Do I have to clean the poop of monarch caterpillars daily?

Penne Johnson
by Penne Johnson

I there following the advise of a kind person on this site, I now have 3 Catsin jars and put new leaves in their jars daily. They seem to be growing good,my question is This person said to clean out their poop daily. Not sure how Ican do this. I don't want to handle them more than necessary. I guess I couldput them all in one jar clean and put them back one by one. But am worriedabout handling them. And is it really necessary to clean up their poop.Thanks loads for advise on this. I so want to get them to adulthood and butterflies. I have lost 23-28 of them this summer to ????? so am trying to getthese little ones to make it. Penne

  4 answers
  • GrandmasHouseDIY GrandmasHouseDIY on Jul 31, 2019

    Hi Penne, I hope this helps https://www.prairiehaven.com/?page_id=9860

    I may have to try this myself, I planted a bed of milkweed a few years ago but I would love be able to do more for them.

  • Kate Kate on Aug 05, 2019

    I have 2 in chrysalis at the moment, the caterpillars

    do poop a lot ( it’s called frass) I try to clean my containers out everyday just because they do poo a lot but if you can’t do it everyday try every few days, it helps to keep their environment a bit cleaner. Normally I wait till they are on a leaf and transfer them leaf and all to a clean container and put the old leaf on a new leaf. If you do need to move them, just try to do it as gently as possible with clean hands. Btw: thank you for helping us up the Monarch population.

  • Penne Johnson Penne Johnson on Aug 06, 2019

    Thanks so much Kate. I have been cleaning their containers every day and most of the time I wait until the cats are on the sides then dump out all the frass. As I do it every day I don't have as much on the younger ones. I never

    use my hands and yes I use leaves to move them about.

    I'm still sad that the one never built her chrysalis and just died hanging there. I'm here in Ca. and we have had big problems with what they say is a fly virus so have been harvesting as many eggs as possible. This a.m. I have 3 new babies that hatched over night. Now I have 11 and one looks almost ready to hopefully make her chrysalis and go all the way. Keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks again Kate I appreciate your response.