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| Can anyone tell me if switching wilkweed types for my monarchs will be a problem? I have a couple eggs collected from my pitiful looking tropical milkweed plants and I need to switch them over to the wild milkweed (of which there is a ton for them to eat!).
Should I switch them as soon as they hatch? Or give them a couple days? Anyone know why they insist on laying on the tropical? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by butterflymomok 7 (My Page) on Sun, Jul 25, 10 at 17:45
| Kato, I have had to switch several broods of Monarchs this summer due to incredible numbers. After the eggs hatch on the tropical/oscar, I move them to the wild milkweed. I move the leaves they are on over on top of the new milkweed. When they have finished the first leaves, they make the change. They eat the hairs/fuzz of the wild milkweed before eating the leaves. They tend to eat it until it looks like really holey swiss cheese, whereas with the tropical, they eat it all. They have pupated and eclosed successfully with this change. And, I actually have larger butterflies eclosing with the more substantial leaves. |
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| You can switch them right away. I usually cut the milkweed into little squares. I put the little squares with the eggs on it on to a deli lid. I then put this into a larger container that has a damp papertowel. The deli lid goes on top of the papertowel. A friend showed me this trick. The dampness from the papertowel helps keep the milkweed from wilting. But, the fact that they are on the deli lid, keeps the milkweed from molding. I usually use glad container (cheaper than tupperware). These containers can be sterilized in the dishwasher, top shelf. |
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| I monitor the unhatched eggs and when they hatch I transfer them to the new milkweed. You can even take the new leaf and scoop them up. Keep a watch on new hatchlings, they will crawl over and eat their room mates that haven't hatched (still in egg stage). |
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| Hey thanks for the advice! I'm glad to hear that the switch will be no problem.... and that my tropical milkweed will be able to keep a few leaves to itself lol. Also the paper towel method sounds alot better than the setup I have now, and it's also good to know the caterpillers will eat the wild milkweed differently. I think I would have seen the swiss cheese effect and worried the cats weren't as happy on the new leaves. thanks again |
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