the Service adopt a 4(d) rule that would allow wild-captured monarchs and caterpillars to be reared in classrooms and nature centers and that would allow scientific research, citizen monitoring, and beneficial household rearing endeavors to continue without the need for a permit. The petitioners originally suggested that individuals, households, and educational entities be allowed to collect ten wild caterpillars per year for rearing purposes, but they increased the suggested number to 100 in comments submitted to the Service during the public comment period on the initial positive finding on the petition. Ultimately, should the Service list the monarch as threatened and develop a 4(d) rule, the content of this rule would be at the discretion of the Service.
PETITIONERS HAVE CONCERNS ABOUT THE RELEASE OF COMMERCIALLY-BRED MONARCHS. Petitioners have requested that only wild caught monarchs and caterpillars be eligible to be handled without a permit. There are scientific concerns shared by many researchers about the potential spread of disease and genetic problems from the release of commercially-bred monarchs. In light of this concern, petitioners requested that only wild-caught monarchs be exempted from normal permitting requirements.
____________________________________________________________
WE TEACH T TO PROTECT THE VULNERABLE DEVELOPMENT STAGES OF MONARCH BUTTERFLIES INDOORS IN A NETTED POPUP HATCHERY HABITAT, NEAR A WINDOW, CHECK THEM FOR OE, THEN RELEASE HEALTHY ADULT MONARCHS (THAT CAN PROTECT THEMSELVES ) TO BREED AND REPRODUCE IN THE WILD TO CREATE A LARGER MIGRATION POPULATION
PLEASE SHARE THIS WEBSITE PAGE ON YOUR FACEBOOK FRIENDS TIMELINES !!!
16) Here is the list of supplies you'll need that are talked about below, GOOGLE them, order them now, while supplies last, and have them delivered; EASY PEASY !!!
17) The total for everything is approximately $25 for the small and $40 for the (better) large hatchery set up unless you already have a netted pop up butterfly hatchery similar to the ones
described below.
42 ) With 10,000 participants WE WILL BE ADDING A TREMENDOUS NUMBER OF MONARCHS TO THE MIGRATION !!! If 10,000 citizen scientists in the summer breeding grounds had a 2' x 2' x 3' netted butterfly hatchery pop up and introduced a (gravid ) pregnant female in May, June, or July, (REMEMBER, YOU MUST CHECK YOUR BUTTERFLY FOR OE BEFORE YOU PUT HER IN THE HATCHERY !!! ) and each netted pop up hatchery produced 100 monarchs a month later and half 100 x 10,000 = 1 million divided by 2 = 500 thousand are females ready to lay eggs in the wild.
43) and each laid 400 eggs (200,000,000 total eggs) 1/2 females = 100 million female monarchs x 400 eggs laid each, in the wild, that would be 40,000,000,000 eggs that's billions of eggs, and 5% of those monarchs made it to the adult in-flight stage in the wild, that's 2 BILLION, THAT GREW UP IN THE WILD GOING TO MEXICO that have what it takes to get there and back to Texas in the spring !!!
Sincerely, www.CraigtheButterflyman.com
TO DATE: NO PLANET HAS BEEN DISCOVERED WITH THE NATURAL LIVING BEAUTY OF EARTH
Genesis1:11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 25 And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Genesis 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Genesis 2:8 The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. 10 Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
Genesis 2:15, "The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help mate for him. 20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field.
PLEASE CONTINUE READING BELOW
CONTINUE READING ON THE TOP RIGHT >>>
THE FOOD WEB OF WILDLIFE
Of course, without the native cold and drought tolerant taproot plants on the landscape, life as we know it wouldn't exist on our planet. Monarch butterflies and other beautiful pollinators live on these plants and also help propagate most of the same plants they thrive on.
In the food web of life, other creatures up the wildlife food chain live on eating pollinators just like predators consume the first three stages of the monarchs development and eat parts of the adult butterfly after it dies. Only about 2-5 % of the monarch eggs laid get to the adult in flight stage which makes protecting those early stages of the monarchs necessary using our protecting monarchs from predators hatchery/nursery rearing method if we are going to add to insect population when we release them and they reproduce.
The following link is an online book that explains butterfly gardening and the plants they need. Please download it and enjoy https://tomterrific1.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/butterfly-gardening.pdf
If you're looking for native plants to buy at a garden center or online Google American Beauties Native Plants and you can learn about this National plant branding program.
I'm Known as Craig the Butterflyman. I'm your educator. Please let me introduce myself in this short video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfn9wuvVaDw&t=4s
Citizens are being ask to raise up to 100 monarchs per year for conservation and education
Reach out to monarch enthusiasts and find events in your area through the link below.
Join our mailing list to stay updated to what's happening in monarchy and how to raise your own monarchs.