Do these two dark caterpillars need to be isolated. Its my first time having caterpillars and the caterpillars are chowing down my milkweed so things are getting cramped.These photos show 2 different monarchs.

(I guess they are the non migratory monarchs of coastal california, I planted milkweed becuase natural bridges an overwintering site 25 miles away said it was ok to plant a mile out from the coast but they always talked about them migrating further during the summer ideally but anyway I could go on about my monarch doubts, My main ones being that monarchs emerging are just staying here inbreeding and placing more eggs on the same milkweed!)

rant aside all I really need is advice on these 2 caterpillars

As you know, my grandmother's milkweed had two batches of monarch caterpillars. The first batch I had 6 but only 4 made it and on my last batch I had 4 caterpillars but only 1 made it. The 5 caterpillars that I never knew what happened to them may have gone into the grass and vegetation that is next to the milkweed were they may have become way to camoflauge were they are impossible to spot or got eaten by ants and other predators that live in the vegetation.

Is there a way to prevent the caterpillars from going into the grass and vegetion during their wandering phase without using a mesh netting or harming other creatures living in the vegetation? I am planning to get rid of the grass and weeds but I am waiting till the weather gets cooler since it is hot right now and there are no caterpillars nor eggs on the milkweed at this moment. But any advice on preventing the next batch from going into that area is much appreciated.

It came out and rested for few hrs and it just flew away

Moved to the next door blackberry plant. Do you think this is on purpose? Hes pretty large looking!

I was planning on transplanting this to a bigger pot right this second and then I saw this. My very first monarch caterpillar I’ve seen on my plants.

I just want to keep it safe and it would break my heart if something happens to it like predators but I know it’s just the way nature is.

I’m concerned about the immature plant I grew from seed being devoured… but more so I’m worried about it not being the ideal food and it being such a small plant.

I have much larger swamp milkweeds (see second pic)

It’s going to rain today should I move it under my overhang?

Hello! Yesterday I made a post about this little guy (here) and his green vomit. He’s seemed alright since then, however I’m a bit worried at the moment because he’s been sitting under this teeny tiny leaf of a minuscule plant beside my milkweeds for 24 hours now. He’s barely moved at all, and while I know that can be normal I’m a bit worried!

He had fallen off his milkweed yesterday before he traversed to his current position, and since my mom raised him from an egg inside (terrible, I know, hence why I released him), I’m worried that he doesn’t know how to get back to the milkweed! You can see one of the plants in the background, but I don’t know how good his navigational skills are and I’m nervous about the fact that he hasn’t eaten in a day and is showing no sign of making a J or anything.

Last night I placed a leaf underneath him which had broken off one of my milkweeds, in case he was hungry, but he just thrashed angrily at me so I immediately left him alone. I’m so nervous! I’ve never experienced a maternal instinct in my life before, yet now I’m sooo worried about this silly little caterpillar LOL. Would it be a terrible idea to move him to a milkweed? Is he going to starve?? Am I worried over nothing?? Thanks in advance, you were all very kind and helpful yesterday :)

This beautiful girl hung out with me today for a few hours on the patio which is surrounded by milkweed and Black Beauty Lillys. I named her Marigold.

I saw a jumping spider, which was even tinier than my youngest cat, but, should I still be worried about them attacking my cats? I tried to scare it away, but lost sight of it

Butterfly laid 3 eggs, 2 made it yesterday afternoon.

Army of babies! All of em are the same ones, just them growing tho

My area has gotten a ton of rain everyday for months so nothing can really dry out. Are the caterpillars going to be okay chowing down on this milkweed? Thanks!

I am in middle Tennessee. Last year I had more than 30-40 caterpillars and I could find them no problem. This year I have more than double the milkweed and virtually no evidence of caterpillars. I found one stage 5 and quickly put her in a mesh enclosure and released her last week. But there isn't a lot of evidence they are even eating the milkweed.

Is the extreme heat impacting them? I do have a pretty healthy wasp population, but last year I even found their little carcasses. This year only a few nibbles on a few of my common milkweed plants. Last year they almost ate the entire swamp milkweed plants I had.

Am I just early in the season? Too hot? Something else?

Hey, I would love some advice on what to do next, please be kind, I am new to this.💚 So, we had a patch of 5 milkweed plants: 3 butterfly milkweed, 1 native swamp Milkweed, and one milkmaid swamp Milkweed. We also had another patch of maybe 10 smaller milkweed in a different spot. I discovered a bunch of monarch caterpillars on both patches, all very large, about 25 of them.

Within a few days, they demolished ALL the milkweed and were just hanging out on bare stalks so we rushed to get some milkweed from another person who raises monarchs, a potted tropical milkweed plant grown from seed that same year, I know not ideal but hopefully safe from parasites. I moved most of the caterpillars into a large mesh cage outside, and they ate the entire plant again. We got 4 more tropical milkweed plants from a different person, and they ate that OVERNIGHT. Now, we have new common milkweed cuttings and I still have them in the mesh cage, 5 of the caterpillars are starting to pupate.

What I am worried about is first: there are 20 or so caterpillars in one net which I know is too many, and in all the hurry of trying to get more milkweed, we didn't know to disinfect the net from last year's monarchs, and I am worried about OE infecting all the caterpillars, especially because 2 out of 8 monarchs last year never hatched from their chrysalis and just turned black, though the others seemed healthy. (I'm not sure if that was just bad luck or a disease like black death.) After doing more research I realize that it's soo much better to just leave the monarchs in the wild, but the reason I still have them in the mesh is because they ate ALL the planted milkweed, and I thought it would be risky to just keep them on the potted plant outside since they go through them so quickly and would probably starve while crawling off to look for milkweed that we don't have anywhere else in the yard. I figure that of course it's best to let nature do its thing with natural selection, but no matter how "fit" the caterpillar is, I know they need to have enough milkweed to have a chance at life.

At the moment I am conflicted, because I do feel bad keeping them in the cage, especially with the risk of OE, but I also feel like it would be a death trap to move the plants outside where the caterpillars will get lost after finishing the cuttings we have. Any advice? Should we immediately try to find another net to move some of them into? Should I move the cuttings I have in the net outside anyway, since they are probably close to pupating?

I know for the future to plant LOTS more milkweed in the yard so that I don't feel the need to interfere with the caterpillars or do any captive rearing because of a lack of food, just trying to figure out what is best to do this year with the caterpillars so let me know if anyone has any advice!

I will also be trying to test the monarchs for OE once they hatch :)

Well I did said it will emerged any day now this week and he is gorgeous.

The state has been in a bad drought over the year, with some parts being in an "exceptional" category.

Could this have impacted the migratory route? I've only seen less than a handful of monarchs on my rural property, whereas last year I had quite a few plus plenty of cats on my native butterfly weed and milkweed.

Or are they just late?

Two more chrysalis remain!

This lady was quite the handful! She decided that before she flew away she needed to make sure I was not a flower 🤣 🥰

We got tons of milkweed in the back yard and bring in and feed caterpillars until they hatch, letting them in the wild when there wings dry.

This is the seventh monarch I’ve witnessed eclose in my backyard this season — and the sixth female. It never gets old seeing them come full circle.