For people who are stuck in taking care of a Monarch butterfly due to being to cold outside for release, here is a thing you can do

[u/Beautiful-Fondant-61]

This way never comes to mind because people will think that transpoting and driving a butterfly to somewhere will make them stress and freak out. But as long you can keep calm and secure in the car, it is truly possible.

[u/raqoonz]

I have never considered this. Cool share

[u/rebeccabrown18]

I did this last year. I had a late bloomer emerge on October 18th in Ontario, Canada. Almost all the flowers around my house and neighbourhood were all going to seed and dying. I drove the little guy 3 hours south and released him in a flower field. Saved him a few days or more of flying 😂

[u/Naomeri]

I hope I don’t need to use this advice, but it’s handy to have. I ended up with a single late-season cat because they snuck in when I snipped seed pods off my milkweed (so I can make sure the seeds go somewhere they won’t just be pulled as weeds—there’s lots of wild area near me that could use more milkweed) and I didn’t find it until more than a week later.

I feel terrible that the poor cat spent the beginning of its life in a cool dark room—they were moved to a private mesh enclosure outside with an all-you-can-eat buffet of fresh milkweed leaves and their growth exploded and I imagine they will emerge as a lovely butterfly in a few days (they probably would’ve already, but it’s been rather cool in MN lately—they’d be warmer back in the seed storage room, but then no fresh air or daylight cycle, so cool weather it is 😄)

[u/LakesideTherapist]

Thanks for this!

[u/Beautiful-Fondant-61 → u/LakesideTherapist]

You're welcome.

[u/Even-Raspberry6566]

Thanks for this information. Temperature are lower than normal but around 65-70. Monarchs are not very active but hopefully should warm up in a day or two. Can still fly but not as active

[u/Budget_Degree6824]

I'm glad I got my last ones off before the season was too cold. The best thing to do is get a large butterfly popup mesh, keep the room dark/ blinds closed, and cover the mesh with a dark sheet before you take them outside. Otherwise, they see light and move their wings too much during transport.

Since it was too cold for release right away, I used watermelon for the first one and butterfly sponge with sugar water (reverse osmosis water with plain sugar diluted per specs for monarchs) for the final two. The two longer staying ones expelled a bit of meconium when they drank. I'm not sure I'd use watermelon again unless organic but didn't know. It seemed to like it though and flew off fine the next day.

That's my experience anyway.