Raising Monarch Butterflies: Meet Carle and Emma

One of our favourite activities we did while in lockdown in 2020 was observing the amazing metamorphosis of two different species - first we observed two tadpoles in our home from tadpole to froglet, and then we raised two monarchs from caterpillar to butterfly. What an amazing experience for all of our family!

Here you can see the stages of one of our monarchs, which we purchased as a kit from Foxboro Butterfly Farm. They didn’t require much effort to care for, we just had to find some local spots to forage for milkweed and wipe out their box and change their leaf every day.

Once their chrysalis turns transparent, you have to watch closely for them to emerge within the next day. Once they have emerged, their wings dry for a couple of hours and then you release them.

Monarchs are an amazing species, travelling across the continent every year to migrate in a very specific habitat in Mexico. Their return in the Spring takes place over several generations.

You may start to see them now as they are arriving back from their migration. We plan to look on milkweed plants to try to find another caterpillar this year to watch.