Monarch Caterpillar Failures
Comments (6)
kaboehm (zone 9a, TX USA)
8 years agolast modified: 8 years ago
Hi Michaela!
How frustrating for you. I'm sorry.
I am a total newbie who is raising Monarch, Gulf Fritillary, and Eastern Giant Swallowtail butterflies (I had a Black Swallowtail, but it didn't make it). This is my first year being successful at raising Monarchs. Several years ago, a family gave me lots of Monarch caterpillars. I didn't know anything about OE and all of them eclosed very deformed. Now I know it had to be OE.
This year I went out and bought a 3-gallon Tropical Milkweed and have subsequently bought a few more as the caterpillar population has exploded! I have had a couple "cats" that started looking not so good, but they were just getting ready to transform into the next instar stage and once they shed their skin they looked great. All made their chrysalis, but one never emerged and so I "euthanized" it.
Here is my set-up before cleaning this morning. There are 6 chrysalides and 9 fat cats. My house (north of Houston, where it's in the high 90s outside) is 78 inside and 60% humidity. It sounds like there is either a disease or parasite...I move caterpillars into this set-up when they are just a day or two from making their chrysalis. When the are really small, I keep them in a big glass vase. I load the environments with milkweed. I have been spotted out front in my PJs with scissors in hand cutting fresh milkweed to feed the gang (I'm sure people think I am nuts). I clean the frass off the blue lid when I swap out the plants, about every other day.
You might consider enclosing them in an organza bag outside....contained and protected.
This batch will bring my total, so far this year, to 30+ raised.
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Milkweed, aphids, and monarch caterpillars
Comments (4)I can only tell you what I did to, hopefully, solve my MW aphid problem. Mine had gotten so bad, the leaves were turning yellowish. I cut the plants back severely (I didn't have caterpillars at the time), put the debris in the garbage, and sprayed insecticidal soap all over the leaves and aphids that were left. It killed the aphids, but I noticed that some of the leaves withered, like maybe the insecticidal soap was too much for them, too. So, I cut the MW back some more and began just killing the few aphids left by squishing the leaves they were on with two fingers. I check again, and if I miss one I squish that one, too. The MW/Asclepias curassavica grew back rapidly with lots of pretty new leaves, and, since that time, I inspect the leaves every day, and, if I find aphids I squish them. This doesn't hurt the leaves, just turns my fingers yellow. I don't miss a day, because it's amazing how so many can come back so quickly! I also quit using insecticidal soap, because there's no use depending on something that might kill the monarchs in order to kill the aphids. I was lucky to have monarch cats in spring this year, and I might get some in the late summer or fall, the usual time for me to get monarchs. 'Hope this helps! Sherry...See Morenpv monarch caterpillars
Comments (1)I would look at some sort of aggressive treatment that ensures the virus won't spread to your other plants. http://vanderlip.com/blog/2019/08/16/npv-nuclear-polyhedrosis-virus-causes-caterpillars-to-shrivel-and-die/...See MoreMonarch Butterfly caterpillars!
Comments (15)Igmd - I'm in Northeast Ohio, Wayne County. I hope the birds don't find them. As I said, I have never seen this many cats before. We had just had a downpour of hard rain. I'm always surprised that I don't see them on my wild native milkweed - the tall kind that grows along roads and ditches, with the long flat leaves, purple/pink flower heads, and then the green spikey pods that open with fluffy seed clusters. I see other insects, but no butterfly eggs or cats. I couldn't think of the other butterfly that looks like a Monarch, but now I did - the Viceroy? Do the cats look the same?...See MoreFirst time growing butterfly weed. Aphids and monarch caterpillars.
Comments (21)I have found the best thing to do is leave the Oleander aphids alone, and as they increase they will attract the predators that feed on them. Lady beetles, lacewings, and small parasitic flies and wasps. I will carefully spray any aphids off with the hose if they are on any of my rarer milkweeds that are still. small and not established are still small and not yet established. It's too much work and time to constantly be hosing off all your milkweeds, and you can end up damaging Monarch eggs or little caterpillars in the process. It's hard to see so many aphids on a plant, and not take action, but the natural predators will eventually come and clean out the aphids quickly. Most milkweeds have tubers that store energy, and they have evolved to be able to withstand a lot of predation from Monarch caterpillars, so it's doubtful the could kill a milkweed, except perhaps a very young seedling. Oleander aphids do not turn into red and black milkweed beetles, that's absurd. Hosing them off is reducing the food source of the predators. By leaving them, you help the predator populations, which will mean more predators and less aphids in the future. ....See MoreMichaela (Zone 5b - Iowa)
8 years agokaboehm (zone 9a, TX USA)
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoMichaela (Zone 5b - Iowa)
8 years ago
kaboehm (zone 9a, TX USA)