I don't know how you tell exactly which instar they are at. I just know each time they molt and shed their skin to get bigger, that is an instar, and they go through five instars before they pupate. If they are pretty big, they should be ok eating the butternut squash. If they are smaller, they might not make it. But if you run out of milkweed, there isn't much else you can do. If you put them in a tupperware, you just need to make sure the container has holes so they get fresh air, but that they can't get out.
I put some cloth mesh instead of a lid over the top of my container. They make their silk button and pupate hanging on the mesh, but I've also had them do it on a popsicle stick.
I'd guess they can also make a silk button on the underside of a tupperware lid. They can grab onto almost anything. Good luck with your caterpillars. Thanks for your advice on my monarch caterpillars. I tried transferring 3 from outside into a container with some butternut squash. They refused to eat overnight, so I put them back on the mostly stripped milkweed plants. This morning I threaded some cucumber chunks on the milkweed limbs, and they and their many friends are liking it!!!! Chomping away.
Do you think if I move them from outside back into a container they will continue to eat the cucumber? It's going to be in the 90s today and I'm afraid the cucumber will dry out quickly.
Also, it would be much easier to keep an eye on them and see when they need more, and to protect them through pupation. As for the butternut squash, it was two years ago that I used it to feed caterpillars. I'm not sure if they ate it right away, or after they got "sufficiently hungry".
I don't think they'll eat it right away since they'd really rather have milkweed, but I just can't remember how long it takes before they'll eat it. I just know that the caterpillars eventually did eat the butternut squash and did fine.
If you had more luck with the cucumber which I never used but others say works then I'd stick with it. Also, I talked to a "butterfly expert" and said I was afraid the caterpillars might starve to death if I didn't get them more food within a day, and the "expert" said they can go for several days without food. In any event, you might put some caterpillars in a container with both cucumber and butternut squash and see what happens.
My caterpillars in my tupperware container ate cucumbers for a few days, but a local nursery got some milkweed in, and so I transferred them over to it. They have been eating happily, and crawling on to the screen cover of the tupperware my husband made for me, to turn into pupae. I now have 13 cocoons hanging straight down from the screen cover, and 1 caterpillar still eating. When these little guys start to emerge, what do they need in terms of space? Will they be able to cling to the screen it's a rather fine mesh or to their empty cocoons to let their wings dry?
Should I take the milkweed plants they are in pots out of the Tupperware to give them more room, or would they maybe like to stand on or hang from the leaves or stems when they emerge?
If they need to hang upside down for a while I'm just not sure what is the best way to accommodate them in my situation. When the butterflies "hatch", from what we've seen and it's fun to watch , they will emerge from the chrysalis and then hang on the empty chrysalis while they unfurl and pump up their wings, and then let their wings harden and dry.
They might crawl around a bit and might hang from the mesh. They need to have their wings hang down while the wings are hardening. After a while, they'll then flutter around and fly away. So you'll want to make sure they have a way to fly out of the enclosure if they are still in it. Comment by Elaine on Thursday, September 22, Thank you so much for this, I am trying the pumpkin and butternut. I had 3 milkweed plants out of 10 seedlings to survive.
I had 32 caterpillars the other day, today I had 3 leaves left and I have moved them to a container with the pumpkin and butternut. Tomorrow my netting cage arrives and they will be moved there. I will keep you posted on how my guys do. I believe its a better chance than none at all. Wow, that's a lot of caterpillars. Hopefully all or most of your caterpillars are fairly big already. I wish you the best. Comment by Elaine on Monday, September 26, Update, I have 32 caterpillars, I found some more milkweed so I keep giving them the fresh clippings and still butternut because some love it.
I am hoping I have some start soon with the cocoons. We shall see what happens, I feel like at least I am trying here. One thing you may consider is introducing your readers to the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project for additional information and to advance Monarch research through citizen science. I get many caterpillars and my next venture will be to try and raise them. I just took a quick look, and it looks very interesting. I'll check it out more when I have more time.
Comment by Elaine on Wednesday, November 09, I successfully released 14 out of my A few I lost to black death, others to heavy OE and deformities. I wish all your caterpillars had made it, but I glad to hear the 14 caterpillars survived.
That's almost half, which is much better than they do in the wild I think. It always hurts to lose any of them, but it's great that 14 are now butterflies. Comment by Stephanie on Tuesday, November 22, We have one milkweed plant in our small flower garden that has been covered with monarch caterpillars for the past month or more.
The closest tree is about 20 feet away. Are the caterpillars able to crawl that far to pupate? We have found chrysalises at least that far away from our milkweed plants. They can also pupate on walls, chairs, bushes, pots, and just about anywhere they can hang. Comment by anonymous on Saturday, December 10, So glad to get this information on alternate foods for the monarch caterpillars.
There is at least one more plant that we've found they will use as a host plant. Eggs were laid on a Vinelike Milk Weed that has a Milky sap.
They Hatch, and eat this Vine. There are Heart-shaped leaves type of vine. Comment by Jann Wittneben on Thursday, December 15, I tried the butternut squash and have some of the youngsters 3 and 4 Instar are eating it too. The 5th instar are all over it!
