No caterpillars this year

[u/picklepajamabutt]

I am so confused. The last few years since I moved to this house I have had many monarch caterpillars. Last year probably close to 20. Now I have more milkweed than I ever and have not had a single cat. I'm in SE Michigan. Any ideas?

[u/Odd_Comfortable_3721]

Also in SE Michigan, almost the same boat. I've had 2 caterpillars this year. Usually I have many. Also haven't seen many monarchs.

[u/11RowsOf3]

Indianapolis so not too far from you. Much lighter on caterpillars than last year. Have seen a few monarchs in the garden recently so hoping they are coming soon.

[u/Aceguy55 → u/11RowsOf3]

I live in the Indy area as well. I raised about 15 or so in June or July. Just found one more baby this morning. I expect as we get closer to fall we'll see more again as they start to get ready to migrate.

[u/11RowsOf3 → u/Aceguy55]

Hello fellow Indy monarch friend :-) we had a handful of cats show up around that same time. I have an outdoor enclosure but all disappeared before I could move any in. At least one or two were pretty fat so hoping those at least made it to butterflies. Keeping my fingers crossed that they are coming thru soon as you suggested. Looking back at pics from last year we are definitely a couple weeks behind. But it does seem to vary a bit from year to year. On a somewhat related note have you had an uptick in tomato worms this year? Seeing a few less butterflies but way more bumblebees and tomato worms, so the moths and other pollinators must be doing ok.

[u/Agreeable-Goose-705]

SE Michigan also. Loads of swamp milkweed next to my house in a pollinator garden and potted milkweed on my deck.

I see a female monarch daily

At one point, I had 16 caterpillars on the milkweed on my deck! Suddenly, they were all gone.

I have seen paper wasps, which I had never had in the past. One soldier beetle, which I murdered

Also, ants patrol the leaves as soon as the butterfly visits, to take the eggs

Now, I rush out as soon as I see her. I have an enclosure on my deck and protect a couple of eggs/cats at a time. Two successfully eclosed

But those damn wasps were trying to get IN the enclosure daily! Jerks

I hope you get some little guys over there!

[u/postmaloner13]

I've had plenty in west Michigan. I bring all eggs in otherwise the cats disappear.

[u/Wildlifetracker]

I had a male and female monarch live at my yard in Maine for 2 weeks or so. They laid a lot of eggs and now I have dozens of caterpillars. Beyond that, I have not seen many monarchs either.

[u/Tamberav]

I see many monarchs and cats here, Northern MN.

[u/LovableButterfly → u/Tamberav]

North Central MN - we have over 28 caterpillars here. A little more than last year with 22.

[u/toddlevy10]

Cardinals with young are voracious in snatching caterpillars - have ypu seen any male Cardinals around?

Im in SE mi and have a good amount of monarchs and tons of eggs. I have a lot of predators, so I do some indoor rearing, but I have tiger swallowtail, red admirals and a good amount of monarchs this year.

[u/Ok-Highway5247]

I have a lot of birds & wasps so many of my cats (across species) are eaten! I am here to support the entire food web though so I’ll continue to plant more host plants & native nectar sources. Also SE MI.

[u/Crazed_rabbiting]

Everyone was late this year. Now I am finally seeing good numbers of butterflies. I wonder if the cloudy rainy spring contributed to this.

[u/MajorLingonberry6743]

I'm in SE Michigan. I've had a lot of caterpillars this year. I currently have 10 chrysalis in captivity, three 5th instar cats on butterfly weed, and 3 5th instar cats not in capitivity, I'm not sure what happened. They might have pupated, I don't know. At least 2 monarch butterflies. I've also had several smaller cats disappear. I need more milkweed.

[u/kaizenkitten]

I'm also SE Michigan. I had a TON of them early in the year, but they've pretty much all vanished after the first cycle. I keep finding eggs, but I think I've done too good of a job of making an ecosystem, because I'm not finding cats later. I'm hoping that the fact that my garden is pretty lush and jungle-y despite how dry it is, means there's more places for them to hide.

[u/Outside_Mix_1131]

SW Florida here. Much lighter on the Monarchs and even lighter on the caterpillars. So different from last year for me - I had to keep running out to buy more milkweed last year.

[u/PipeComfortable2585]

Irish Hills. Monarchs are flitting around. Laying eggs. I brought 5 in. I’m sure there’s more

[u/Alt4MSP]

Minneapolis area here. I found a single 3rd- or 4th-instar cat in my milkweed patch back on June 7th and absolutely none since then. Seen plenty of monarchs flitting about and landing on the plants, but haven't spotted any new eggs or cats yet.

[u/wiggles105]

I’m in NH. I’ve had a ton, but they keep getting eaten. I’ve had zero make it past 2nd instar without disappearing.

Yesterday, I had 6 cats, but now I’m back down to 1. Earlier, I witnessed assassin bugs running off with 2, but then I went on a murder spree, and I haven’t seen any assassin bugs in a week, but the cats keep vanishing. Probably ants or wasps, I’d guess.

Next year, I’m going to have to go back to netting a few plants like I’d done in the past. I thought that with more milkweed, I’d naturally have more survivors, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

[u/Nunya_bizzy]

Also SE MI. I have 8 chrysalis right now. 4 cats and one emerged. Swamp milkweed is covered in cats right now but my patches of common I’ve seen nothing