Hi folks-

I have been getting a number of emails regarding the availability of monarch larvae for the start of the school year.  Let me tell you where I stand at this moment.  It is the 14th of August and I have a dozen chrysalis that will emerge in the next few days.  I am hoping I can get them paired, mating and laying eggs in the next 10 days.  If I am successful in doing this (I normally am!) we should have larvae available for the start of school.

I will post updates to this blog as I am going along and will also post when they will be ready for pickup.  Please share this blog with your colleagues who might be interested.

If by some fortunate circumstance you catch a female monarch, let me know!  We will put her to work as well...

Jack Little 

Important notice to teachers for Fall 2013

Hi Folks-

Due to some health problems I have been having, we were NOT able to raise any monarchs this summer.  We will not have any sort of supply for teachers like we have had in previous years...

There is one outside chance that this could change... we will be looking for female monarchs from now, through the end of August.  If we were able to have some egg layers in the greenhouse during the last week of August, we probably could have some larvae for some classrooms when school starts...

SO... IF YOU CATCH ANY FEMALE MONARCHS, GET THEM TO ME AND WE CAN SEE IF WE CAN GET SOMETHING GOING!

Jack

Teaching resources

Hi folks-

LOTS of teachers picking up the last couple of days... more scheduled for tomorrow.  Our supply is holding up pretty well so if you are still looking for some get with us soon.

Here are some teaching resources that might help you out in the classroom.  The first one, created by Aileen Grainger, a new Kindergarten teacher at Caroline, is just fantastic!


webquestbutterflylifecycle.weebly.com

www.monarchwatch.org

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1kdelsfkqCPam9rM1ZZSzdTc1MyQjA5NXRNc0h5UQ/edit

Good luck as you start your new school year!

J

Larvae Now Available

Monarch larvae are available for distribution to teachers at local schools, beginning Saturday September 1st through Tuesday, September 4th.  Please make arrangements for pickup via email at jlittle990@aol.com. A ready supply of milkweed should be identified prior to obtaining the larvae.  A small container to transport the larvae is also necessary.

Larvae available

Hello!

Another year begins for the monarchs!  We have had a great start to the season with the early arrival of monarchs and very good success in raising the milkweed!  We currently have several hundred more larvae in the butterfly house... many more than what we need at this time for breeding purposes.  If you would like to try your hand at raising them yourself, shoot me an email at jlittle990@aol.com and we will get you set up.

Update for August 28th

It has been a pretty darn good year in the butterfly house so far! We have raised and released about 250 monarchs so far. We allowed many of them to breed and lay eggs on milkweed plants in the greenhouse before their release, so we now have many hundred (thousand?) larvae coming along. We should have plenty of a variety of sizes for distribution to the local school districts.

If you are interested in larvae for your classroom, Johanna is coordinating the effort this year. You can email her at johannalittle@aol.com. They will be available for pickup at the greenhouse over labor day weekend. She can also answer any possible question you could have on raising them!

Various pictures of larvae/butterflies in various stages of development are available at https://picasaweb.google.com/100426844359989897318.

We are looking for a tagging/release date of September 13 or 14th... stay tuned for details!

J

First Generation Raised...

So here we are at August 7th... there are about 250 +/- monarchs in the butterfly house in various stages from larvae to adults. All of these were the effort of just a few females that we raised earlier this summer- see prior post.

We have started to pair off the adults and watch for mating and ultimately egg laying activity. For whatever the reason, we seem to be about 10 days ahead of schedule, so we need to make sure we have eggs being laid over the rest of this month, to be sure we have enough larvae to distribute to all the elementary school classes that want them. Most of the remaining butterflies will just fly around the greenhouse for a few days, but ultimately get released on their merry way. All of this generation will be local breeders rather than migrators. All future eggs laid this year will be the ones who attempt the great migration to central Mexico, overwinter, breed and start the generations who will join us next summer.

My daughter Johanna will be coordinating the distribution of butterflies for the classroom this year. If you are an educator and want some larvae for your classroom, shoot her an email at johannalittle@aol.com and make arrangements. We would expect the distribution to be here at the greenhouse on Labor Day weekend.

The remaining larvae that are raised here in the greenhouse will be tagged before they are released. Generally, we have an open house in mid-September to allow visitors to assist in the tagging and release. Watch this blog for further details on that event...

For more information on monarch migration, visit http://monarchwatch.com/ ...