Parisitoid Wasps

[Farfalla]

No wonder Monarchs have a 99 percent mortality rate! I thought collecting eggs meant I would be safe from wasps...I learned how wrong I was today ! .
This last batch of eggs was the first one that I did not actually see the female monarch laying. Something got to the milkweed patch before I did.. and they hatched out of my Monarch eggs!
The containers I keep the eggs in has a clear lid. When I saw these tiny wasps I couldn't figure out how they had gotten in the container.. I new I was careful about hitchhikers. I looked them up and they are Trichogramma wasps. Here is a link: http://www.entomology.wisc.edu/mbcn/kyf104.html
The good news is that I still have 10 newborn cats out of 20.So all is not lost.

[Gwynne]

Oh, I am so sorry that happened! I know you have been worried about that and so have I. At least you had read up on it and were able to react quickly enough to save 10 caterpillars. Um, did these wasps eat some of the caterpillars or just hatch out of the eggs? This is like watching a train wreck and not being able to turn away...

[Lindabird]

You guys are making me a nervous wreck!

The other day I brought in two eggs and put them and their leaves they were on in a baggy with a slightly damp paper folded towel and lost both of them. One did hatch, but died. The other one just turned black and has done nothing.

Yesterday, I brought in 18-20 small caterpillars and put them in a baggy with the slightly damp paper towel. I put them in the baggy because I didn't know what else to do with them, and I had read about the baggy and paper towel.

Today, I think I should probably divide them up and put them in something else. I'm just not sure what or where.

I have three medium sized butterfly pavillions ordered, and they should be here soon. The only other pavillion I have here is full of "other" caterpillars. Last year and this year I have mixed the monarch and the black swallowtail together, but one species was in the chrysalis stage when I introduced new caterpillars and their host plant. I've never had a problem doing it like this.

Right now I have small caterpillars of both species and am afraid to mix them and their host plant food together.

The biggest problem I have is I'm going to Las Vegas next Saturday and will be there for a week which is a really bad time for me to be leaving my caterpillars. I've got to find someone who will take care of them for me. Plus, I'm going to miss all the excitement.

[Gwynne]

If we are making you nervous wrecks our job here is accomplished! I am just teasing. I know, we are all acting like new mothers.

Is it a ziplock bag? That is what we have all been doing. I have tried something different. You say you have little caterpillars. I had more luck with little caterpillars with my second batch. My first batch was pretty much grown and if I knew then what I know now, I would have been worried about not only whether they would fall when emerging but about predators! I drove the group nuts all day when they emerged! Luckily I didnt know about parasites then or I really would have been worried!

To get back to your question. I tried eggs and tiny caterpillars next. The caterpillars did fine and I think that is who are in chrysalises right now. The eggs hatched and I think the caterpillars drowned. But that was probably my fault for not leaving them alone for several days. I kept checking on them several times a day and they probably couldnt get back to their leaves. My paper towel may have been too moist as well. I dont know if any of the eggs survived because of course there was no way to mark what I found as an egg and what I found as a baby caterpillars unless I was going to house each one separately! If any did, it would have been one or two out of 15, but I dont believe so.

Back to my third attempt. I wasnt going to try again but when I went for food for my older guys, the patch was overrun with predators. I took 20 eggs. Eww, who knows what could be in those caterpillars that hatched from those eggs! Um, I mean, I cut out pieces of the leaves the egg was on and put them in a ziplock bag with a moist paper towel. I had done that last time as well with most, cutting out a square that the eggs are on. Most people dont do that, but I have so I can fit more eggs in a ziplock bag. I check it once a day and when the egg hatches, I move it to another ziplock bag with a couple of tiny caterpillars. No moist paper towel, but their square of leaf and a bigger leaf. I started with about 20 eggs. Mind you, every time I go out to get food, I end up with some more eggs, even when I am not trying to and some baby caterpillars, so that 20 somehow seems to be much more now! Of those initial 20, I think one disapeared in the bag. Nine of those are the ones I put in the castle last are from the eggs. I had 10, one didnt make it. Then I have 8 more that are slightly younger where two didnt make it. So I am doing better this way but of course the results arent in yet! Until it is a healthy butterfly that flies off, this is just conjecture saying this is working for me.

I just took six more out of the ziplock bag yesterday and moved them to a little container and I have four tiny caterpillars in a ziplock bag though I know that three are ones I found yesterday. I do get to be a nervous wreck when I think of wasps and infections and horrible things like that. Takes the enjoyment out. You are going to have to expect to not have a 100% success rate.

What butterfly pavilions did you order? I have a post where I asked if anyone had ever used a particular butterfly pavilion and posted a link. GBMonarch posted a link to a monarch caste. I did order the castle. It sounds like you ordered more of what you have used in the past with succcess and I am curious if you use either of the ones we have links to. If not, please post a link. We are comparing our different habitats and pros and cons of them.

