My Monarch Butterfly Story

This summer I finally tried something I’ve been curious about for a while which is raising monarch butterflies. Over the years, I have seen videos and read about it, but never actually tried it myself. Luckily, I already had the most important ingredient waiting in my garden. 

A few years ago, I planted a flower bed of milkweed, mostly because I loved the pink purple flowers and knew they were good for pollinators. Little did I know I'd eventually be turning that patch into a monarch nursery. Milkweed is essential for monarchs and it is the only plant they lay their eggs on, and the only food their caterpillars eat. Without it, they simply can’t survive.

So I decided to give it a go and see if I can help a few monarchs make their way from caterpillars to butterflies in my own garden.

One day I’m walking through the garden, just checking on my plants, when I spot a caterpillar happily munching away on the milkweed. Not a rare sight for me as I’ve seen them before in past seasons and usually just leave them be.

But this time I pause a bit longer. I had just realized that I’ve actually never seen one make it past the caterpillar stage in my own garden. That makes me wonder if they all eventually turn into butterflies, or do most of them not make it?

So I do a bit of reading, and what I find is a little sobering. Only about 2–10% of monarch eggs actually make it to adulthood, depending on conditions like weather, predators, and habitat. Suddenly, that little caterpillar chewing away feels a lot more significant than I first thought.

One of the 3 caterpillars

Once a monarch egg hatches, the caterpillar stage is one of the riskiest parts of its life. Only about 10–20% of caterpillars actually make it to the chrysalis stage. Knowing that, I decide I don’t want to leave things to chance, so I quickly ordered a mesh enclosure to move the caterpillars indoors. If you raise monarchs carefully indoors with clean conditions and fresh milkweed, the caterpillars have about 80–95% chance of survival.

From what I read, most don’t survive because of predators such as birds, wasps, ants, and spiders. I’ve already noticed a few wasps around the garden, which definitely makes me a bit uneasy. On top of that, there are parasitoid flies and wasps that can lay eggs inside caterpillars as well as diseases, weather conditions and food shortage. While I wait impatiently for the enclosure to arrive, there was a stretch of heavy rain for a few days but I was relieved to see the caterpillars still hanging on afterward (although one did go missing!). 

June 14 Sunday -My mesh enclosure arrived and I quickly set it up and filled it with food (milkweed leaves), damp paper towels and twigs. Then, I went out to bring in the 2 caterpillars which I name Notorious B.I.G (Notty) and Wesley Stripes. 

The first one (Wesley)  was busy chomping on leaves and I took it into the enclosure. Once it arrived into the mesh enclosure, it didn't take long for it to situate itself before it started eating on the fresh milkweed leaves which I had just placed there. After a few hours, I went to look for the other and found it.This is the bigger one I call Notty and it took a long time for to get comfortable. It walked around and climbed the mesh and would stay in one place for a long time. Eventually, I found it eating but it seemed restless and kept climbing to a high spot. I read that this behaviour shows that it is ready to pupate. 

June 15 Monday- Notty climbed up to a high spot in the enclosure It didn't eat today. Wesley is still eating though not as much. I cleaned the enclosure because caterpillars produce lots of droppings. 

June 16 Tuesday - Notty hung in a J shape, ready to pupate. It was very still and looked meditative. This was sometime in the afternoon. At about after 11 pm, Notty split his caterpillar skin opened and turned into a green chrysallis. This is the most fascinating transformation that I have seen. Wesley on the other had has started climbing up to be next to Notty and stopped eating. I think it is getting ready to pupate too. The new leaf I placed for it was untouched. 

June 17 Wednesday. Wesley hung in a J shape and about 9-10 pm also shed its skin to become a lovely green chrysalis next to Notty. 

From June 18 (Thursday) to June 28 (Sunday), the chrysalis looked like a healthy green but one became a darker green. I am thinking this is a sign that the butterfly will emerge soon. It then started turning darker. 

June 29 Monday- Notty emerged a butterfly and was flapping around in the mesh. Clearly it was pumping its wings and drying it. Even a butterfly needs to learn to fly! The markings on the butterfly wings represented by the two dots shows that Notty is a male. 

June 30 Tuesday- After 24 hours, Notty was released once his wings have dried and is a little stronger. It was a very hot day and perfect for its first day into the real world. Wesley followed a day after and emerged from its chrysalis probably in the wee or early morning. Her chrysalis shell was wet and she stood hanging still for a while. It took her a couple of hours to walk away in a wobbly manner and moved locations. 

Notty flies out into the world.

July 1 Wednesday - Wesley turned out to be a female but I am sticking to the name. She looked a bit wobbly but her 24 hours is up and it is time to be released. Today is another extremely hot day (35/36 degrees Celcius) and perfect temperature for her. When I offered my finger, she climbed onto it obediently and I lifted her out of the mesh. Instead of putting her in a bottle, I carried her slowly while she gripped my fingers with her feet. 

As soon as Wesley felt the heat from outside, her wings spread out like she is sunbathing. I managed to place her on a milkweed flower where I watched her prod her proboscis into the plant to draw nectar and her legs moving around. Soon after she flew to the top of the tree branch hanging over my garden as if looking where to go next. She stayed stationary for a few long minutes and after checking her twice, I found that she has flown away. 

I had 18 wonderful days of observing this miraculous creatures transform in its crucial stages and witness a true miracle of nature. We see it in videos, learnt it in school through the text books and story books but nothing compares to a real life observation experience and having front row seats to this metamorphosis.

When I was raising them, I made it a priority to give my caterpillars the best possible care. Every day, I provided fresh, pesticide-free milkweed, cleaned the enclosure, ensured plenty of airflow and indirect sunlight, and kept a close eye out for signs of illness, such as caterpillars becoming limp, dark, or failing to pupate. I believe these small daily habits played an important role in helping them complete their incredible transformation into healthy monarch butterflies.

Now that the enclosure is an empty nest, it feels a little strange. I miss the times when I am entering the room to check on them or spritz them with water. Caring for them quickly became part of my daily routine, and there's definitely a little void now that they're gone. Hopefully, I'll be lucky enough to discover more monarch caterpillars in my flower bed soon. Fingers crossed!

For now, I am just celebrating the 2 successful transformations and wish Notty and Wesley Stripes all the best in their journey.