Keep them overnight? Or release in Evening?

[Kestrel]

Hi-

Two emerged today- one at 11 a.m., another at 1:30 p.m., and I believe a third will still emerge yet this afternoon by the looks of it.

I usually let them dry their wings 6 hours, at which point they have also seemed pretty anxious to go.
However, all of them to this point emerged prior to 9 a.m.

Allowing the 6 hours will make it kind of late here in SE Michigan. Especially for that third one, if it emerges yet this afternoon. Is it better to keep them overnight (with nectar flowers in the cage), or release them this evening, assuming they appear ready otherwise? Don't want to traumatize them by keeping them "prisoner" in the 10 gallon aquarium!

Thanks so much!

[NickiM]

They don't need to eat the first day after eclosing, so they'll be fine until morning. You might want to mist a liitle water on the aqarium walls--not on the butterflies--so they can have a drink.

[skates4marty]

If you want to relieve your anxiety, you could offer them sugar water on a Q-tip. I read somewhere that they taste with their feet, so I touch the Q-tip to a foot and then to the proboscis. I find that a few will eat the first day. If you search for "gatorade" on this forum, you'll probably come up with a thread about feeding them.

[Mona Miller]

If they get roudy, then put a dark cover over the aquarium.

[Kestrel]

Thanks! I will do those things. Yes, the third one came out at 3:30 p.m.
All Perfect!

[NickiM]

I have 3 that eclosed today also. It's supposed to storm here tonight, so I'm keeping them inside until tomorrow.

[Mona Miller]

I just released 5 and as I was going down my front steps and holding on to the rail, I touched something and looked down and it was a chrysalis. There is swamp milkweed planted in a ditch near the steps.

[applestar]

Isn't it crazy the obvious places they pupate sometimes?
I've been seeing a lot of FRESH Monarchs out in the garden. They must be the ones that I didn't collect but survived -- they can't ALL be wild visitors. Yet, I HAVE been looking for chrysalises in the garden and have not found a single one!

[NickiM]

I found an empty chrysalis on a branch of Russian sage next to one of my swamp milkweeds. The chrysalis looked like a butterfly had emerged from it, not empty due to predation.

[Mona Miller]

It probably did emerge. I don't know why I'm surprised when I see a chrysalis or butterfly drying its wings in my garden. There's plenty of hiding places. I also have a chrysalis attached to one the metal rings of my tomato cages in my garden. It looks like a tiny tomato.

[applestar]

LOL I was thinking that too! I have a grape tomato in a container next to a couple of potted tropical milkweeds, and I was thinking I'd never find a chrysalis on there because ALL the green grape toms look like chrysalises.