Hummingbirds Are An Exception

Hello Everyone,

As everyone in the country knows, Texas has been in a horrible drought this year.  Up until last week in which we got a couple of brief showers, we hadn't had any rainfall in about six months.  Needless to say, that has made it difficult to do any kind of horticulture or work with my butterflies.  It's just been to hot and dry. 

This year's 4th or 5th generation of Monarch's have already left Canada now and are on their way to Mexico.  Last year, I noticed that they began to appear in our area close to Corpus Christi in the first two weeks of October.  It will be interesting to see if they come through at the same time this year or not.

In other news, a couple of weeks ago, my sister-in-law Heather sent an email out to everyone about remembering to have our hummingbird feeders out because they are migrating through, and it being so dry, they need our help.  I'm so glad she did that, because I had taken mine down due to repairs and painting on my house and had forgotten to put them back up.

Well, I went ahead and put them back up again, and to my surprise, two hummingbirds were feeding from them the very next morning!  Fast forward to this morning and there are eight feeding together and getting along pretty well.  I filled up the feeder yesterday afternoon, and it is almost empty this morning.  I have two feeders, but one seems to work better than the other.  The other one tends to leak.  I plan to get a few more feeders when I have the chance.  They are facinating to watch.

I came across this video on YouTube which shows hummingbirds eating out of people's hands.  I think you will enjoy it. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=EUEZkwJulBY&feature=fvwp

Additionally, I have posted below some pictures and a video clip of my feeder.  I hope you enjoy them.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, normally I don't encourage birds to reside in my yard because they tend to eat butterflies.  However, the hummingbird is an exception since they eat only nectar.



I hope you enjoy the hummingbirds and Monarch butterflies that will be migrating through your area this fall.

Happy Monarching!


Caleb
savethemonarch1@gmail.com

(Hummingbirds feeding at my house - 09/19/2011)

(Up to eight hummingbirds were feeding together at this one feeder!)

(Someone's getting a cool morning drink of nectar.)



Miracle Monarch Makes It!

A few days ago, I reported on an extremely small caterpillar that, while in the J Shape, fell from its perch.  Amazingly, it pupated while laying on its side.  It's rare to see this since a fall usually results in the caterpillar bursting open and dying.  However, this one did not.

Well, yesterday, the little tiny butterfly emerged, and I'm happy to report that the little female is doing fine.  We released her last night along with four of her brothers and sisters.  Today, two more healthy males emerged, and we released them this evening.

(Very small female Monarch the successfully emerged after having pupated while laying on her side!)

Thus far, we have released a total of 34 Monarchs this year.  Six or seven more are still left in this 3rd wave.  We anxiously await to see how they do.

I went ahead and ordered migration tags for my fall batch of Monarchs this year.  I decided to get 100 of them.  We'll see if I can raise that many this fall.  The tags are afixed to the right wing in a specific location.  If they make it to Mexico, they might be caught and their tag information retreaved.  This info is all housed in a main database at the University of Kansas.  Tagging Monarchs is a fun exercise with your children or students and does not harm the butterflies in any way.  For more information or to order your tags, visit http://www.monarchwatch.org/

Happy Monarching!


Caleb & Janae Warren
savethemonarch1@gmail.com

Miracle Monarch Pupation

Here's an interesting story for you.  One of my recent caterpillars in the 3rd Wave was about to pupate.  He was in the J Shape.  For some reason, he fell from his silk pad.  There was no way for me to reattach him.  So, I simply laid him in a tuperware bowl to see what would heppen.  My 9 year old son and I had a lively discussion about the possibilities.  I told him it was possible for the caterpillar to successfully pupate even though it's on its side.  Well, to our great surprise and wonderment, that's exactly what happened.  The caterpillar successfully shed his 4th instar skin while lying on his side!  I've only seen this happen one other time when I was raising Monarchs in Georgia.

(Monarch caterpillar pupates while lying on its side!)

One unexpected side effect of this is that his chrysalis stuck to the side of the tuperware bowl.  So, I simply stood up the bowl.  We'll see if the butterfly emerges properly or not.

So, this batch of Monarchs has some interesting butterflies in it.  It will be interesting to see if all 14 chrysalises make it.  We'll keep you posted.

Happy Monarching!!!


