If you 
have read Monarch Come Play with Me;
Milkweed, Monarchs and More;
or Learning from Monarchs and would like to write or ask questions, I will post your inquiry and my response on these pages. Each inquiry will be set up as a separate page that will be found on the drop down menu on the Talk to Ba Rea page. If you would prefer to send your questions by mail or email the addresses are:
Ba Rea
Bas Relief, LLC
PO Box 645
Union, WV 24983
email: barea@basrelief.org
Monarchchaser's Blog 
Was given your information from a friend at Frick. Lydia gives her best. My 3rd grader chose to work on a project on Monarch’s and will present her research at the end of the school year. She is in need of a monarch expert to be her mentor. Would you be interested in helping her? Her project now is to create a way station and to educate others on helping monarchs. After she has a mentor, this direction may or may not change. It will be a work in progress, I think. If you are interested in working with her, she would send you a formal request. She does have skype access at school if necessary. Thanks for your time. Best Regards, Trish
Best website I have ever seen about Monarchs! Thank you. I have several chrysalis, one of which was knocked down and not as full as the others as it leaked liquid. I tied the cremaster with a silk thread and hung it inside a paper cup. It is alive but I know the butterfly may be deformed and I will need to euthanize it.
We are expecting heavy rain tonight in Southern California. Will the rain hurt the chrysalis? One was just formed this afternoon. Should I cover them with plastic?
Thank you.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed the blog.
Monarchs live in the natural world. Generally the rain shouldn’t be a problem for monarchs in chrysalis, but if you have a chrysalides in a containers that might fill with water or be blown about or you are worried about the sturdiness of the silk thread you have used to tie up your damaged chrisalis you might want to just bring it inside. It is hard to say whether the damaged chrysalis will survive. It depends on which body parts are injured and how badly.
Good luck.
Thank you for the quick response. I only have the one chrysalis tied inside the top of a paper cup. I brought that one inside, the rest are attached to plumeria branches and the flap of a paper box. I will leave those outside. The damaged one was also on a paper box. I didn’t see it and it came off when I tossed the box in the trash. I felt really sad about that and will carefully check everything I move near the milkweed.
This is only the second time I have had caterpillars. Last year only 2, this year 27. I’m putting out more milkweed plants as I almost ran out this year. I love the butterflies.
Enjoy your journey with monarchs. They’ve got a lot to tell you!