Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: Help! Whats happening to my monarch cats?, 1 by pestee42

pestee42 wrote:
I had one that made a cocoon but it looks small and just odd. I'm also finding lots of cats that tried to make their cocoons but ended up kind of going limp and dying. There is also a white thread looking thing coming out of the dead caterpillars. Seems like I remember reading something about the thread and it is some kind of parasite? Is there anything I can do to protect the caterpillars that are left?