Build a Mote Around Your Monarch Butterfly Castle

Dear Reader,

If you have been reading and keeping up with my Blog, you might be thinking, with so many predators, is it really feasable to raise Monarch butterflies?  Yes, it is.  You just have to learn what predators are out there and then devise a strategy to protect them.  That's largely what this Blog is dedicated to doing.  So, whether you are a teacher, parent, student or butterfly enthusiast, you will find helpful suggestions to help you avoid the problems that one can encounter when raising Monarch butterflies.

Today, as I stewed about how many caterpillars I had lost to fire ants, I decided to try a technique I had read about to try and protect them.  It involves building a water mote around your butterfly pavillion.  This is very helpful if your caterpillars are outdoors, because even in a pavillion, ants can crawl through the little holes and kill your Monarch cats.  Here's what you do:

1.  Get four extra large matching bowls and four flat faced stones.  (I used two bricks cut in half.)
2.  Place a stone in each bowl.
3.  Set your table legs on top of the stones.
4.  Fill the bowls with water.
5.  Make sure your table/pavillion is not in contact with anything except the stones it is setting on.

The water acts like a castle mote and prevents the fire ants from getting to the table legs and into your pavillion.  Please note, though, that this is not always a perfect fix.  Ants are very persistant.  In some cases, they have been known to plunge into the water and drown by the thousands until their dead bodies accumulated to the point where they made a bridge across the water, and the remaining living ants could cross over.  However, it is a good place to start. 

(Water Mote protecting your Monarch Butterfly pavillion from fire ants.)

Lastly, you can spray some ant poison on the table legs or on the rocks in the bowls to add an additional deterent.  However, let me add that you must be very cautious in using any kind of poison or pesticide, since the Monarch butterflies are very susceptible to any such chemicals and will die quickly if they come into contact with them.  Also, make sure that no children, pets or other wild animals come into contact with such contaminants either.

Some folks chose to try and avoid the predators by raising the caterpillars totally indoors.  This is possible, but if you want to raise large numbers of Monarchs, you'll probably end up having to do much of it outdoors.  If that's the case, hopefully this Blog entry and others like it will help you protect your precious Monarchs.

Happy Monarching!


Caleb & Janae Warren

The Tachina or Tachinid Fly Strikes Again

As usual, I'll give you the good news first.  Another chrysalis formed early this morning, and 3 more caterpillars are ready to pupate.  In addition, 3 more are almosted finished eating and will be ready to pupate within the next 24 hours.

Next, the bad news.  A couple of days ago, one of our caterpillars made its chrysalis on one of our Milkweed flower pots.  Yesterday, I noticed that one spot on it was turning a slight brownish color.  I thought maybe it had gotten injured or something but would be ok.  However, this morning, it is clearly dead.  (see photo below)

(Silky string from chrysalis to the ground / Tachinid fly larvae kill a Monarch chrysalis)

The Tachinid fly lays eggs on the caterpillar.  The fly larvae eventually kill the Monarch caterpillar around the time it tries to pupate.  Or, sometimes they wait until the caterpillar has become a chrysalis, as shown in the above photo.  The silky string connected from the chrysalis to the ground is the tell tale sign that the Tachinid fly has struck.

This is probably the 6th or 7th caterpillar of mine that has died due to this parasitic fly.  At the nursery where I'm currently getting my Milkweed plants, the plants are out in the open, and the flies can openly get to the developing caterpillars there.  So, my wife suggested that in the future when we buy more plants, that we remove all caterpillars and put them on other plants.  However, any eggs we could leave, and these would not have been infected with the fly larvae yet.  I think it's a marvelous idea.  This will help us to get the most out of our Milkweed leaves too.  You just hate to invest all of that Milkweed and then get nothing out of it.

I don't mean to say that the Tachinid Fly is all bad.  It preys on other garden pests such as Japanese Beetles, Squash Bugs, Stink Bugs and more.  However, since it preys on my beautiful Monarch caterpillars, it is a neusance to me.  Hopefully, keeping my babies in an enclosure will do the most help.

One note: Please be careful not to use any poisons or pesticides to get rid of pests such as these flies because it will kill your butterflies too.  The Milkweed sap they consume is poisonous, and therefore, the Monarch is full of poison already.  It's body just can't tolerate any more.  So, look for natural ways to control pests and predators.

Perhaps these observations will help you too.  Be sure to keep your caterpillars in a protective enclosure at all times.  In my next Blog entry, I'll show you a pavilion that I have that has worked great for me.

Happy Monarching!

Caleb & Janae Warren

savethemonarch1@gmail.com