The promise of Monarchs and a curious five-year old

Liz Day beebuzz at kiva.net
Mon Aug 6 16:34:24 EDT 2001


I would be skeptical about using boxes to keep larvae in.   The leaves must 
be kept fresh, which means either keeping the base of the stems immersed in 
water, or having very high humidity in the box (or, I suppose, replacing 
with fresh leaves every 6 hours 24 hours a day, but that's not 
practical).   Generally larger larvae don't do well if closed up in humid 
boxes with their own frass; they get sick.   It is much better to put the 
food in a vase or bottle and then screen, cover, or box around this (or 
just leave it in the open and take your chances with them walking off - 
usually larvae stay put on their food plant, but not always).

Cheers,
Liz


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Liz Day
Indianapolis, Indiana, central USA  (40 N, ~86 W)
Home of budgerigar Tweeter and the beautiful pink inchworm (Eupithecia 
miserulata).
USDA zone 5b.  Winters ~20F, summers ~85F.  Formerly temperate deciduous 
forest.
daylight at kiva.net
www.kiva.net/~daylight
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