Waiting for Change

 

Getting Bigger

 

A New Season

 

After years of being closed, the cafe currently has 8 baby caterpillars in residence. 

Video Links

Missing the #MonarchButterfly already?  Here are some links to video footage to get your "fix".

• Caterpillar eating butterfly weed milkweed.
• Caterpillar forming chrysalis.
• Butterfly emerging from the chrysalis.
• Butterfly drying its wings. 
• Male Butterfly on flowers.
• Butterfly playing with Koala Joey (from Symbio Wildlife Park)

Enjoy!

Talking About the Experience

I will be in St. Joseph, Missouri on Thursday, October 20, 2016 at the Missourians for Monarchs meeting to talk about my experiences raising #MonarchButterfly.

The meeting is at 6:30 at the Missouri Department of Conservation offices. 

Not going to be in St. Joseph?  Can't make the meeting?  Check out the PowerPoint.

Then join us again next year when the migration of the #MonarchButterfly returns to the Monarch Cafe.

Sterilization of Supplies

At the end of the season, cleaning and sterilisation of the supplies is important so bacteria is not left in the container to infect the caterpillars next year when the season starts.

It's recommended to wash your containers with a 5% bleach solution, run them through the dishwasher or expose them to 6 hours of UV radiation.

Given the  "black death" we fought at the end of the season this year we decided to go overboard to make sure it was all gone.

First I wiped every container down using Clorox wipes making sure I got all the webbing and any remaining splatters wiped off.  (I use paper towels at the bottom of the containers to catch the dripping off the emerging butterflies which cuts into the clean up afterwards).  Then I rinsed the container to make sure all the residue from cleaning was removed.

Then to make absolutely sure the containers don't  spread black death to next year's caterpillars, I  put them all out in the sun for UV exposure.  This has been the hard part because finding 6 hours of sun is not so easy this time of year.

Once they're done in the sun, I will stack the containers in a trash bag and store them in the attic until I need them next year.

Final Butterflies

Our last #MonarchButterfly of the year have emerged as large quantities of have migrated as far as Texas.

The five butterflies bring the Monarch Cafe total to 344 #MonarchButterfly for 2016.

It's been a good year to be a #MonarchButterfly at the Monarch Cafe.

We're going to be in the Saint Joseph MO area on October 20th to talk about raising #MonarchButterfly at the Missourians for Monarchs meeting. Come join us, 6:30 at the Conservation Department.