The promise of Monarchs and a curious five-year old

Anne Kilmer viceroy at anu.ie
Tue Aug 7 00:22:59 EDT 2001


Liz Day wrote:
> 
> 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
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> Liz Day
> Indianapolis, Indiana, central USA  (40 N, ~86 W)

You can also bag the milkweed plant, larva and all, in a nylon net
sleeve (which you can sew up from an old net curtain, with a drawstring
at the open end).  
Add a branchy stick to support the bag and supply a site for the
chrysalids to hang on. 
People can't leave these alone, so it won't work if the kid has lots of
friends playing in the yard, unless you teach them early and often to
look and don't touch. 
Ants can get in and get your larvae, but birds, lizards etc. are pretty
well prevented. 
You need to check the bag frequently, to release your butterflies, dump
out the frass and perform other housekeeping chores.
I know people who are quite successful with the little boxes, but they
keep the boxes on desk or table where they are frequently checked, and
they keep them meticulously clean. 
The stem of the host plant is usually stuck into a test-tube or orchid
tube such as one gets from the florist, which has a perforated rubber
cork. This keeps the plant happy and the bug dry.
A couple of times a day, these intense bug-lovers lift out the host
plant with its attendant caterpillars, clean out the box, perhaps even
washing and drying it, replace the little family in the box, perhaps
even change their food plant. We're talking seriously obsessive people
here, Liz. And some of them are indeed five years old.
I sympathize; my Peacocks (Inachis io) will be out any day now. When I
last checked (with captives in mind, I'll admit) we were down to two
small individuals, third instar I would guess, eating very slowly and
not looking at all well ... not bugs I would consider emotional
involvement with. 
Somewhere among the nettles are hanging the chrysalids of several
hundred peacocks ... assuming that nobody has eaten them already, and I
certainly wouldn't assume that. ;-)
The way the Coal Tits are grabbing the Green-Veined Whites out of the
air, I wouldn't bet much on my chances of seeing these Peacocks before
they exit, one way or another. 

If you just take a branch of milkweed, caterpillars and all, and put it
in a vase, as Liz advises, that's fine. But there's one precaution she
did not mention. Caterpillars love to drown themselves. So ... after
filling your vase with water, take a piece of plastic wrap, put it over
the jar or vase, poke a little hole in it for the plant stem, and the
critters can't go swimming. A rubber band will hold it securely on the
vase, if you've used an old bread bag instead of cling-film.

 
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