I've never raised cats before but found one monarch cat on my asclepias tuberosa. There were evidently others that I couldn't find anywhere (found lots of droppings though). I do have an abundance of wasps and birds around my place so I figure that's what got the others. I brought the one in and fixed it up as best I could (found the sticky with suggestions for containers to keep them in). I took a small jar and wrapped paper towels around some freshly cut butterfly weed, put it in the jar and wet the paper towels. I put this in an old coffee pot and fixed open-weave cloth over the top. I will add a stick later for it to hang from when it's time. So far, he/she looks to be O.K.--appears to be eating. Is there anything else I need to do for it? Guess I better keep an eye out for others. What do their eggs look like and what do you do with them if you find them?
Monarch Caterpillar
I think you're doing great! Good for you! The eggs are very light yellow(I think) and they are usually laid on the underside of the leaves of the Milkweed. The baby cat's will be under there too.
Have Fun!!
Adrienne
Actually, if it's yellow it is probably aphids. But the egg is usually on the underside of the leaves. The Monarch egg is whitish or cream-colored.
http://www.butterflybarn.org/sap.html
And I put a pic below of tiny Monarch cat also. The Monarch cat has a pair of feelers to the front of the cat and another pair on the rear.
Well, action picked up on the other thread and I haven't gotten back to this one (someone suggested I do a separate post). My cat is thriving--currently going through it's second cutting off my milkweed flower. I saw some pale colored things on some of the leaves of another asclepias tuberosa and they did look like that. Guess I better go and check them again--might need to rescue them too. Y'all have been so wonderful helping out this newbie. As I said in the other thread, I've always been able to leave my cats on the plants but the wasps are horrible this year. I'm keeping a close watch for the little guys now. Thanks again for your help. BTW, I did find the sticky at the top and read through it. My current cat is doing very nicely in my coffee pot setup so I will leave it alone. But I plan to fix up some plastic containers for future generations.