Season '09 Totals

[dandjtaylor]

Well, the final four emerged this weekend and were anxious to get going. It was a slow start to the season with all of the cold and wet of June, but ended with a bang. 2009 totals from waystation 2638 are as follows:

438 tagged - 436 reared, 2 wild
Tagged males - 217
Tagged females - 221

Total reared - 709

2010 goal - 1000 rears, 750 tags

We're making a small dent.

[skates4marty]

Dwayne: Is it just you or a group of people? If just you, how much time do you spend per day on the monarchs? How many years have you been raising monarchs?

[dandjtaylor]

Skates

It is mainly myself, with my wife on the "support staff". She basically likes to watch them and occasionally looks for eggs with me.

During the height of the season, I spend 1 to 2 hours a day total taking care of the various stages. Keep in mind that, like Mona, I also rear other 'flies, Black Swallowtails, American Ladies and Great Spangled Frits. 95% of the time though is with the Monarchs.

[Mona Miller]

I raise moths, too. This year I had Luna. I have so many caterpillars and pupae wintering over right now. The Monarchs migrate because they cannot withstand freezing temps. Many other butterflies do a partial migration. The other butterflies winter over as caterpillars, pupae, or adults (mourning cloaks, question marks, commas).

I have Pipevine, Black, Zebra, Spicebush, and Tiger Swallowtail pupae. Red Spotted Purple (caterpillars). All the Luna have emerged. A friend gave me a few Silvery Checkerspots.

I also still have a few Monarch caterpillars and pupae. I was out-of-town this weekend and took some adult Monarchs to release where it is a bit warmer--further south in Virginia.

[dandjtaylor]

Mona

I saw my first luna this summer while out for an early morning egg hunt. It startled me it was so large. When I got close enough to touch it, it flew off. Wow!

I wish I was in a more temperate zone. I would love to have more than the four or five species that I have.

Looks like 18 black swallowtails will overwinter in the shed as pupae, I will mist them regularly. Two still are yet to pupate. They are still with their girdles spun. Wow, the patience required by the black swallowails at all stages!

[Mona Miller]

The cold really makes the pupation process slow down. I finally took some Monarch pupae and caterpillars in. One caterpillar was hanging in a J and I had to figure out how to take it down and reattach. I ended up using a pad from an empty chrysalis that was attached to a leaf. I just took the empty chrysalis off and then pulled the end of the caterpillar over the new pad. It attached and then I put it between something so it had room to shed.

I still have a Pipevine pupae that had hung outside for over 4 days now without pupating due to the cold weather.

[dandjtaylor]

Well, yesterday at lunch, it was so nice that the "final four" from the weekend were fattening up in the garden. They were all over the butterfly bushes (still blooming strongly), the coreopsis and the purple coneflowers. They are going to get some nice warmer weather for a change and hopefully will get on down the road.

[Wyvern]

I ended up with 550 tagged and 12 untagged released this year. The last two monarchs to be released of course emerged during the rainy 40 F temp cold snap. The one was reared and was miserable at having to live indoors for 4 days. The other was a wild I found outside hanging miserably from a milkweed leaf wet and shivering after the worst of the weather had passed... brought her in and let her warm up and dry over night. The following day was warm enough to release the two.