We had some success and we also had some disappointments during that season. Mass deaths of caterpillars, butterflies that never emerged from the chrysalis, etc. Now we are moving into the new season with some additional knowledge, hopefully a little more skill, and the hope that this season will be a better year and we will be able to witness a true miracle, many times. I decided to put my journal online so that others may become interested and help the Monarch regain the numbers lost in the past and realize the importance of butterflies, to our declining environment. And, there is absolutely nothing like watching a caterpillar turn into a butterfly and releasing it into nature.
To raise the caterpillars in, I use the butterfly castles you can purchase through www.livemonarch.org. They are very reasonable priced AND the zipper in on the side of the cube instead of the top. Makes it much easier to feed caterpillars if you have chrysalid hanging from the top. The original container we used was the one that came in the butterfly kit, but the zipper was at the top. Not very well designed. The gentleman that runs Live Monarch has been very helpful with us determining the causes to problems we have had and the site itself is very educational. For those living in the Houston area that are interested in butterflies, in general, the link for the local chapter of the North American Butterfly Association is BEST. We meet every month from March through October at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, as well as going on field trips and butterfly counts.