Rewilding My Lot

I have at least three kinds of native milkweeds here, and I’m part-way through writing a post to describe them. But in the meantime, this post describes how six almost-ready-to-pupate Monarch caterpillars arrived here for some late-stage foster care.

A friend had so many Monarch caterpillars in her garden that they were in danger of running out of food (they only eat milkweeds). On the other hand, I have several milkweed plants here that, although small, are currently uneaten.

So six Monarch caterpillars in their fifth instar stage arrived here on April 6th. One went on a Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa), two each went on two different situations where Zizotes (Asclepias oenotheroides) and Antelope Horns (Asclepias asperula) Milkweeds are growing side-by-side, and the sixth went on another Zizotes plant. As soon as all of them were placed, they uncurled themselves and got to eating.

I’m curious to know whether these caterpillars have a preference as to which milkweed they eat? Apparently at least one of them does. Within a couple of hours the one caterpillar on the Butterflyweed had moved over to join a pair who were chomping on Antelope Horns and Zizotes Milkweeds.

By dusk that night, I couldn’t find one of the caterpillars and I haven’t seen it since.

The next morning, once they’d had a chance to warm up, the five remaining caterpillars got to eating. There’s a brief video of two of them below. The leaves they are eating are Zizotes; the narrower leaves in the background are Antelope Horns.

Once it’s time for them to pupate (time in the 5th instar stage is generally 3-5 days), they will leave their host plant, walk up to a few feet to find an anchor point, and form a chrysalis. My challenge will be to try to find them when they do that!