Anybody out there that raises monarchs?

Just curious if anyone out there takes monarch caterpillars out of their garden and puts on a safe milkweed with netting? Last year I got my first milkweed plant and my caterpillars just disappeared. Likely birds got them. I was thinking about trying to protect them this year.

Thanks,

Dawn

I bought quite a lot of seed of 4 species of Asclepias and most came up. I've got a large number of plants going into the ground later. Monarchs & milkweed are rather uncommon where I am so I'm hoping on attracting some, if possible.

How big were the caterpillars when they disappeared? I hear this a lot. The caterpillars will leave the milkweed when either in search of food (the milkweed they were on is down to the stems) or when they are ready to make a chrysalis. Most of the time people think they dissappeared is when the caterpillars wonder off to find a nice safe place to make a chrysalis.

I have monarch caterpillars on my milkweed most of the year (off and on). Every time they dissappear from the plants, almost all at once, I will find chrysalis in my banana and papaya trees. They will travel pretty far to find a safe spot.

Anyway, with that said, raising monarchs under a net is gaining popularity in the monarch conservation groups. In a lot of areas the percentage of caterpillars that make it to full grown butterfly is very low. I think that anything we can do to help them is a great thing. There are specialty butterfly cages that are designed to have a milkweed inside. I have also seen some good DIY (I would always rather DIY in most everything I do) cages that were quite smartly done. One simple one I've seen was a potted milkweed with one of those round tomato cages stuck in the pot. It was then covered in screen. Pretty smart. I.... well my 5 year old son really.... raise monarchs and gulf flitterly caterpillars in big plastic containers with screen rubber band in place in top. We are close to 100% caterpillar to butterfly success!!

Thank you so much for your post. I had one plant last year with only 2 caterpillars. There was still a lot of plant to eat so I don't think they went looking for food. When the first one disappeared, he was full size I think. But I looked everywhere. I checked on him so often I would have thought I would at least have seen him crawling somewhere. The 2nd one that disappeared I don't remember being full size. So I assumed he was eaten.
I have bought a 2nd plant this year and am thinking about potting it so I can move caterpillars to it and keep them protected. That fact that your success rate is so great I might do it. I would feel awful if the reason they didn't survive is because of me.
I love that your 5 year old is so involved!! It must be neat to have them year round.

Thanks again.


Dawn

Just fyi, it is a good practice to spray down the plant with a diluted hydrogen peroxide spray after the caterpillars have left. There are diseases that get spread that affect the monarch's ability to turn into a healthy adult butterfly. It is sad seeing one emerge and not ever be able to fly.