Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar

[qwikimpss]

A buddy and I found a bunch of these guys near a pond we were fishing. I have four in a 10 gallon tank with a whole milkweed plant. This is a pic of the largest one, it chomped down about 1/3 an entire milkweed leaf in one night. I'll snap more pics as they grow. I haven't done this since elementary school, I shouldn't be this excited.

 

[loraxchick]

Cool thread..I'm following this one. Good luck with them!
cheers
oh, and as a new yorker and life- long yankee fan, I find your avitar offensive lol

 

[Asteria]

Dude!!

Thats so cool

 

[sara213]

That is very awesome..I'm following the thread too. I've tried to do this when I was younger...but of course I didn't have time to wait for it...(being a kid i was impatient, I suppose). That or mom threw it out on me with out me realizing? lol

anyhow I haven't tried this with a monarch caterpillar before.

 

[qwikimpss]

Yeah, I'm pumped.

I'm sorry my awesome, first place, avatar insults you.

 

[blappy]

is that a milkweed leaf? I thought they were green :3

Caterpillars are so adorable. They're like squishy little bug plushies. I want some milkweed plants to attract some butterflies. I can't find any unfortunately XD

 

[tropicalfish311]

those are so cool

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

I'm looking forward to the updates

 

[Devilish Angelfish]

is that a milkweed leaf? I thought they were green :3

Caterpillars are so adorable. They're like squishy little bug plushies. I want some milkweed plants to attract some butterflies. I can't find any unfortunately XD

"squishy little bug plushies" LOLOLOL i love it!!
There's two aspects to butterfly-friendly gardens - plants that the adults feed on and plants that the catapillars feed on (often they aren't the same plants)
There's many plants you can grow that will attract butterflies - Buddleia Bush (of which there are several colors) looks lovely in flower and no butterfly can resist it!! You can grow it in a pot or hanging basket if you don't have garden room and it doesnt mind being pruned. Penta's are another hardy plant whose flowers come in many colors and butterflies love them also. Lantana is another tough nectar plant that is easy to find. I am loath to suggest it because it's an introduced pest in the Australian environment our environmental groups destroy it whenever they find it as it is causing many native butterfly species to die off - the adults are attracted to the flowers and lay their eggs on the leaves but the catapillars are poisoned by the leaves when they try to eat them.The Lantana competes with the native sarsparilla vine which is the natural food for the catapillars so the adults have no choice but to lay their eggs on the Lantana. Australian plant nurserys usually stock this plant and encourage people to plant at least one native butterfly plant in an attempt to prevent our gorgeous species being starved into extinction. Google a picture of the Cairns Birdwing - far too glorious to let it die out!!

 

[Mikaila31]

Monarchs are great as first caterpillars to raise. Very easy. I think I only had 4-5 monarchs that I released this year, compared to the 15 or so last year. Monarchs are just one of the caterpillars I raise. They are not my favorite so I only raise them if I have time. Its easy to find their eggs on milk weed so I normally start them from eggs. I had milkweed right outside my apartment for a few months so finding and raising them was easy. Eventually maintenance mowed everything so I raised what I had and didn't bother with collecting any more eggs. One thing I like about monarchs is they are quiet at night so I don't mind having them in my room. My giant cercropias I kept in the livingroom this summer. They munch on leaves really loudly.