How long??

[jen]

Hi All,
Just wondering, This is my first year rearing from eggs. Can anyone give me a good guesstimate on how long from egg to monarch? Here in the very beginning of august, don't know if the babies i have now wil have matured and flew away by the beginning of the school year. ( sept. 7th) Any ideas? I appreciate it,
Jen

[F3]

This is all in my personal experience, I've seen some slightly different numbers from others.

Eggs - Up to ~5 days
Larva - Up to ~12 days
Pupa - Up to ~9 days

[Jim]

As F3 mentioned, development time can vary, especially with temperature; however, generally speaking it takes about 30 days from egg to adult:

Egg: 3-4 days
Larva (caterpillar): 12-14 days
Pupa (chrysalis): 10-14 days

but it can take as few as 24 days or as long as 50 days!

You can slow development a bit by placing eggs and/or pupae into the refrigerator for a few days with a slightly moist paper towel nearby. I wouldn't recommend doing this with caterpillars, but if you keep your cats in an air conditioned environment (in the 70s) you'll slow them down. The optimum temperature for monarch development (that is, the temperature at which the developmental rate is the highest) is right around 85 degrees F.