39 Monarchs 5 Chrysalis to go

[hannahrose]

We recently posted in Report monarch sightings for the East North Central region of the United States (IN, IL, MI, OH, WI) here.My children and I are pleased to say that we have released 39 successful Monarch Butterflies. We had 18 males and 21 females. We still have 5 Chrysalis to go. My children are so excited that we were able to free so many. Are Milkweed in our backyard has a Monarch daily, We have just collected more eggs from the leaves. We are hoping to have just as many if not more out of this batch.
I have a Question if anyone can answer. Two of our Chrysalis had broken from the top, One looks as if it had been broken open just a sliver but the chrysalis is still very green in color (been 3 days now) We have it wedged between popscicle sticks for support. Can anyone give advise on how to hang it? There is no stem. My second Chrysalis has a stem and we are using a potato chip clip to hold that one up. Any suggestions if this seems to work or what we should try to help them become the beautiful butterflies that they are.
Thanks for any input
Ben

[monarchmama]

If a fallen chrysalis still has a post, I take a piece of sewing thread about 6-8 inches long and make a double knot around the loose end of the post (the post or stem is called a "cremaster") and then tie it around a stick or the top netting in my raising cage so that it can hang freely. If it is not hanging freely when the butterfly hatches out, the butterfly cannot emerge or pump up it's wings correctly, and is often deformed.
My suggestion on the one without a cremaster is to make a large knot in a piece of thread and use a tiny drop of superglue to attach the string near where the original post was, then tie it as mentioned above . Sometimes it will work but it is much more likely to have trouble getting out of pupea and there is greater chance of deformity when the crysalis has been damaged.
Good luck & let us know how it goes for you.

thought you might find this link interesting: www.hilozoo.com/animals/AI_monarch3.htm

[Pat]

Hannahrose, you don't need to tie the chrysalis back up or support it, especially the one with no cremaster. See Jim's pictures of the MonarchWatch rearing cup on the thread called "New cocoon just fell - Need help". I used to tie almost all of mine back up to something if they fell, but now if one comes loose, I lay the chrysalis down in a net bag and let it develop there. I've had very good luck with butterflies that mature this way; they emerge without problems, and just climb up the net several inches to dry their wings.