Kjirstyn2023 Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 I have a bizarre and funny wondering...we were planning to grow monarch butterflies this year for biology in one of those butterfly habitats where you start with the caterpillars. Well, my cabbages have worms that are from butterflies, so I'm just wondering...fair substitute? 😄😄 Mostly I'm wondering if cabbage is all they need to survive and then take them clear to chrysalis and adulthood or not. Does anybody know? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree Frog Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 I would think that might work. Just be sure to have live cabbage plants in the habitat with the caterpillars and be prepared to change the plants out as the caterpillars consume them. It would be fun to see what kind of butterflies (or moths in the case of the tomato hornworm) they become! (You might find out what kind of caterpillar it is before doing this to confirm it will be a butterfly. Some moths have a cocoon that is buried in the ground. You would want to know this before putting it in a habitat.) Another option would be to watch the caterpillars on the plants in their natural habitat and do a nature search to find any chrysalises. I did this with a passion fruit vine and gulf frittilary caterpillars. It's amazing how much they eat! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 Yes. We did a lot of projects with whatever critters we could find. It’s a great way to make sure you are using something native, or at least, already introduced, to your area. There are several possible species,but they all turn into moths or butterflies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabbage_worm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Publia Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 I know this isn’t quite what you asked, but I also highly recommend watching them in the garden. We have milkweed in our garden, and we’ve seen three separate sets of Monarch and Queen butterfly eggs and caterpillars just this year. Finding a chrysalis after they’ve left is tough, but that’s by design. Watching the role the plants play (which you might miss in a controlled habitat) is incredible—the caterpillars strip them clean, flowers and buds and all, and then they grow more. Another advantage of watching them in the “wild” is that you can see how they react to things like changes in the weather. We've watched our caterpillars in wind and rain, etc. It's a live version of the (really good) documentary Microcosmos. One caveat: As I understand it, caterpillars typically pupate a fair distance from their larval plant, and they obviously have to crawl to that spot, so you want to make sure your plant is located in a spot that gives them a good chance to get to an acceptable pupation site. (Right next to a road or a sidewalk is not a good idea, for example, because caterpillars aren’t the speediest critters. And probably best to stay away from grass that is regularly mown.) It sounds like you have a fantastic set-up right in the garden! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kjirstyn2023 Posted August 21, 2020 Author Share Posted August 21, 2020 Thank you for all the input! For some reason I never even thought of sticks to let them hang from. 😄 I stuck them and the cabbage in the habitat and they're still alive, so we'll see what happens. We'll look outside for other cocoons once I see what they look like on the inside one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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