Be careful with the sap

[sdg]

Hi, I'm new here. This is my second year of trying to gather Monarch caterpillars and releasing them. This year I had so many I had a hard time keeping them fed. They were on my butterfly weed or tropical butterfly weed, asclepias curassavica. I've handled it a lot and it grows easily here in CA. But yesterday I got an eye irritation, which ended up as a corneal edima. I also got a skin rash. The ER drs. and the opthamologist believe I got some milkweed sap in my eye. It caused cloudy vision in only the eye that was touched. I also am itching like crazy. I have never had a reaction to this plant before. Please be careful handling your milkweed. I am a teacher and we are studying these caterpillars and plan to release them at school. It might just be that I'm allergic to this plant or the toxins in the caterpillar. The dr. said there can be traces of the toxins on the cats. body. Has anyone else experienced this problem? These caterpillars also will not eat off our narrow leaf milkweed. That seems strange to me.

[sbannister]

Thanks for the warning about the milkweed causing a rash. I have been having an eczema flare up for awhile now, ever since I started raising the weed and rearing the cats. I will avoid directly touching the weed from now on. That's what gloves were made for!

I also had a blurry eye a while back, which cleared up the following day on its own.


I will just have to be more careful becasue I love my Monarch friends!

Susan

[freda]

It seems that it is a contact dermatitis so just be really careful to wash your hands immediately after handling milkweed. Shady Oak Butterfly Farm has really good information, AND photos, about this issue. www.butterfliesetc.com will take you there and have a look at the rest of their site as well...LOTS of great information and pictures.

Freda