Caleb & Janae Warren
savethemonarch1@gmail.com

Pupation - A Critical Time For Monarch Caterpillars

Well, all of the caterpillars from Wave 3 are now in chrysalises.  We currently have 14.  One, however, had difficulty shedding its skin entirely when it pupated.  I waited 24 hours and then I removed it manually.  However, the skin had covered up the cremaster and upper tip of the chrysalis.  This area was weak, soggy and wanted to pull away entirely from the chrysalis.  I carefully removed the skin, tied a piece of thread around the cremaster, and hung it on a nail in our mud room.  I am very uncertain if it will make it or not.  However, I have seen worsely formed chrysalises come out as unscathed beautiful adult Monarchs.  So, we will wait and see.  One lesson from this is the importance of the caterpillar fully shedding the skin when it pupates.  It's a critical time for them.  If they don't, it prevents them from forming properly inside the chrysalis.

(Chrysalis with soft top. This is due to not fully shedding the 4th instar skin at time of pupation. The chrysalis may not properly form due to this.)

As for Wave 4, well they're coming on with a vengence.  They are in the outdoor pavillion, and they are almost ready to pupate now!  Literally overnight, about half of the Milkweed plants have been virtually denuded of leaves!  These guys sure can eat.  I have no idea how many are in there.  I won't have a full count for a while yet.  However, many of them are in instar 4 already!  One thing that I have learned from this is that they mature much faster outdoors than indoors.

Happy Monarching!


Caleb & Janae Warren
savethemonarch1@gmail.com

Here Comes Caterpillar Wave #3

Well, we are past the bad weather now, and everything is starting to dry off.  I noticed my Blue Vine Milkweed is doing well.  My sidecluster Milkweed plants have bloomed and are attempting to set seed.

One thing I've noticed about Blue Vine Milkweed is that the leaves tend to last longer than those of the Tropical Milkweed plant.  In other words, they do not shrivel quickly after they have been removed from the plant.  That is a real plus when you need to feed the caterpillars apart from a live plant.

This weekend, I released the last three butterflies from batch #2.  So, we started with 50+ caterpillars and ended up raising and releasing 20 adults.  Our total for this year is 27, and our all time grand total is 2,027.

Many of our caterpillars were killed by fire ants.  I am now attempting to poison them and remove them from the area.  Also, the installation of a water mote system around my pavillion has discouraged insects from getting on the pavillion.  Don't forget to put 1-2 capfuls of bleach to further discourage insects and to prevent mosquitos from breeding there.

Of course, we also had numerous caterpillars die due to predatory flies.  When we buy plants from the nursery, most of the caterpillars on them are infected this way.  It's very sad to see them die this way.  So, to have 20 make it to adulthood is not so bad.  In fact, it's a way higher average than would naturally occur in the wild.

So, being totally out of butterflies, I went to the nursery and bought one plant this weekend.  We gathered up a number of caterpillars and put them on the plant.  Interestingly, since we brought it home, we have already had a dozen or more caterpillars die.  Most died no doubt due to bacteria infection.  The shrivled up and turned black.

(Our caterpillar tree.  Numerous cats from the nursery.)

Even though there are so many ways for Monarchs to die, if you get a good pair and are careful to keep things clean, you can normally have a good percentage of success.

Right before I let my last female go, she mated and layed numerous eggs on the Milkweed plants in my outdoor pavillion.  Hopefully, many of them will make it.  I will keep you posted.

Happy Monarching!


Caleb & Janae Warren
savethemonarch1@gmail.com
http://www.savethemonarch.calebwarren.com/
http://www.shop.calebwarren.com/

Wet, Wet, Wet!

With Hurricane Alex threatening to hit this area, it's been quite busy the last 24 hours.  I went ahead and released the three female Queen butterflies yesterday.  Even though we've had some rainfall in the last 24 hours, I'm sure they found shelter and are safe and sound.

I have two male Monarchs and one female left.  I'm hoping they will mate soon and she will lay a few more eggs for me.  I have them in a small pavillion with a Milkweed plant.  The presence of the plant encourages them to mate.

It now appears we will not get a direct hit from Hurricane Alex but will merely get some rain and a little wind.  I sure am enjoying the break from the severe heat.  It has been quite rough the last month or so. 

(It seems Hurricane Alex will not hit us directly.  Whew!)

Our new eggs have yet to hatch.  We're watching them closely and will keep you posted.

Happy Monarching!


