I hope it isn't that disease.

Okay, I just noticed I kept saying "wing" above, when it should have been "wings", because they have a pair of wings on each side! Monarch General (Hospital) is now open... That made me smile. After reading these websites, I've gotten very concerned about ensuring the healthiest butterflies possible. I've even fantasized about getting a microscope - hehe! My understanding is that OE is transmittted when the larvae eat the spores on infected leaves, sprinkled there by the female when she oviposits. In the future I am going to try to collects eggs only, and even remove them from the Asclepias leaf. Then I will use sterile equipment and try to collect the freshest and youngest milkweed leaves - and wash them thoroughly to (try to) remove any OE spores. OE is an interesting pathogen. Apparently it co-exists with the Monarch population worldwide. Obviously it has evolved over the millenia along with Danaus plexippus, and that makes me wonder if there are Monarchs that may have developed some resistence? Anyway, I'm still thrilled that this female was okay. Waiting for two more to eclose any minute!!

Thanks, Sherry. Today is the first time in a long time I have read the forum.I actually came upon that blog yesterday because I think maybe my entire (small) milkweed patch is infected. I see the cats until a certain size (around 4th or 5th instar) and then they are gone and no chyrsalises. I took two onto the porch and they grew into 4th or 5th instar and then started w/the runny frass and died. It makes me so sad. I am a newbie and am not sure what to do. I have had my garden for years. On your blog, what is wrong with the 2 cats on the bottom? Are there spots there? I couldn't really see. Mine did not look like the cats in the top 2 photos but maybe they did look like the bottom 2. I wish there was some kind of antiviral or antibacterial powder we could sprinkle on them. A lot of the milkweed leaves are "rusty" and I am removing them. Could this be part of the problem too? Thanks. G.O.

I think the others should be ok. When I ran into this problem, I just seperated the infected one and the other made a sucessful enclosure! I bring in everyone, but I have tons of little jars going at the same time. I leave all cats I find in the same general area together, so as they are all similar sizes and habitat. We have great amounts of wasp mortality and parasitic losses so I bring everyone in. I often have lots of frozen cats that have become infected when I wait too long to get them inside :(. Do bleach the infected cage just to sterilize. Good luck with the test of the survivors