I know the monarch wont eat anything but milkweed so there shouldnt be a problem with the monarch eating something toxic to it. It just wont eat it. I dont know a thing about the swallowtails however. If you were given a choice, it would probably be better to raise them separatly, but I dont think it is necessary. I have heard people raise them together with success.

I am so envious of you! You are raising two different types of butterflies! And you are going to Las Vegas. I wish I could raise your swallowtails for you!

[Farfalla]

Don't be nersvous,Linda! Knowledge is power .( Well.... you are powerless to do something when disease hits.. but at least you know what is going on.) Here are the things I now look out for:

Parisitoids that kill Butterflies(They stop the butterfly life cycle process and subsitute their own):

~Tachinid fly (lays eggs on caterpillar or leaf..emerges from chrysalis)
~Chalcid wasp (emerges from chrysalis)
~Trichogramma wasp ( The female lays eggs in moth & butterfly eggs.. an adult wasp emerges from egg)

Virus,Protozoa and Bacterial disease:

~Polyhedrosis Virus
~Nosema
~and the dreaded OE (Because many OE infected Monarchs can still live to infect others. If I have a Chrysalis that turns a mottled black(*not the black before emergence) I put it in the freezer and dispose of it carefully.
~Bacterial diseases (which can be prevented with clean,dry environments for cats.)

~And of course there is always pesticide poisoning!

But of the 60 raised at school this year.. there were only 2 early instar "natural deaths" (unexplained) and one malformed pupa that died(also unexplained) All the others were raised and released!
And I have raised and relased a dozen or more happy/healthy guys here!

I know it sounds excessive.. But I try my best to raise each cat in it's own container.At least untill they areready to pupate.

Of course I am concerned about this latest batch...But with all the problems Monarchs face.....It seems like it is all the more reason to raise them.

[Lindabird]

Gwynne:

Here is the website that I get my butterfly pavillions from. They have all kinds of cool nature stuff there. Some of them come with a certificate to mail in for 5 free painted lady caterpillars. If you order just the caterpillars it's around $15.00. The pavillions I just ordered are just the pavillion itself. I don't need any more caterpillars.

http://insectlore.stores.yahoo.net/butgarwitliv1.html

I wish you could babysit my caterpillars too! I'm going to call one of the teachers I work with to see if maybe she could watch them. She may not talk to me anymore since I took her to that milkweed we were going to dig up and transplant and got chiggers all over us!

Linda

[Lindabird]

Farfalla:

I looked up some of the predators and I have seen that wasp and that fly on my parsley. My parsley has "flowered" the past two years. Last year I immediately cut it off. This year I let it go because I had 15 eggs that I could see already on the flower part. Almost all of those turned black and I didn't get anything. Those flowers were covered in those wasps, flies, lightening bugs, etc. Next year, if it comes up again, I am going to clip it as soon as I see the flowers forming.

Yesterday, when I was collecting the caterpillars off of the milkweed, I did find one that was black in the center and oozing something. At first I just thought it was something else until I looked at it closer.

I found 3 more swallowtail caterpillars on my parsley. I'm keeping them on the parsley until I figure out what to do with all these caterpillars.

So far, I have about 16-18 monarch caterpillars in a plastic container. I didn't lose any overnight. I know I need to separate them. I looked at my kitchen counter and I noticed the plastic baby food containers I had cleaned and it hit me! I can give each caterpillar it's own container! I think this will work for a while. It won't take up much space. I'm just not sure if I should poke holes in it for oxygen. Then when they get bigger I will put them in the pavilion or one of the pop-up things I bought at Walgreens.

Jeepers, this is hard work!

Linda

[Gwynne]

Linda, that is the ones I debated about before GBMonarch recommended the Live Monarch Castle. I went with that because of her recommendation and also because I had called the toll free number with the Pavilion when I was first looking for a place to store these guys and the guy said it wasnt suitable for caterpillars, just butterflies. I guess I got someone who didnt know what they were talking about that day.

You are right, it is hard work. At one point, I was spending two hours a day feeding everyone and cleaning cages. I would do that twice a day. I have a little lull right now because I have 13 chrysalises and one big guy who isnt eating much who I think he is ready to pupate. The others are all younger. Right now, everyone but the one biggest and four smallest are in the live monarch castle. While I feel that will be easier to keep clean, the nine biggest guys who pupated at the same time were driving me insane with their eating! I can not imagine what it will be like to have 18 mouths to feed, though I can see they are several days apart. Maybe I shouldnt have put them all in the live monarch castle, but the guy who sells them said it was okay. I called him so many times with so many questions, I think he would have said anything to get me off the phone! So I have an assortment of different sizes in there now and then will have to find a place to put the newest guys. If I keep sticking everyone in the pavilion, I wont ever have a chance to sterilize it. I am either going to have to order a second one and have two different groups or wait for the aquarium to become free again, which is should in about a week.