I’m afraid I will run out of milkweed.

We were thrilled to spot our first monarch caterpillar of the season right as my mom stopped by for a visit! She was quick, but glad I was able to snap a picture before she took off again.
So far we found 18 eggs on our milkweed. The season has officially begun.

Hi guys! Idk how to edit the original post with images, so I figured I’d make another one. (Mods I hope that’s ok I swear I’m not malicious I’m just stupid)
It’s been doing really well! I noticed some black spots on it yesterday, and today it is fully dark! I can see the wings, it’s very cool. If there’s any last minute adjustments yall think I should make to the setup please let me know, otherwise I think it’ll be all set to come out! I’ll either edit this post or make a new one later today since I expect that it’ll come out later this afternoon.
Thank you to everyone who gave me advice on the original post! I raised monarchs a bit when I was a kid but I’ve never actually gotten to see a chrysalis throughout the development, so this has been a really cool experience.

So I have been getting multiple requests to share the butterfly enclosure design.

This was a design/build project that was essentially planned to be as inexpensive as possible. The size is purely about maximizing the lumber.

It consists of about 4 - 2x4’s, 8-9 - 2x2’s, a roll of METAL screening and a half dozen fence boards; probably less than $100 all in.

It was built in two separate pieces: the stand and the hutch - so one person can move it. The hutch simply lifts off the stand (see pics).

As you can see the enclosure is at capacity and about 50 chrysalides hanging.

Everytime I go out to cut their daily food I end up with about 10 more eggs.

These caterpillars are gobbling up milkweed so quickly, I never imagined I’d have to replace it so often!

They just ate through two big pots of milkweed and two vases of cut milkweed. So I dug up two gorgeous plants from my garden, put them in pots, and replaced the other pots that were getting really bare.

Well, those hungry caterpillars went straight to the top of the plant and started gnawing at the tender stem about four inches down. That means tons of beautiful, tender leaves at the top are going to go to waste! They will dry out and nobody will want them.

WTF lil jerks?

Seen on Oahu

Early this spring i planted swamp milkweed from seed and i wasn't expecting anything this year because I knew the plants would be small, but to my surprise I have monarch caterpillars!!! No one in my home is as excited about this as I am😅 I figured maybe you all would appreciate this as much as I do!

I planted and watered this swamp milkweed yesterday. I know it’s in shock, but any tips on what to do? I did not water it today based on the yellow leaves. PS I am new to gardening and this is my first year getting my garden set up to attract monarchs.

Found in my garden. Do you think there's a problem or is this normal?

These are 2 photos each of the same 2 caterpillars. 😊 They’re about 4-5 days old. There may be another soon as i apparently brought in another egg with the milkweed they’re munching. I’m hoping I can maybe put them directly back on the plants when they’re closer to 1.5-2” and hopefully safe from most predators.

Just wanted to alert folks that even though garlic sprays are advertised as ecologically friendly, a laboratory study published this year has demonstrated that diallyl disulfide can affect satiety of fruit flies and mosquitoes and via that pathway suppress reproductive behaviors. They did not test the effect on butterfly larvae but it might be worth keeping in mind. I.e., if you spray your yard with a garlic solution it's possible that monarchs might not do as well.

A year ago, my family raised monarch butterflies. They came as eggs, and came in a small container with a mysterious green substance at the bottom that they ate.

My family is going to be given monarch eggs again, so we don't have time to order butterfly food. We have access to milkweed growing in our garden for when they need it, but basically my question is:

1) Can caterpillars eat leaves as soon as they hatch?

2) If not, does anyone have a recipe of the mystery goop for feeding them right?

The eggs are from a coworker of my family, and we want to make sure we treat them well and are able to raise and release them safely.

UPDATE: Thanks for the help, we got the caterpillars (ones grown and ones just an egg), they were named Gatsby and Daisy. Gatsby is a big one, and Daisy is still an egg. Cheers to raising these caterpillars!