Tag Archives: caterpillars

raising monarch butterflies

I decided to single-handedly save the monarch population in a single season; you can now refer to me as Monarch Mommy™

This, of course, is a joke (the saving the species part, not the Monarch Mommy™ part), and since raising monarchs indoors can be quite a hot top on the internet (who knew, right?), I’m going to start this post with a clear disclaimer: apparently it’s not been proven that indoor rearing of monarchs has done much — if anything — to help the general monarch population.

Some studies say that, if done improperly, the indoor raising of monarch butterflies can actually have an adverse effect on the general monarch population.

*steps onto my soapbox*

Let me just say that I completely agree with some reasonings (like it can make spreading disease easier), while other reasonings I completely disagree with. For instance, believing that nature successfully “picks off the weak” and that we’re interfering with that process by protecting them?? Um, here’s my hot take: having a wasp lay eggs in a caterpillar doesn’t mean that a caterpillar is weak, it just means that it was one unlucky little dude who now has to endure a horrific death!

I believe that my butterflies were part of the migratory generation (also known as the “super generation”), and they were much larger than other monarchs that I’ve seen around

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raising eastern black swallowtail butterflies

It was soon after I bought the Painted Lady caterpillars (mentioned briefly in my recent post) that I went down to the spring plant sale at the farm and had the tiny baby Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillars pointed out to me on the dill plants for sale.

I’ll admit that as much as I love dill, the reason I got the dill plants was to try raising these butterfly babies.

The only butterflies that I’d ever raised up until that point had been Painted Ladies, so I was psyched to have another species to watch grow. I will say that at the end of this particular journey, I was very relieved to set them free, because it was a bit of a roller coaster. But I’ll also say that I think I learned a couple things, and I’d probably try it again if I find some more babies next year!

(you can watch the YouTube short that I made about raising them here!)

cutest lil face munchin on his dill leaves 🥺

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a small update

It’s been a hot minute (literally) since I’ve posted on this blog — you have no idea how many drafts I’ve started in here, only to lose steam halfway through and never publish them!

When I disappear from one place, it usually means that I’m busy elsewhere, and that has definitely been the case this time around.

Although summer has technically just started, it’s been so much fun so far.