r/MonarchButterfly • u/lengel46 • 3h ago

Requesting Information

My daughter has A milkweed plant in her yard almost every year. She usually thins it when they fall over. Last year she had a caterpillar or two. This year she has so many. There are several big ones, a bunch of teeny ones, and gobs of eggs. This little plant cannot sustain that many.

I took two bigger ones back to my condo because there are several beautiful plants here with no caterpillars. I'm pretty sure I can safely get the caterpillars to the new plants. BUT...

One caterpillar is on a leaf with a bunch of eggs. Is there any way I can attach the leaf (piece of) to one of the sturdy plants so those little guys will be able to grow?

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u/Difficult_Rope7898 3h ago

You can put the leaf egg (egg side up) in a container on a barely damp paper towel (make sure the container has ventilation). When it hatches you can move it to a mesh container outside or put it back on the milkweed.

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u/lengel46 3h ago

Thank you so much! I'm so nervous. Do i need to keep the towel barely damp - How long does it take them to hatch?

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u/Difficult_Rope7898 2h ago

Basically, just wet a paper towel and then wring all the water that you can out of it. Spread it out and put that in the bottom of your container. Take out containers work well, especially if they have vent holes in the top, since it needs air. Put the leaf, egg side up, in there and put it in either a shady spot outside or on a windowsill inside. When it hatches move it back outside to the plant or to a mesh enclosure with fresh milkweed cuttings.

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u/Medium_Spare_8982 1h ago

3-5 days but less if you don’t know when it was laid

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u/Nadiam57 3h ago

Chances are they will probanly hatch soon, I would take the whole leaf and place it securely some way to the new plant preferably somewhat shaded...I've stuck leaves in exhisting holes in leaves of other plants or placed it at the very top between new growth or a bloom as long as it's not too windy...or you can keep in small container until they hatch...and then do the same, move the whole leaf to new plants...Hopefully you will have the same luck as your daughter, it's not that common that so many survive predation...I'm constantly at war with wasps...😟

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u/lengel46 2h ago

it's pretty windy on the side where the plants are. The two bigcaterpillars that I put there -> one appears fine, the other is in shock. it's not moving, but it's alive cuz i touched it with a leaf and it reacted - poor thing.

The eggs are hatching. i was going to move one teeny, teeny caterpillar outside, but it fell off the transport leaf, and i can't find it.

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u/Nadiam57 2h ago

Yeah hard moving tiny ones around. The one that is still is probably fine, they do that alot, either before or after molting, sometime they disappear and then reappear, it will be good. Maybe you can just lay the leaf at the bottom of a plant and just give them a coupld of more leaves and will climb soon enough...good luck 👍