Caleb & Janae Warren
savethemonarch1@gmail.com

Two Queens Emerge!

Well, we have some exciting news today.  First off, our first Queen butterfly emerged from its chrysalis which was hanging in our Mud Room.  Being a female, it's truly a queen.  Additionally, our last of two Monarch chrysalises emerged today- also a female.  So, we'll have the possibility of getting some more eggs soon if all goes well.

(Queen chrysalis - it greatly resembles a Monarch's, but is smaller)

(Our new female Queen butterfly)

We have had so few females this season.  My wife Janae wonders if temperature has anything to do with the male/female ratio?  That's good question.  I'll have to do some research and see what I find.  Irregardless, female Monarchs have been few and far between.  I'm very excited to have one at the moment.

Our Corpus Christi area was put under a hurricane watch today.  I've just got my pavillion set up the way I want it, but I may have to dismantle everything in a few days.  We'll keep you updated.  We may have to evacuate some butterflies with us.  That may be a first eh?

Happy Monarching!


Caleb & Janae Warren
savethemonarch1@gmail.com

More baby Monarchs Soon To Come...Maybe.

Today has been once again an interesting day.  First, two new males emerged from their chrysalises this morning.  I went ahead and placed them in with the others, so there are now 5 Monarchs in the outdoor pavillion.  There are three males and two females.

After taking care of some morning errands, I came home to find that there had been an afternoon shower here.  What a welcomed relief.  We need the rain here so badly.  As I was looking in my outdoor pavillion, I noticed that I only saw three butterflies.  I knew that I had a total of five in there as of this morning, so my mind started to race, and I began to fear the worst.  However, to my great relief, I found the other two together on a Milkweed plant.  Yes, you guessed it, they were mating, or at least attempting to.

(Two Monarchs mating in my outdoor pavillion.)

I'm not entirely sure if the mating attempt was successful or not.  When I found them, I immediately ran and got my camera.  But by the time I returned, they had already separated.  This is unusual.  In my experience, mating pairs stay connected for 12-24 hours.  So, perhaps they got interrupted for one reason or another.  However, it certainly is a promising sign.  If they do successfully mate, then we should have a new batch of babies in about a week or so.

Happy Monarching!

Caleb & Janae Warren

 

One Triumph! One Tragedy.

Yesterday evening, I noticed two chrysalises were changing color.  They are located in the corridor between our back door and back entrance to our house.  This small area is called the "Mud Room" by my wife.  Well, this morning, I awoke to a triumph and a tragedy.  Two Male Monarchs had indeed emerged, but one had fallen from its perch.  The fall damaged its abdomen which contains the fluid for the wings.  It couldn't manage to crawl back up to its perch.  Its wings were deformed.  It would never fly.  Even if I had been standing right there, I'm not sure if I could have saved it, since its abdomen was damaged in the fall.

(Male Monarch fallen from its perch.)

This raises a question I hear often.  What should you do if you know a butterfly is injured beyond recovery?  Is there a humane way to help end its suffering?  The answer is yes.  The most humane way is to put it in a container with an enclosed lid and place it in the freezer.  The cold slowly and gently puts them to sleep.  If you see they are suffering, this is the most humane way to end their pain. 

Believe it or not, there are a lot of emotions that well up when you lose a butterfly this way.  This is especially so if you have hand reared them, provided them a lot of care, and helped them to get to this point.  And, then, when they are so close to being a successful adult flying Monarch butterfly, so see them die this way is heartbreaking.  However, we still have nearly a dozen Monarchs remaining to emerge from this batch, not to mention three Queen butterflies on the way.  And let's not forget, one male Monarch made it this morning!  So, withstanding this tragedy, we still have a lot of exciting things to look forward to.

(One Male Monarch made it!)

Happy Monarching,


Caleb & Janae Warren
savethemonarch1@gmail.com

Two More Female Butterflies Emerge Today

Well, yesterday, we decided to release the one female butterfly that had emerged.  Well, this morning we awoke to find two more females have emerged.  You might remember that our first batch of butterflies was mostly male.  So far, this batch is exactly the opposite--all girls so far. 

There is only one caterpillar left to pupate, so this batch is all but done.  My son Joshua found three other chrysalises that are starting so change color.  So, we'll have several butterflies within the next 24 hours if all goes well.,

If you are a teacher or educator in the Corpus Christi Texas area, and are interested in raising Monarchs with your class, feel free to contact me for further information and support.  I'm hoping many will help raise some for release this October for the fall migration.