We're thrilled! We have about 50 cats and of course they've stripped the 75 plus plants we had in the yard, and in containers. So I can't thank you enough for putting this info out there where we could find out about the alternative food source. It's saved several dozen so far. We live south of Houston and it's Dec. The warm weather has really created havoc down here. The Monarchs have stayed too long; producing into Winter will leave thousands starving. We'll do what we can for as long as we can.
The majority of North bound Monarchs will start arriving mid March. We're propagating as many new plants as we can. Thanks for letting me know this information helped and about your experience. Very interesting, especially for this time of year! I really appreciate the hard work you're doing for the Monarch butterfly! Good luck and Merry Christmas! Comment by Kelcey on Tuesday, January 31, If the caterpillars have striped your milkweed plant bare can you save the plant to re-grow?
Reply by Steve Cranial Borborygmus Hi Kelcey, Yes, even if the caterpillars have eaten all the leaves and the plant is just stems, after a while, new leaves will sprout and grow. My milkweed plants have been stripped several times. That said, it is tough on the plant, and it's better if it gets a chance to grow and get bigger before it gets hit by hungry caterpillars again, but there's not a lot you can do about that. The best thing you can do is just grow more milkweed, but for your current plant, leave it alone and it should grow new leaves.
Comment by Meme on Wednesday, June 14, I had a monarch on a small native milkweed and before I could get a chance to buy more it ate all of it.
Due to long work days after nurseries close I was desperate and gave it some cucumber after reading about this online, which it happily ate up. I then found some different milkweed but it wouldn't eat the milkweed. I tried to find the same native milkweed that it had eaten before to no avail and it refused to eat any other milkweed. Sadly it eventually died after three days of no eating.
I even had tried to give it more cucumber as a last resort but it declined. It was probably a third or fourth instar when this all happened and there was no sign of disease so not sure why it stopped eating-either because the cucumber caused problems after eating it or because I couldn't find more of the same milkweed it had hatched on and had been eating before I ran out.
I don't know why your caterpillar wouldn't eat the other milkweed. Maybe he wasn't doing so well after eating the cucumber. I know other people have reported Monarch caterpillars can eat cucumber, but I've always wondered how many nutrients they really get from it. In any event, just like with the butternut squash, they shouldn't start eating it until they are pretty big, and it's really just for them to finish growing enough to be able to pupate and turn into a chrysalis.
But if they eat all the milkweed and you don't have any more, its an option to try and hope for the best.
Sorry to hear after all your work and stress that your caterpillar didn't make it. Comment by Meme on Thursday, June 15, How are people having so many caterpillars?
I have less than 10 and am running out of milkweed faster than I can keep up with these hungry cats and ironically the more milkweed I buy to feed the ones I have the more cats I have as new ones keep hatching. I have a balcony vs a big yard and not enough space to keep buying milkweed but I don't know what else I can do when I need more milkweed to feed them as they eat so much.
It also makes me wonder how to raise so many in Tupperware with just stem cuttings when they chomp down an entire plant overnight. I even had a cat eat another cat despite that the plant was big enough for both. Vegetables will mold and mildew much faster than milkweed leaves which is why keeping the vegetable chunks off the floor of the rearing container is healthier for caterpillars.
Young caterpillars will eat the same vegetables that older caterpillars eat. It is extremely rare for young caterpillars to survive long on vegetables.
They do not contain the nutrients necessary for their survival. We recommend feeding vegetables to caterpillars only in emergencies and only in their last instar. Remember, when possible, always freeze milkweed leaves every year just in case you or a friend will need them. Even frozen milkweed leaves are not healthy for young caterpillars. Young caterpillars need fresh milkweed.
Enjoy the fun of raising caterpillars on unusual food when it is necessary. Enjoy yellow, green, and white frass. Although great in emergencies, it is not healthy for caterpillars. Fresh milkweed is always best. The more caterpillar food you have in your yard, will also attract different types of birds. Most butterflies and moths can only rely on certain plants, shrubs or trees to feed their young.
For example, the caterpillar of the monarch butterfly can only eat milkweed leaves to survive. To learn which species of butterflies and moths are native to where you live and to find the native plants that host them, go to the Native Plant Finder and type in your zip code.
Butterfly mouthparts are made for drinking nectar. If you look at a monarch butterfly's head, you will see its proboscis, a long "straw," curled up below its mouth. When it lands on a flower, it can unfurl the proboscis, stick it down into the flower, and suck up the sweet fluid. If you're planting a garden for monarch butterflies , try to provide a variety of flowers that bloom throughout the months when monarchs visit your area.
Fall flowers are particularly important, as migrating monarchs need plenty of energy to make the long journey south. Monarchs are large butterflies and prefer larger flowers with flat surfaces they can stand on while nectaring.
Try planting some of their favorite perennials , and you're sure to see monarch all summer long. Monarchs are specialist feeders, meaning they will only eat a specific kind of plant milkweeds , and cannot survive without it.
Milkweed plants contain toxic steroids, known as cardenolides, which are bitter-tasting. Through metamorphosis, the monarchs store the cardenolides and emerge as adults with the steroids still in their bodies. The caterpillars can tolerate the toxins, but their predators find the taste and effect more than unpleasant.
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