The job was seasonal, but the following year my husband and I moved to Gainesville, Florida after we got married for him to do a Master's program at the University of Florida in Wildlife Ecology. I started as a volunteer and soon got hired full time to work at the Natural History Museum in the Kawahara Lab managing the volunteer team and leading the efforts on a couple of projects. I do not work with monarchs at the museum, but I work with a other species of leps, such as Luna moths (Actias luna), Falco moths, (Xylophones falco), and managing the molecular collection of Lepidoptera that contains thousands of species of butterflies and moths. I also had the privilege of going on a trip to Mexico to see the monarch overwintering site this past spring; and it was the most breathtaking experience of my life.
I continue my passion for monarchs and conservation by occasionally helping with educational programs at the museum, and giving talks on monarchs. At home, we have (well... had... I'll get to that part soon) a plentiful abundance of tropical milkweed (there are mixed opinions on the tropical non-native milkweed.. I will get to this later too... but we had a failed attempt at growing native swamp milkweed so we had to resort to the tropical) that we grew from seeds that a good friend in Cape May gave me. Our garden is much bigger this year.. last year we had the milkweed growing in pots and no monarchs were attracted to it. This year, we planted the milkweed in the ground where it got much taller. All season the milkweed plants remained in tact until about a month ago when a bunch of monarchs appeared on our plants. They ate and ate and crawled off to pupate and transformed into butterflies (I assume.. from seeing monarchs fluttering around our garden shortly after). But this week, there was another wave of caterpillars gorging on the leaves at their hearts' content, and 2 days ago, the milkweed was almost stripped bare. There was no time to plant more milkweed so I planned to buy some at work where the museum has a daily plant sale at front.. but when I saw the small measly swamp milkweed stalks available I knew it would be little help to our starving fatties that would strip the plant bare in minutes. A friend at work told me she heard about feeding monarch caterpillars other food sources like pumpkin, squash and cucumber. I looked it up myself and it seems to be true! Josh got home earlier than I did so he headed for the garden to gather up all the hungry wandering caterpillars that had dispersed throughout our yard looking for more food. There were 2 lone caterpillars from our original 14 left on the milkweed stalks, and before Josh could get to them a huge wasp came along and picked one up and proceeded to eat it! Traumatized, Josh attempted to kill the wasp and before he could, it ripped open the caterpillar and started eating it. With anger, Josh killed the wasp because it was so upsetting to see it pick up and kill one of our "babies". He was still able to save the other caterpillar that had not yet been harmed, and found another crawling nearby. When I got home I found 2 more crawling around the yard, so to keep them safe we put them in a critter keeper. I've done plenty of rearing before (and do it non-stop at work!) so these days I like to take a break when I can and let nature do it's thing and keep the caterpillars out feeding and growing in the garden. But as I've witnessed so many generations of our Gulf Fritillaries that eat our passion vine get harmed by ants, and parasitized in their pupal stage, I've started bringing some inside (or at least in an enclosed area) and will do so with the next group of monarchs we get as well. But anyway, back to the squash! Our 4 remaining monarchs (we did find another outside, forming a chrysalis already!) are inside and safe now, feeding on squash (a type of banana squash, similar to a butternut squash) and the funniest thing about the situation is that they are producing orange frass; so strange and unusual to me as everything I've ever reared had green frass from the leaves they eat.
Moral of the story here; squash (and pumpkin and cucumber) can work in emergency situations for monarch caterpillar parents!! At home rearing, or just some helpful parenting and coaching of butterfly babies can be helpful to the caterpillars, especially monarchs which have had some low numbers in recent years and can benefit from our help. There are things to be aware of however, such as disease which can spread quickly thoughout a captive population of caterpillars and effect them all. Tropical milkweed has it's pros and cons; pros being that it has beautiful flowers that people love, it's easy to grow, and of course that monarchs love it. However, it's not a native plant and by planting it, it can actually impact the monarchs in a negative way if not maintained properly. The natural cycle of native species of milkweed is to die down by the end of the monarch's reproductive season (in the early fall, late September-October) so that migrating monarchs do not get confused with the abundance of host plant still around that may tempt them to mate and lay more eggs, leading to another generation of caterpillars that may not make it through the season as they may face a frost in one of their stages and not survive. It's advantageous for milkweed to compliment the monarch's lifestyle and die down by the time migration should begin. Tropical milkweed however, is extra hardy and does not usually die down as the fall weather approaches. This confuses monarchs and affects their behavior, sometimes causing them to continue breeding, and because it doesn't die down at the end of the season it can harbor OE, which is a deadly and highly contagious protozoan disease to monarchs. If OE spores exist on a native milkweed plant from an infected individual that had contact with that plant, the OE will go away when the plant dies at the end of the season. Tropical just helps the disease spread more and more, later and later into the season. If you plant tropical, please cut it back at the end of the season, to mimic the natural cycle of native milkweeds. And in the mean time, keep saving those monarchs people, they need us! <3
I absolutely love reading about your dedication to monarch butterflies! Your passion really shines through in your detailed account. It's amazing how you've managed to adapt to the challenges of keeping these beautiful insects fed. For anyone looking to address similar issues, you might find this guide on how to Make Painted Lady Caterpillar Food helpful. It could provide some additional insights for managing food sources in emergencies. Your story is a great reminder of how important it is to stay informed and adaptable in the world of butterfly conservation. Keep up the fantastic work!
ReplyDelete