Happy Monarching!


Caleb, Janae & Joshua Warren

savethemonarch1@gmail.com

(So far, this batch is all females...3 and counting.)

(Two new female Monarchs emerged today.)

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

My Yard's Full of Milkweed!!!

Additional inspection of my yard has yeilded a number of Milkweed species!  I really can't believe it.  I must assume that the previous owner had a butterfly garden of some sort in her yard.  I couldn't be more thrilled.  Below are some photos of the Milkweed species that I have found in my yard.  All are native to Texas.

(Possibly Sand Milkweed plants by my watering hose.)

(Blue Vine Milkweed running along my garden fence.)

(This plant oozed Milky White when I pinched a leaf off.  Checking to see if the caterpillars will eat it or not.  That's the real test to see if a plant is truly Milkweed or not.)

With this much Milkweed in my yard, I can only surmise that the previous owner planted most, if not all of it.  If that's the case, I'm happy to continue her work.

As you read in my previous Blog entry, we lost a lot of caterpillars to Fireants today, and additional cats have been lost to predatory flies.  My Tropical Milkweed plants have been stripped of leaves.  I have one left that has a few descent leaves on it.  I brought it and the remaining few Monarch caterpillars indoors this afternoon.  I have 4 Monarch caterpillars left to mature into chrysalises.  I also have 3 Queen caterpillars I'm sharing my Milkweed with.  In addition to that, we have 12 chrysalises.  Hopefully, I can keep the predators at bay, and they will make it to adult butterflies.  In my next Blog entry, I'll show you a technique I employed today to protect them.  Please read on, as it may help you too.

Happy Monarching!

Caleb & Janae Warren

Heavy Losses Due To Fireants

Well, much has been happening in the last three days, but I didn't fully understand until today.  Fireants are terrible predators and kill many living creatures and insects.  I had noticed that an occasional caterpillar was on the bottom of the pavillion and that ants were feeding on it.  At first, the ants were sugar ants, and they were not harming the caterpillars at all.  They would simply get nectar from the Milkweed plants.  However, somehow the sugar ants dissipated, and without me noticing, small fireants took there place and began killing my caterpillars.  I didn't realize they were fireants until today.  The ants killed 10 caterpillars overnight.  I've lost close to 20 cats due to the ants alone.  This isn't counting the number that the predatory flies have killed.  I started this batch with over 50 cats.  If all goes well, I hope to get 16 butterflies out of it.  It is rough here in South Texas, but the lessons I'm learning now will help me better protect them in the future and have higher butterfly yeilds.

One last tragedy of the day occured when I was cleaning out my outdoor pavillion.  We live on the coast here in Corpus Christi, and it is always windy.  Well, a strong gust of wind came by and blew over my pavillion.  One of my chrysalises was ripped from its silk pad.  It's cremaster was torn lose, and the bottom of the chrysalis was slightly damaged too.  There was no saving it.

Well, enough bad news.  Check out my next Blog entry for some very exciting news!

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

Help Save Monarch Butterflies

Dear Reader,

Thank you for visiting my "Help Save Monarch Butterflies" Blog. In it you will find useful information about Monarch Butterflies such as their life cycle, why they are threatened, how to raise them, and how to help them make a comeback in the environment. As you will learn, planting Milkweed is a crucial part. To date, I have sucessfully reared over 2,000 Monarchs, and I look forward to sharing what I have learned with you.

If you are interested in rearing Monarchs yourself, there are a number of websites in which you can find rearing aids and information. These include, but are not limited to: http://www.monarchwatch.org/, http://www.insectlore.com/, http://www.educationalscience.com/, http://www.livemonarch.com/, & my own websites located at http://savethemonarch.calebwarren.com/, and http://shop.calebwarren.com/. Also, if you happen to live in the Corpus Christi Texas area, you can get rearing supplies from me locally.

I always welcome feedback. Please let me know what additional features on my websites and Blog would be helpful to you.

All of my work is strictly volunteer and of a non-profit nature. My efforts are solely dedicated to helping the Monarch make a comeback. All monies go right back into the project. Hopefully, you will come to love this creature as much as I do and want to help.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at: savethemonarch1@gmail.com

Warm Regards,


Caleb Warren