- It's not recommended to buy monarch caterpillars from any 'breeder' or 'seller'. It's unethical, you could be introducing them to areas without proper food sources for them, and they could spread OE. - Even with my current caterpillars, I am growing my own milkweed to sustain my own 'waystation'
- Anyone can help support monarch butterflies! All you need is a native milkweed plant in your yard. They ONLY eat milkweed, and the older instar 5 caterpillars can sometimes eat butternut squash in a pinch.
- A net enclosure outdoors is the best method to protect caterpillars from outside predators, which cats have a lot of: wasps, tachnid flies being the biggest ones. They also rely on the temperatures of the outside to figure out when its food time and rest time, which I learned after jarring some.
- I did jar method some at the beginning after not knowing what to do beyond "ahhh i have to help these guys". I swapped to the net enclosure and had the best success. You just put milkweed in the enclosure and you're golden.
- Butterflies need to be released after they hatch and dry for about 17-24 hours. If you have any other questions about monarchs, how to protect them, bug facts in general, I've been spending a ton of time with these guys now and have been reading/researching! Ask away if you want <3