How I Started Raising Monarch Butterflies

What’s one of your favorite memories?  I’ll go first.  One of mine is watching my boys hold a newly emerged butterfly that our family raised before it takes off into the wild blue yonder.  You see, we’ve raised butterflies going on our 3rd year now.  I’ve learned SO much through the experience that I’m currently working on a collection on butterflies in the studio. 

So how did I become a “Butterfly Mom”?   It all started Mother’s Day two years ago when I decided to buy some native plants and flowers for our yard.  So off to Roots and Shoots (the BEST native nursery in Charleston) to pick a few out.  I bought ONE swamp milkweed.  ONE you guys.  I had no idea it would turn into a family tradition, forever memories, and an art collection. I took it home, planted it, watered it, and pretty much didn’t pay it much special attention until one day…I noticed two of these. . .

Sidenote: Btw, this is not a stock photo.  This is a caterpillar that was actually in my garden!!  You know how you can tell it’s not stock?  Because I hadn’t yet figured out which side was the face and which side was the butt when I took this one.  I now know this is definitely a butt picture. So sorry for being so scandalous in this post.

I instantly recognized them as monarch caterpillars, I rushed inside, googled what to do, and found that people actually RAISE these things.  Yep, like babies to ensure they emerge all the way to adulthood without predators eating them up.  Wanting to do my best to protect my “two new babies” from predators, I got some tall sticks and wrapped screen around them à la teepee style.  It was a pretty hokey job in all honesty. The next day I came out to check on them and only one was still there!  Darn those pesky anoles!  I got an old discarded cardboard box that one of my kid’s toys came in and stapled screen over the display hole, grabbed the caterpillar, and put it in!*  Everyday, I fed the caterpillar milkweed so it could grow.  (Fun fact:  Turns out milkweed is the only thing the caterpillar needs because when it’s fresh, the caterpillar can get both it’s nutrients AND its water from the leaf.)  And of course, I cleaned out the frass from the cage too.  (Another fun fact:  Frass is just a lepidopterist’s fancy word for caterpillar poo.)  The caterpillar grew and grew and my boys had fun holding it too! 

From asking questions on the internet, I learned that it was going to need something to hang its chrysalis on.  I wasn’t sure cardboard would work, so I got some clean sticks from the back yard.  Once the caterpillar had formed a chrysalis on a stick, I very gingerly moved the chrysalis to a clear plastic pitcher.  I’d learned that it’s 7-10 days for a butterfly to emerge so on day 7, I found one of those bags you use for your laundry delicates and zipped it up around the pitcher.  Sometimes you just gotta work with what you have.  Then one day we were eating breakfast around the table, and I noticed I could actually see the butterfly wings THROUGH the chrysalis. (This is how you know they’re about to emerge.). We got to actually WATCH this thing come out of its chrysalis. Just like that, there was a butterfly just hanging off the stick, letting its wings dry. It was about 2 long hours until that little critter started flying around so we took it out to the backyard to set it free. 

If you look REALLY close, you can see a small crack starting to form in the bottom left side of the chrysalis.

Here’s my first “improvised” butterfly house! 🤦🏽‍♀️ 😂

We’re about to let it go in the backyard. Note the delicates bag on top for a screen. I’m ROTFL. 🤣

You guys!  If this experience is not on your bucket list, I highly recommend adding it.  I honestly felt like a proud mom.  Like I had birthed this little butterfly in some way and when it flew off, a little heart string of mine was tied to it.  It was the COOLEST experience.  And don't worry. I have since GREATLY improved on my butterfly habitat. 🤣 We later found out that butterfly was a female, but I’ll save that story for another post because it’s a cool story too.  Anyway, this whole “raising butterflies” thing has been a big highlight of the fall for us the past couple years and turned into a family tradition. I thought what a better way to celebrate these awesome creatures than to create a Butterfly Series in my art business!? I can’t wait to show it all to you! I hope you’ll follow along and be on the lookout (especially on Facebook and Instagram) for these awesome insects as they’re painted.  In fact, before you go, I even made you a little free step-by-step video tutorial if you’d like make a butterfly house for yourself!  I hope you enjoy this series.  I can’t wait to show it to you!

XO,

Melissa

My current butterfly habitat (and the one featured in the free video tutorial.

*Raising butterfly tip #1:  You don’t actually have to “grab” the caterpillars.  You can simply pinch the leaf off at the stem and the caterpillar will hang on until you transfer it to the box.  Safer for everyone.

*Raising Butterflies Tip #2:  You have to leave enough room between the chrysalis and the bottom of the home for the butterfly to hang once its emerged because those wings are all wet with meconium and will need to dry before take off.

Stay tuned for my upcoming butterfly collection, and in the meantime, here’s a preview! All subscribers to my email list get premier access and behind the scenes footage.