My monarch are dying ??

[connie3190]

I have been raising monarch for fun for about 7 yrs. This year something is not right. I live in the Bronx new york. I went out and found the egg's on the milkweed about 3 weeks ago. The caterpillar's started to metamorphose 3 died as soon as they started to change they just hung there like they got stuck, about 7 or 8 changed but it seems like there silk is not holding, they get to the end of the cycle and fall off of the place the hooked to. I started to watch them closely and they seem to be not hooking up right when they go into the J stage. When they go into the J you can see that its not going to hold. I have never seen this ever in all they yrs I have been doing this. You always loose a few hear and there that is nature, but this is not normal. Has anybody seen this before? Do you think the leaves are sprayed with something that is doing this? I get my milkweed the same place every year. On the sides of the highways were I live. (The Hutchinson River Parkway & I95.) If anybody drives by these places and see's a lady on the side of the HW picking milkweeds "Thats Me"
Maybe they changed pesticide this yr. I don't even know if they do spray, I am guessing ?
Like I said I have been doing this a while and I have never seen so many problems with the metamorphose stage. One changed with a gap between itself. That is hard to explain but it is not a normal looking pupa. It kind of looks like the wing will not be attached. Like I said its hard to explain.
Any info will be appreciated. I have 7 pupa in a bug box because The silk did not hold them an they fell, I guess it was soft enough to not break open, but some definitely do not look good. I hate to get rid of them in case they come out ok. But then again how will they come out right when they need to hang to
to open and expell the fluids. Only time will tell I guess. I hope some body has seen this before.Thank you connie kotteakos

[Mona Miller]

Did you make sure you sterilized your box from last year?

States are spraying a lot of bad stuff because of gypsy moths and mosquitoes. Ask your county cooperative agent.

[texas butterfly]

One of my Monarch catepillars didn't seem to be growing very fast. But, I kept feeing it.
I think it had hatched about 7/2/2009. It didn't look any larger than a 3rd star, it had some yellow and black on it. I'd say it looked normal, but it did not grow.

It died today....

I'm guessing something was wrong with it.

It was separate from others so that is good.

[Mona Miller]

http://www.mymonarchguide.com/2008/08/w ... illar.html
"One of my Monarch chrysalides fell! Is it dead?
Answer this question first:
Do you see any green liquid? If the answer is yes, then unfortunately, your butterfly is dead.
If no liquid came out then your butterfly is probably okay. You can carefully make a cushion of a few folded tissues sheets (like a little soft bed) and place the chrysalis on top. Make sure that when the butterfly ecloses, there is something nearby for it to climb up (is there a netting or a stick?). The butterfly will need to be able to climb UP to stretch and dry its wings.
It is NOT necessary to glue or tie the cremaster (the little black thing at the top of the pupa) onto something. Butterflies are pretty resilient as long as they have some way to climb up."

http://www.mymonarchguide.com/2007/11/o ... llars.html
Another suggestion is that they could have OE

http://www.mymonarchguide.com/2007/11/o ... llars.html
The Dreaded Tachinid Fly
I've seen caterpillars fall and a larvae of a fly come out. The larvae then pupates.

[Mona Miller]

Jim posted these instructions for pupae not hanging:

[quote="Jim"]Monarch pupae do not need to be hanging in order to emerge properly - as long as they have access to a rough vertical surface nearby. Most monarchs we raise emerge in individual chambers - the hardened pupa is placed on a paper towel and a plastic drinking cup with screening affixed to the interior walls is inverted over the pupa, giving the monarch a rough surface to climb up and hang to expand its wings upon emergence: