How to Set Raising Limits...and KEEP Them🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚😱

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Welcome Back Royal RAISEr,

I hope you’ve recovered from the two-holiday spectacular of Star Wars Days and Cinco De Mayo 🛸💃🏻

May has greeted us with sultry summer temps and the garden is coming alive before our eyes. The first milkweed has popped, but is still nowhere near ready to support monarchs. There is, thankfully, plenty of early nectar around for butterflies. With 90’s in the near future, I predict we are going to get monarch eggs ‘too-early’ for a second straight year.

Right now, they are still one state below in southern Iowa…hopefully they stay there for a couple more weeks! Along the eastern pathway, the first monarchs are already in New Hampshire!

In your last email I shared info on keeping monarch eggs safe. Today I’m here to tell you egg safety starts with setting raising limits...and sticking to them!

But first…

Aches and Pains❓🧑‍🌾🐕👩‍🌾

Last summer, I often left the pickleball court with super sore joints that followed me into the garden. I started taking a glucosamine supplement and it literally changed my life within a couple weeks…the soreness disappeared! So, when our 11 year old corgi mix started having trouble moving around a couple months ago, I started the search to see if a similar solution might work for her…it did! 🤯 

More info on a glucosamine supplement to help your aging dog from today’s Sponsor…

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Addicted to Raising Monarchs? 🥚🤔

Raising Monarchs is a labor of love, but it can quickly get out on control if you bring in every egg and baby caterpillar you come across in your garden or wild milkweed patch.

Today, I’m here to share 7 signs (and solutions!) that can help you (or your friend 😉) successfully recover from this royal raising addiction:

1. NO limits: in our small cages I typically stick to 5 eggs/caterpillars at one time. In our large cages, 10 max. More than this, and it starts to feel more like the monarchs are raising you 🙃
   
   

2. It takes HOURS to clean your cages? First off, cleaning is 100% required to prevent the potential spread of monarch diseases. But raising too many monarchs can make this overwhelming, and a chore you’re more likely to skip. In today’s ‘7 signs’ linked post, there’s also more details on how to efficiently clean your cages, so you can spend more time enjoying this experience.
   
   

3. You’re looking for milkweed ALTERNATIVES because you ran out of milkweed? milkweed is the only proven plant food that can grow healthy butterflies through the caterpillar life cycle. Often, a milkweed emergency is another sign that you’re raising too many monarchs. However, in case you need to find milkweed fast, there are other good emergency options linked in today’s post:

   
   7 Signs Your Addicted to Raising Monarch Butterflies ⬅️ (click here to see all 7 signs and solutions)

I’m confident the info in this post will greatly improve the raising experience for both you…and your monarchs! 😊🦋

Mother’s Day Gift Ideas for RAISERS❓🤔

Mother’s day is fast approaching and here are two raising gift ideas to make her heart flutter with joy:

INVISImesh Caterpillar Cages ⬅️ (these windowless 4-sided viewing cages will no longer be available when are shop shuts down later this summer, so don’t miss out if you prefer them for raising monarchs…we do! 🌿🐛)

Milkweed for Mama from Joyful Butterfly ⬅️ (plants you can use to raise butterflies THIS Season!)

Coming Up Next?

Our 2025 set up for raising butterflies indoors...and why raising outdoors is more challenging if you don’t take extra precautions.

Have a butterful week,

Tony G 🦋