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Butterfly Garden

Bad Monarch chrysalis :(

weed30 St. Louis

14 years ago

Two of my Monarch cats made their chrysalids this morning. When I got home later, there was black liquid underneath one of them, and some black spots on the bottom tip of the chrysalis, and it looked a bit shriveled. I euthanized that one right away, but what do you think it was? OE?

The second one looks fine *except* the row of gold dots and the other gold dots on the lower part are not the usual shiny gold. They are un-shiny light yellow. Otherwise it looks fine. Is there something wrong with it?

Thanks ~

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Comments (6)

lindacatherine
14 years ago
I'm so sorry about your "bad" chrysalis. How were they as cats? Were they in the same container? Are there other cats in there as well? Just hoping not disease that might spread to the others.
weed30 St. Louis
Original Author
14 years ago
They were fine as cats. 4 were brought in as eggs, but three were 1st, 2nd and 3rd or 4th instars I brought in. Yes, same container :( I cleaned it with bleach water, and hope the rest are ok. If more end up with problems, I will switch to single containers for rearing. I know I should probably do that anyway, but it's easier with one big (8 x 12 x 9) container.
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Tackysue, I have found that the later in the year, the longer it takes for the monarchs to emerge from the chrysalis. They do not overwinter as chrysalids: they migrate to Mexico. I have had them take up to 14 days to emerge, but it was much cooler than it is right now. They need temps to be at least 55 degrees before they can fly. I generally keep my cages indoors and release the butterflies when they emerge. Exceptions being the swallowtails that overwinter as chrysalids, don't want them to get confused and emerge in the dead of winter (such as we have here in Houston)! So sorry to hear about having to euthanize a caterpillar. My heart breaks every time that happens to me. That black death (aka OE Spore) is bad stuff. Sounds like you are on top of things since you sterilized all your equipment. If you used bleach (recommended) and are at all concerned that some bleach residue might remain, place the sterilized items in direct sunlight for a few hours, sunlight dissipates bleach (think swimming pools, they have to constantly add chemicals to the water for this reason). I try to sterilize my cages after the butterflies have all emerged, problem is sometimes the food I bring in for the existing cats has new eggs and next thing I know, I have a whole new batch of babies! Good luck! Mechelle
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weed30 St. Louis
Original Author
14 years ago
The second chrysalis looks like it's going to be ok. The dots are slowly getting shiny - I guess it takes a bit to develop.
starrlife
14 years ago
I'm so sorry to hear about the bad chrysalis but how wonderful that the other appears ok! I'm new to this and have about 25 cats in various stages. I have one if 4th instar (stored alone) that I'm watching with a black spot although I can't tell yet if it's just coloring or OE. I'm keeping them in containers based on size and am wondering if many people do individual containers. That seems like it would be labor and space intensive. Is that a common practice? If not, how many of the same size should I keep in a 10 gal. aquarium? Good luck with the other chrysalis!
murray_2008
14 years ago
I just lost an entire batch of Battus philenor (pipe vine swallowtail) cats to the same kind of thing. They got to the pupating stage but died in the process. They ended up attached only at the tail end and just hanging and shrivelled up with their contents on the counter under the chrysalis. Very depressing after feeding them for weeks and having them looking fine until the end. Murray
lindam1948
14 years ago
Question re: bleach water - How strong a solution? For my kitchen sink and tubs I use 1/4 c. of clorox to one gallon of water and rinse well. Is that too weak or too strong to clean butterfly cages?
Thanx.
Linda

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