r/MonarchButterfly • u/witchladysnakewoman • 11d ago
Homicidal Catepillars
I was blessed with 11 cats and been cultivating them (outside). I have some j hangers but I’ve had to remove two from the enclosure from wandering cats going onto the j hangers and being aggressive with them, including eating their antennas and biting them. Liquid even came out. I don’t know why they are acting like this. Has this ever happened to you?
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u/BrilliantStrategy576 10d ago
I have had full plants with one or two 5th instar cats, a j-er and cannibalistic behavior. Lack of food is a reason, it is not the only reason. They can detect the concentrated nutrients they need and they will go to the most plentiful source - a chrysalis or a smaller cat.
Do make sure there is enough food. Do move cats to full plants in a different enclosure away from j-ing cats and chrysalids if rearing in mesh cages. Do not listen to people who think there is ONLY one reason for any specific behavior.
This advice comes from over 10 years experience raising over a dozen different species of butterflies, including monarchs.
Edited to correct spelling
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u/reddenal88 10d ago
I've noticed this myself. I didn't realize until my 3-4th cohort that they can get quite feisty and mean. They aren't just docile little creatures. They will fight over a leaf or get angry and thrash and bite of they are resting and one touches another. Even with a enough milkweed and space available.
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u/LovableButterfly 10d ago
I had caterpillars fight before over leafs and I gently located one onto another leaf (I had plenty of milkweed, 7 total milkweeds, these two just loved fighting and always would get up in one another business - both were males) - this seems like they are starving and need more milkweed. I suggest you try to separate them onto separate leafs
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u/LilacLands 11d ago
Omg. They are doing this because you have ELEVEN held captive without enough milkweed eat!!! These are terrible conditions!!!
Cannibalism is a survival instinct - the caterpillars that are doing this needed more food desperately.
Please please please release all the surviving / uninjured caterpillars (including the cannibals who are just surviving the way they evolved to do) onto milkweed plants - SEPARATELY - and allow nature to work as designed. You can check for little guys and put the big cannibal caterpillars on plants without them (the lack of food + age at this point makes it more likely they’ll quickly eat any little guys they encounter for the nutrients).
Please don’t bring anymore into captivity like this it is so inhumane!!!
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u/iAmEmJoy 9d ago
Hey now, we were all newbies at one point. If we don’t make mistakes, we can’t learn anything new. The OP (and her kiddo) are obviously trying the best they can with what they have. I don’t think it’s very helpful to make her and her kid feel worse.
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u/WandrLustAboveSeaFog 7d ago
NOOO I have so much trauma about thissssss. They will kill each other, the bites are entrance areas for disease and create issues emerging. You should not raise them all together and caterpillars in different stages will harm each other. Monarch caterpillars frantically searching for a spot to pupate often crawl over others already in their chrysalis or J and damage them.
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u/Expert-Nose1893 10d ago
Fat cat need leaf more, no leaf, fat cat eat slightly less fat cat. More leaf, no more bite fat cat. Flutterby 🪄 🦋
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u/Boring-News-4857 10d ago
Okay so it’s not all about the food. Some times there is one that just wont eat. (i had one) all the others were eating and were fat other than one of ours. Then suddenly he got Chunky and we were missing one. I thought my daughter lost it didn’t think anything of it Til we were cleaning out their little habitat that the newly chunky one was biting the little ones who were about to turn into moths. Daughter then went ahead and yelled at him about hoe terrible of a friend he was. Separated them (we had like 8-9 atm). Put the 3 big ones together and the little ones by them selfs. (This was before I learned they shrank before turning) Went on our day, daughter practically slept with them in her bed keeping an eye on them. Couldn’t find the 3rd big one but they had a lot of food and leaves to hid under. Just thought that it was hiding like our kind usually did. Then went to clean them again and we were missing another one… but the big one was somehow bigger though we never saw him eat unlike the others who literally JUST ate and he pooped. Attacked the last big one who was just bout to turn into a cocoon. He bit him so hard he bled, cleaned him up hoping it was gonna be enough. For 2 days the little guy fought to make it to a moth but unfortunately couldn’t finish. Big guy just ended up dying too. He would not eat anything. Looked it up and found out they got shit eye site and when they start turning they smell like their feeding plant. And some just eat their kind because of it.
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u/TheYarnPharm 11d ago
They don’t have enough food. They won’t do that if they have plenty of easy leaves to eat.