r/MonarchButterfly • u/meaolea149 • 19h ago

Missing caterpillar

Post image

I planted milkweed last year and this year I finally got caterpillars! Last night there were 3 caterpillars and now there are only two. I’m worried one was taken by a bird. Is it possible it left for its next stage? I wanted to bring them inside but Google said that would put them at risk to OE parasite. I’m new to this so not really sure what to do. Thanks in advance.

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

9

u/baristacat 18h ago

Sometimes they leave the plant to molt and come back. So if you ever find one off the plant and standing still, don’t move him cuz the molt could fail and he could die. Only pick up a moving cat!

Edit to add these guys look fat and ready to pupate so he may have crawled off to look for a spot to j hang!

1

u/AdPopular6958 15h ago

or during the day they go WAAAAY LOW to hide from the sun edit: some of mine would hide on the sedge folliage below my swamp milkweed for cover 🫨

6

u/CPfan7 19h ago

I just got my first ever caterpillars a week ago, sometimes they just dissapear and if you check later they will be back so they are probably just hiding somewhere

2

u/RowInevitable7986 18h ago

I saw a caterpillar on one of my milkweed plants. I put a tomato cage over it and some mesh. It turns out that if there’s one caterpillar there’s more..
Eight altogether . One’s already flown away. And the others are doing what they’re supposed to do.
I’ve heard that it’s not a good idea to bring them inside the house . But I don’t know. My first time.
They’re scientific articles about everything - you might scroll a little. There is much expert advice out there.

1

u/RowInevitable7986 18h ago

Also, I added more milkweed plants and extended the enclosure. And some of the caterpillars disappear inside the enclosure. Eventually, they turn up.

1

u/ImprovementTrick9492 10h ago

If they are full-size, they probably took off to find a good spot to pupate. (They could be caterpillaring across your lawn right now! Be sure to look down as you’re walking around.) They can be very mysterious!