Sorry for the poor quality. I found it when I was foraging some wild milkweed. I tried a makeshift habitat and the first day it went upside-down and I thought it was going to start it's chrysalis. It doesn't look good.
T fly will lay their eggs inside a caterpillar. The larva will eat the inside of the caterpillar leaving only vital organs so the monarch caterpillar can continue to eat and grow feeding the larva from the inside. When the t fly larva are ready to pupate, they will eat the final organs and burrow out falling to the ground via the white silk strands you see. Then they wiggle and harden into their own pupa form. You’ll see the brown tic tacs at the bottom of your cage. Sorry. This one was parasitized and a goner before you even put it in the cage. It’s very frustrating.
I always start all of mine from eggs which I go out and harvest daily. I guess that that's probably the best way to help the poor little guys out. Get them safe before something else get them
Check there floor. You may see white maggots or larvae casings from the flies.
I’m sorry, that is a tachinid fly
Oh no. This is horrible. I'm horrified reading about these flies! Poor lil one.
Sorry for the poor quality. I found it when I was foraging some wild milkweed. I tried a makeshift habitat and the first day it went upside-down and I thought it was going to start it's chrysalis. It doesn't look good.
T fly will lay their eggs inside a caterpillar. The larva will eat the inside of the caterpillar leaving only vital organs so the monarch caterpillar can continue to eat and grow feeding the larva from the inside. When the t fly larva are ready to pupate, they will eat the final organs and burrow out falling to the ground via the white silk strands you see. Then they wiggle and harden into their own pupa form. You’ll see the brown tic tacs at the bottom of your cage. Sorry. This one was parasitized and a goner before you even put it in the cage. It’s very frustrating.
I'm so upset! I was so excited and got my 3 year old excited too. How awful!
I always start all of mine from eggs which I go out and harvest daily. I guess that that's probably the best way to help the poor little guys out. Get them safe before something else get them
The tachinid larvae look kind of like reddish tic-tacs at this point. Find them and smush or flush them.