What kind of containers do you use for rearing monarchs?

[dzyg]

I normally use the large 64oz peanut butter plastic jars and usually only have 1-2 cats in each one. This year however I have taken in more than normal and my eight jars are full some having up to four in them. The reason I ask is beacuse yesterday I collected 22 more cats and 8 new eggs so I had to find more containers. There is a park going in up the road from us, unfortunately there are milkweeds where they will be bulldozing. I just realized this over the weekend and went to try to see if I could find some cats or eggs to save before they start work today. Well I had thought there were a few milkweeds like around 50 or so from what I could see going by. OMG, there are hundreds of milkweeds. I only got about 2/3's of the way through all of them too. I was out for over two hours with a ice cream pail and the second part I was going kinda fast and not scrutinizing the entire plant anymore. I may get a chance to go tonight to try and finish up my search as I was told they weren't starting to bulldoze until tomorrow but they will be out there marking stuff today. I did find some clearance clear containers at Walmart last night that are working fine for the ones I got last night. I was just curious what you all used to put the cats in. I tend to like the pb jars with only 1-2 cats in them as you can keep them so clean by cleaning them out twice a day, with a bunch of cats in one container it is quite messy.

Thanks for your input.

[Teresa]

I have a large 32in by 30 in cage that has screened sides and top. Right now I have about 30 in there and could handle more. The screen is nice because they can really hang on to it. I would break my heart to see all that MW get bulldozed

[Pat]

I mostly use large dollar-store plastic shoeboxes with lots of tiny airholes drilled through the tops. They're easy to stack, they hold about a dozen caterpillars very comfortably,they're quick to clean out, and they don't take much room to store over the winter.

[Keith Petrosky]

That bulldozing is whats happening by me too, but there are still some milkweed left. I took some and planted them in pots, that way if they are all gone I can save some seeds and get them to grow again.

[troot]

I keep eggs on their leaves in a plastic ziploc bag. I keep a damp paper towel inside the bag and leave the caterpillars in the bag until they are 2nd instar. Once the caterpillars are large enough, they get moved to one of the large flight cages I have. They are 18 X 24 X 24. I cut stalks of milkweed and keep them containers of water - the milkweed lasts a lot longer that way and the top of the cage provides a great surface for the chrysalides. I read a suggestion about raising the larva in plastic bags, so I'm going to try that with my students this fall.

[dzyg]

Well I got back down there and found 10 more caterpillars and five more eggs. I am sure there were still lots out there that I missed, there were just so many plants to go through. Total that I rescued from getting bulldozed was 13 eggs and 32 caterpillars. I guess I feel good that I did get to save some but it is really depressing knowing I surely didn't get them all. Plus I am sure there are crysallis down there somewhere too and they are taking lots of trees down also. They started this morning and I can already see lots of trees piled up. At least I cannot see it unless I walk to the edge of our property so I don't have to actually witness it. That happened to me about five years ago or so. The field adjoining our property was full of milkweeds and one day they bulldozed it all up, I felt so bad that I didn't get to save any caterpillars from that.

[Teresa]

I'm glad you got the ones you did

[G&B]

We use a 30" plastic cube open at the top. We have been able to raise 50+ in it, albeit rather messy, and have a 90%+ hatch rate. We put small branches in it and cover w/open weave nylon netting (<$1/yard at Wal-Mart) which the cats love to attach to for their crysalis. After all have gone to crysalis, we hang the netting at a slight angle from vertical which is also good for the newly hatched butterflys to hang on to and dry. We take a branch w/one or more crysalis to one of our local schools (we have a few teacher friends) for the students to watch the emergence of the monarch. The students are in awe of the event every time. As a result there are more and more yards in Biloxi growing milkweed.

G&B, Biloxi, MS
Certified Monarch Waystation #121

[Teresa]

This weekend I went out and bought some reptile cages. They are a bit larger than shoe boxes and are very easy to keep clean. I also use them to keep them separated by size

[Pat]

We used to have a few of them, from when the kids were young and had those big hermit crabs. After a couple of years outdoors they got very brittle and cracked. Also one time a bunch of little ones got out through the top, the holes were too large.

[Teresa]

I don't keep the teeny tiny ones in there, just the bigger ones. My babies are just in a box.

[pianopete]

We move the eggs into the house while still on a leaf and place in a small plastic box (about 4x4x4 inch). Once the eggs hatch, they stay in this box feeding off leaves that are stored in the frig until they reach about 1/2 inch in length. Then they are moved to potted milkweed plants that I bring into the house. These plants are covered with 5 gallon paint strainers to keep the cats safe and from wandering off. The 5 gallon paint strainers are available from any paint or home supply store for about $2.... they work great. Once the crysalis is formed, it is moved into a mesh butterfly cage to await the monarch. The potted plants after hosting several cats are usually stripped of leaves, therefore I trim the stems back to about 6 inch height and move the plant outside to regenerate with new growth.... which takes about 1 month before it can be used again. The cut stems I place in cups of water where they quickly root and can be used to start new plants. Yes.... it takes a good supply of potted plants if you are raising many cats. Also, I have grandkids that grab some of mine when they need extra plants....

