The right temp to release

[mflutterby]

The rain has stopped for today. What is the best time and temp to release them? I am afraid if I wait until it is late in the day the temp will be dropping for the evening and then what do they do?

[Mona Miller]

If they have been out at least 24 hours, then release them if the temp is above 60 degrees. I have a friend and her advice would be. If you release them and they can't fly off, then take them back in and try another day.

[mflutterby]

My other dilemma is, in the one habitat I have 6 butterflies, 5 emerged yesterday morning and 1 emerged the day before. We have 2 that look like they will be emerging this morning. How in the world do I release the 6 without the 2 new ones being disturbed???

[Mona Miller]

If you release in the afternoon, then the ones that emerged this morning at least will have time to dry their wings a bit. They might be even ready to fly by the afternoon.

Another option is to try to find something else to transfer the other butterflies into until you can release them. Even a large brown paper bag will do. Close the top. This will also give them a bit of darkness until they are released. You might want to add some damp paper towel at the bottom for moisture, but you'd probably need to place the damp paper towel on top of some plastic to prevent the bottom from getting wet and tearing when you take the butterflies to release them.

http://www.butterflyfunfacts.com/howtoh ... terfly.php
This website shows how to hold a butterfly with index and middle fingers. This puts less pressure on the wings, too.

Butterflies can also be held in glassine envelopes. The kind that stamp collectors use.

[mflutterby]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35051833@N08/5032961019/
Mother Nature came through for us again. The warm sun and blue skies and the eight that we released, made a perfect day. Two of the three emerged while we had the habitats outside to release their room mates. I think the warm sun helped with that. The crumple winged monarch flew away perfectly. Phewww....all is good

[lib66laur]

I feel guilty having a "captive" on my front porch. It's just too wet and cold here so she has butterfly bush stems/flowers and tomorrow's forecast is favorable. I released three Sunday afternoon under not-the-best conditions. Two hung on the bush for some time but must have been able to fly. I brought her in yesterday thinking she was just getting soggier and soggier... I THINK I'm doing the right thing but it still feels odd...

[Mona Miller]

My dinning room turns into a butterfly nursery in the late spring, summer, and fall. No one gets to eat meals because the table is full of creatures. So don't feel odd, it is natural for us butterfly lovers to share our homes with these incredible creatures.

[mflutterby]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35051833@N08/5054208012/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35051833@N08/5053587367/
We are hoping that the temp will get to 60 today and no rain, but the forecast doesn't look promising. I really need to release them. I keep them in a dark room so that they don't get upset, but then they aren't eating either. I have the gatorade soaked cotton balls and also fresh butterfly bush blossoms in the habitats with them, but they don't seem to be interested. With the darkness, they obviously just roost, so should I leave the light on for a few hours so that they might eat? How long can I keep them if the weather doesn't warm up. We are going on 3 days for some of them.

[Mona Miller]

How cool is it in your basement? Incandescent lights are warmer. Are you misting the cages for moisture?

When I have to save butterflies for an event, I feed them by rolling out the proboscis. I feed them individually.

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/monarc ... gFink.html
Dr. Linda Fink shows how to hand feed butterflies, video.

After they have eaten, I let them hang out for a while and then put them into glassine envelopes and store them in a wine cooler for a few days. Not more than 4 days. This keeps them from hurting their wings.

[mflutterby]

I have them in my laundry room, which has no windows, so when the door is shut and the light is off it is completely dark. The temp is probably close to 67 or 68. There is a vent for heat in there. I have been misting the cages once a day. It's hard not to get them wet though. They don't like that too much. They say it should get up to 60 today, but now as I look outside, the butterfly bush blossoms are very sparse now. So much to worry about.

[Mona Miller]

Take your containers, cover them with a large plastic bag, I usually put the container type you have into one and then pull the top closed (my large plastic bags have drawn strings). Take them into a warmer room. Take one out at a time and hand feed them. Then let them go. 60 degrees is fine for releasing them. They can fly at that temp. I've seen them flying below that temp.

If you feed them before they go, that will get them pretty far. But, they need a good NE wind to really get them going--expressway.

[applestar]

When I cut open a late harvest watermelon a couple of days ago, I saved a small piece for the Monarchs. They loved it. Now I'm back to frozen honeydew melon pieces and Gatorade.... Rain, rain, go away!

[Mona Miller]

Our rain finally stopped this morning. I haven't seen any adult Monarchs for at least 3 days. It is dipping down into the mid 40s at night.

[mflutterby]

I did release the seven yesterday afternoon. It didn't warm up as much as I would have liked it to. And then of course the nights are in the high 30's low 40's, not to mention the gusty winds. So needless to say I don't feel real good about letting them go. Our last 2 finally emerged last night. I will hang on to them until it warms up.

[mflutterby]

I released the last two of our monarchs for this season. We successfully released 26 this year. Five more than last year. We started out with 31. This was the first year we had to deal with that nasty fly, so that took 4 of the chrysalis and one caterpillar just didn't make it. We wish them all a safe journey until we meet again...