Is the space diet available online??

[M_ and_ M]

Just wondering if the space diet we used is somewhere on line for sale. I checked the Monarch watch store, really could not find it. My thoughts are, by the end of this week I should have 5 or 6 new monarchs. Hopefully they will mate later and I can start over on the cycle again. Not trying to be greedy, but...since my tropical plants will not be ready to carry a full load of larva,it would be nice to put the larva on the feed, give the plants another week or 2 to grow.
I know now I can switch the 4th to 5th instars to what I have frozen in milkweed and get them through, I have lots of frozen, but none of my younger larvae survived on the frozen. Either it was survival of the fittest, since I did not sort the sizes out to well, or the young ones just could not tolerate frozen, thawed, milkweed. Any thoughts.

[Mona Miller]

As far as I know, Monarch Watch is not at the stage where they are selling the diet. They provided it for the space experiment.

You can take the eggs and keep them in the frig for up to a week. I can't remember if it can be done longer. That will keep them from hatching and delay them a bit.

http://educationalscience.com/butterflydiets.htm
Educational Science has artificial diet and one for Monarchs, but I cannot recommend it--I've never used it.

[M_ and_ M]

Thanks Mona, I may give it a try, I see they have plants also, think that is the route I will try. My plants are coming back pretty good, just do not want to get caught on the short end with another hatch, that should be a few or more weeks from happening.
Last night I noticed one of the plants seemed to be struggling when it had done so well, sure enough, found a second instar just munching away. Moved him to swamp milkweed that is doing well, I know I have enough of that to support one! Or is there just one??

[Mona Miller]

I know from experience that younger instars do well on more tender growth and older instars do well on older growth. I wonder if this is the problem with feeding young instars the frozen milkweed; perhaps, the milkweed you have in the freezer is more mature?

[Mona Miller]

http://www.ento.org.nz/nzentomologist/f ... -73-75.pdf
A note on rearing of the monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus (L.) on an artificial diet (1988)

http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/v ... xt=bio_fac
Here's a patent for a recipe back in 2001
http://works.bepress.com/kleong/5/
About the author

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=n ... utterflies
If you want to do more searching here is the google hits. I used the search words, "artificial diet, monarch butterflies"

[M_ and_ M]

Mona, where do you get the time to look all this stuff up?? Really great links, I am checking it out, I have thought of making a paste of some of it, but the mold inhibitor is the one thing I lack, obvious by the third day of these leaves in the contianer. Wouldn't it be great to reach a point on the food that they could live well in winters?? Schools, nursing homes, all of us! Still I do wonder about messing with mother nature.

[Mona Miller]

The painted lady diet has been used for years with great success. It allows classroms to raise butterflies and learn about them without having to find a natural source.

In regards to locating material, I think you just have to know how to google. It's like looking up things at the library--try different words.

[Mona Miller]

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1991&p=10434&hilit=diet#p10434
I searched on "diet" on the forum and found a post, which has another recipe.

[M_ and_ M]

I think I will stick to the plants, and up my count on that over the summer. I will watch closer also on their size so I can switch them over to frozen milkweed at 4th instar, and perhaps save the plants the shock in mid winter. Thanks.