Slowing Down . . . For Now

Monarch girls have released nearly 75 butterflies so far this season. The first three release days were the biggest, releasing 12, then 24, and then 13 monarchs! Since then, there was a 7 butterfly release, and a few smaller releases, along with a number of disappointments due to OE contamination. A few butterflies either died before emerging, or emerged with deformed wings due to OE. Though OE is spread by the adult female monarch when she lays eggs on milkweed (some of the spores from her body end up on the milkweed and are then eaten by the larva when it hatches), it is still a good idea to house caterpillars in much smaller groups to avoid contamination and other health problems. We've also read that it's recommended to only collect eggs or very small caterpillars because there is more of a chance that larger caterpillars have been victimized by flies or wasps (who lay their eggs in the caterpillars) before they are collected. This leads to disappointment when the caterpillars later die, having been eaten from the inside by fly or wasp larva--YUCK!

Taking all of these health/contamination issues into account, Monarch Girls are taking the time to thoroughly disinfect all 'nursery' containers used to raise our first batch of monarchs. Afterwards, we'll be back in the business of raising monarchs! We'll be sharing more photos of our process, conatiners, and the different stages of our little friends, along with photos of other critters that visit our garden--like the hummingbird moth that visited our scabiosa flowers a week and a half ago:

Hummingbird moth? What's that? Read all about the different types of hummingbird moths HERE.

Stop and take time to enjoy the butterflies!