monarchs mating in captivity

[wausau]

I have a 12x12 screen tent with lots of milkweed growing inside. Inside it also are flowers for another nectar source. I put 6 new born male and 6 newborn females inside the tent. Only one pair mated. Any tips to get monarchs to mate in captivity? Thank You

[Mona Miller]

Well, you got the mood lighting, the wine,...

Actually, they need to be 3-5 days old before they are ready to mate; however, if a male is ready he will take a female that is not even a day old. I've seen this. Not much courtship for Monarchs.

[Mona Miller]

Yesterday, I finally got my male and female to hook up. She's laying eggs. Now, I'm in trouble. But, I was missing them. This is the latest that I've had to wait for Monarchs.

[David Calhoun]

On this topic of getting the monarchs to mate in captivity- I presume that this is done so that the female can then lay her eggs on the milkweed inside an enclosure, so that I don't have to spend all day looking outside to find a few eggs- she lays hundreds on my indoors milkweed leaves,Right? Would you still do it right now,at say 38 degrees north latitude,as long as you had enough milkweeed leaves in the refrigerator to feed them? I suppose at some point in the year you wouldn't fo it, because they would be so far behind their fellow fall migrants that they would also be fighting cold weather?

[Mona Miller]

Getting them to lay in the tent is so I can test them to make sure they are disease free (OE) and not have to spend time in the field looking for eggs.

They have enough time to finish their cycle if your area is hot enough. We don't get frost in my 38 latitude until almost the end of October. Last year, I took Monarchs to Williamsburg, Virginia in November to release them. It is warmer there. But, I also had to take in some pots of milkweed because outside things had gotten killed back.

[applestar]

Do they mate mid-air? how do they do it?

Earlier in the summer, I was watching some Cabbage Whites doing something odd -- one was actually laying on it's back on a leaf and reaching up with the tip of its (her?) abdomen. When another one landed on top and they hooked up, I caught on to what they were doing.

I was wondering because my 3 (2 females, 1 male) from yesterday was very restless today, flapping all over the cage, and it seemed like the females were trying to flip over. I just let them go about an hour ago. One female took off without bothering to stay on the butterfly bush flower my DD set her on, ther other famale was reaching for a flower with her probosis even before DD could get her on a flower cluster and drank for a long time, and the male was also pretty hungry/thirsty but took off long before the female was done.

They did have a bouquet of flowers in the cage as well as a piece of overripe melon. I know they usually don't eat/drink right away but I like to have something in the cage for them, just in case.

[Mona Miller]

What is a "DD"?

The male kind of rapes the female. He knocks her down and holds her until they connect. It used to be that he would make this wonderful floral scent and attract her and now his floral scent gland doesn't really work so he does it cave man style.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Dx09DIRkIE
Here it is in video on You tube.

Then 24 hours of hanging upside, but she does get some nutrition for egg laying. The average number of times, that a female will mate is 8 times.