August 24, 2016 at 2:43 p.m.
Monarch butterflies to be released at YMCA Friday
Monarch butterflies to be released at YMCA Friday
By Kayla Thomason-
Weather permitting, the insects will take flight at 1 p.m.
Larson has been breeding monarch butterflies for two years, but has been officially raising them since 2005.
In the early summer she travels all over Oneida County and finds a few caterpillars, notes where she found them and keeps them separated by location so that when it comes time to breed them the chance of inbreeding is reduced.
She releases them when they have turned into butterflies, with the exception of two males and two females whose offspring are released later in the summer.
Monarch butterflies can lay from 100 to 300 eggs. Some in captivity have been known to lay 700 eggs, she said.
"Last year one female of mine - my first female I bred - laid 300 eggs," Larson said. "I know because I counted them."
With it being her first breeding she was curious, but this year she didn't count the little eggs.
It takes them a month to go from egg to butterfly, so she gets about two cycles in during the summer.
In the wild the chances of an egg hatching are slim, but captive breeding has increased the butterfly's chances of survival, she said.
"In the wild their life expectancy is like 1 percent," Larson said. "In my house 98 percent live, if not more. So I'm putting hundreds into the population."
She said she wouldn't be surprised if she had 600 this year, and of those, 200 will be tagged.
Anyone interested in raising butterflies, or who would like more information on the practice, can contact Larson at (715) 513-6216, at www.facebook.com/monarch.march or email at [email protected].
She also strongly suggests people visit a Facebook site about monarch butterfly rearing, www.facebook.com/groups/572683816192386.
Kayla Breese may be reached at [email protected].
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