Pupation failure

[matzorice]

I've tried to raise six or seven eggs and larva the summer. So far I have been successful once. I have a couple questions for you experts out there.
Why would a Caterpillar pupate, leave the skin attached to the top of the jar, and the chrysalis falls down? By the time I came home it was caved in and goo was coming out of it.

One of the caterpillars I raised from an egg to a full-grown adult ended up being a host to a tachnid fly larva-it popped out after the Caterpillar Pupated. I inspected all the leaves I brought in. I did not see any other eggs.
I keep the caterpillars in large jars with small holes punched in on the lid-nowhere near big enough for a fly to get in. I have been raising these guys for about six or seven years. I have never had a failure! This year I'm full of them. Please help!

[skates4marty]

People more expert than I will answer, I'm sure. I'll just say that I think it's something like the 7-year itch, or a misalignment of the stars in your latitude... Last year was my 8th year raising, and it was the first year I had fewer releases than the year before. I had it all: Oe, chrysalises that had split skins ... oh, it was awful.

[Mona Miller]

There's a chance, but not a huge one that the fly laid on the egg.

With regards to pupae falling, that can happen. The skin attached to the prolegs and the button is supposed to stay on until they attach the cremaster (black stem), but sometimes the skin does not stay on and they fall. If you are there, you can help them--if not, they may fall and break. The containers I use aren't too tall and I always have papertowel on the bottom. Some times a soft landing will keep them from breaking, but the pupae (chrysalis) ends up being deformed. Most of the time even with a deformed pupae, they still emerge okay.

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Set up for using Glad Containers to Rear