My Quest to Save Monarch Butterflies, Part 1

This is the first caterpillar that I adopted.

I brought it onto our screenporch and gave it a home in a Mason jar.

Probably 3 years ago, my husband and I bought 3 milkweed plants at a wildflower sale. They were slow growers, but last summer, they grew to a decent height. I had no intentions other than to enjoy the monarch butterflies they would draw to our yard.

Passing the plants one day in early July, 2018, I spotted a beautiful yellow, white and black striped caterpillar on a leaf. I recognized it was a monarch caterpillar and remembered as a child, witnessing the transformation of a "cat" to a butterfly in a jar on my mother's desk in the living room.

After being in awe for a few moments and with little thought, I brought the "cat" on a sprig of milkweed onto our screenporch. I admired it for a while and then panicked. I thought, what if it dies under my care. That would be awful. It's better off on the plant where it was minding its own business, living the life it was intended to live.

I returned it to where I found it and felt good about my actions. I returned to the screenporch alone. My curiosity prompted me to Google monarch butterflies. I quickly learned that only 1 in 10 monarch caterpillars survives to become a butterfly.

WELL! That fact had me scurrying back to my milkweed patch. Phew, the caterpillar was still there. Nothing had snatched it away. I looked to the right and then to the left, daring any predator to come near my precious "cat."

Thus, my quest to save monarch butterflies began. I nestled my caterpillar and a sprig of milkweed in a Mason jar with a square of cheesecloth on top, secured with a rubber band.

At that moment, saving one caterpillar was all I had in mind.