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Butterfly Garden

Lost all monarch larvae

14 years ago

I posted recently about a monarch laying a bunch of eggs on my just-emerging swamp milkweed.

I was told that I should get another milkweed so the cats didn't destroy my plant. I decided to let the cats get a little bigger before getting another plant.

However, they started dying off one at a time. This morning, I checked on the last one (4th or 5th instar) and it was dangling limply from one of the leaves.

My two suspicions are:

a) Parasites inside the caterpillars

b) Spider attacks

I am more sure it is spider attacks that killed them off. A few nights ago, I went out with a flashlight and found a dead caterpillar with a small spider feeding off of it. Either the cat died and was eaten by the spider, or the spider killed it. I immediately killed the spider, but that doesn't mean there weren't more.

Can I get some opinions? I'm inclined to think that the cats were all attacked by spiders.

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Comments (7)

MissSherry
14 years ago
I agree. Small spiders that don't weave a web are common garden predators - they attack directly.
I've found that what you read about monarch cats being protected by the poisons they get from milkweed isn't true - they get eaten, too. Several years ago I had sleeved some monarchs to protect them against predators, because the tropical milkweed they were eating (which is full of the white "glue") wouldn't stay fresh in a water pick in a cage - I've since learned that monarchs eat so fast you can just put the leaves in the cage with them, and they'll eat it all before it can droop. While I was moving the sleeve to another area of the plant, a wasp flew up into the sleeve right by my hand and killed the caterpillar - I couldn't believe it!
Sherry
MissSherry
14 years ago
P.S.
I'm really sorry about your caterpillars, catman! :(
Sherry
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catman529
Original Author
14 years ago
Hopefully another monarch will come along and lay more eggs. Then I will bring the larvae inside and rear them myself.
ericwi
14 years ago
I agree, its a jungle out there. Sometimes, hand rearing is the only way to get a monarch through all the stages, and watch it fly off.
jwink246
14 years ago
If they were on a new plant it could be pesticides. I have had that happen to me and it was horrifying.
catman529
Original Author
14 years ago
No pesticides are used in my garden...whenever our neighbors have the pesticide people come and spray, I watch and make sure they're not spraying near my garden. They seem to be considerate and keep the spray away from our side of the yard.

BTW, I dug up the plant from the creek last summer - it's a wild specimen and it had a bunch of cats on it last year when I transplanted it. It survived and recovered very well, in full bloom the entire time. Now it's growing back stronger with even more stems.
tdogmom
14 years ago
Sorry to hear your woes! It's amazing to me that so many actually make it to adulthood.

If the late instars are 'dangling' as you say, then there's also the possibility of a viral infection as well. What did the larvae look like? Did they have that 'sucked dry' look they often get when a spider has had a meal? Or, was it more of a mushy, squishy, flattened drippy...(shall I go on? yuck)

There are other predators out there that also attack the larvae: assassin bugs are one I've got in my garden that do a number on 'em. But, viral/bacterial problems can be a BIG issue, too.

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?what to do with this little guy?

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