[Teresa]

I didn't know you could start new plants from cut stems. Thans for the info.

[pianopete]

Cut stems are the quickest way to get new and large plants. However, I keep the cut sterms in water in the house until a ample cluster of new roots have formed, then I pot them into small cheap plastic water cups and move them outdoors to a shady place to get established. Some folk say that milkweed will root if you just stick the stems in the ground. I don't use that method because I usually end up giving away most of my potted cuttings. I know that by starting in water I have about 100% success.

[Keith Petrosky]

I used plastic cages or tupperware to keep them in.

[Pamela Moresby]

In NZ we only have the swanplant to feed the caterpillars on. We have the usual green one with white flowers and a south african swan plant with orange flowers.

I cut branches and put them in vases on the laundry window. Try to keep a damp paper towel between the caterpillars and the water to prevent drowning. This needs to be cleaned and renewed daily.

Sometimes it's a real problem trying to get enough food to feed the caterpillars and have resorted sometimes to either pumpkin or else the capok plant.

Pam

[Jacqui_in_NZ]

Would you believe it it's mid-winter here in NZ (well, it's technically the second day of Spring) and I have 21 caterpillars crawling all over Swan Plant in my lounge. Too cold probably for them to exist outside, but gorgeous sunny days.

The Swan Plant was rescued from a private garden, overseas owner, his contractor had been told to "keep it tidy" therefore all the Swan Plant had to go and spray-spray-spray, that tidies it up doesn't it? NOT!!!

Gill J ackson and I got in there and rescued a lot of Swan Plant, a few caterpillars and chrysalides and lots of branches with eggs. So now I'm in the family way again. LOL

[Orangeaid]

This year i had 3 breading containers going at once. I use large circular tomato plant cages 42 " in height and 18 " diameter at the bottom and 6 " diameter at the top. I wrap them with black tule ( fabric ) and have access where the material over laps . I use a large round aluminum cookie sheet 20 " in diameter at the bottom to collect the waste . Just lift up the container and dump the waste. I rear all my cats outside and i put a small thin vase filled with water covered with suran wrap with small holes poked in the wrap to keep the Milkweed alive while the cats eat. ( i use a rubber band around the top of the vase to keep the suran wrap tight ). And by using small holes poked in the suran it does 2 things. 1 it supports the milkweed and keeps it standing up straight 2 it keeps cats from crawling down into the water and drowning. As for eggs i usually cut the leaves of the plant i find them on and then put moist paper towels at the bottom of a large round tupper ware container and lay all the leaves with eggs on them together on top of each other until the eggs hatch . I usually let them hatch inside and then when they are around a 1/4 " i move them outside to the cages keeping cats together that are equal in size.

[pianopete]

Normally we grow tropical weedweed and that is what we feed the growing cats in the cages. However, like everyone seems to experience, cut stems and leaves are difficult to keep fresh in the cages. I have tried all sort of methods in a quest to keep a stem fresh longer (seems to dri out in about 12 hours in a ventilated cage ), and found that changing out potted plants was the only solution to insure a frest supply of leaves for a week or more. Until.... I tried giant milkweed. I am starting to grow that now and cut leaves from the giant will stay frest a couple of days and sometimes more, and the cats seem to like the giant just as well as the tropical. They also last much longer refrigerated. The leaves being much larger means that one leaf of giant will supply the same amount of food as a whole stem of tropical. The downside is that the giant being larger is much more prone to wind damage ( i.e., hurricanes ).

[Jacqui_in_NZ]

Hi Pete

Do you know the botanical name of the Giant Weed? I'm not sure that I know which one you're talking about - and it sounds very useful!

Jacqui

[pianopete]

I believe this is correct:

Calotropis gigantea (L.) Ait. f.
giant milkweed
http://plants.usda.gov/cgi_bin/topics.c ... bol=CAGI11

You can find an image online at:

http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/de ... um=1248005

[Pamela Moresby]

Someone suggested I find an old meat safe for rearing monarch caterpillars and use that. It is a box with mesh on 3 sides and just opens on a latch. Could put a tray on the bottom.

An old meat safe was used before fridges came in NZ and was kept in a cool place so that the meat could stay frest for a day.

May be ideal for cats?
Pam
from NZ

[Pamela Moresby]

Thanks for the picture of the giant milk weed and for all the ideas of monarch containers.
Pam
from NZ

[harpo787]

The giant milkweeds have been our first plants we obtained, not realizing the wide variety of milkweeds out there. It's true, the leaves are much larger, and it seems that one leaf will satisfy the full growth of a caterpillar to pupa stage. I think the cat on this leaf is in 5th instar, but I'm not certain...but he's pretty huge. I think his whole life has been on the one leaf!

[Pamela Moresby]

What is the botanical name of this Giant Milkweed called.
Pamela
from NZ

[harpo787]

Asclepias, Calotropis gigantea would be the name I guess.

Had to prune a bad branch (fungus) off of the giant milkweed and pruned a branch off the scarlett milkweed (had aphids)...found it why it's called milkweed!

Interesting scent....

[Jim]

Yep: Calotropis gigantea - Giant Milkweed:

William M. Ciesla, Forest Health Management International, www.forestryimages.org