Where to Find Monarch Caterpillars

This post will teach you where to find monarch caterpillars and which type of plant you should have in your butterfly garden in order to feed them. It’s important to not only have milkweed, but also other flowers, fruits, and vegetables that will attract and feed adult monarch butterflies. If you provide the proper habitat conditions, butterflies will come and feed. Once butterflies know you’re providing food, hopefully a female will choose to lay her eggs on the milkweed you’ve planted.

Milkweed is the only plant that monarch caterpillars eat.

Milkweed is an herbaceous, perennial, flowering plant that is the only host plant for monarchs. By growing milkweed in your garden, around your home, and in your community, you are helping preserve the monarch butterfly.

These plants come in many varieties and can be found in fields and meadows. Other areas where vegetation has been allowed to grow undisturbed, like along the side of a highway, are good spots to search for caterpillars. If you happen to find milkweed growing beneath trees, that’s an excellent indicator caterpillars will be nearby because the female monarch loves to hang out in trees.

Milkweed can also be found at your local garden center. If you see a label that reads “Asclepias,” you’re looking at a milkweed plant. Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa) is native to Illinois and several other states. This type of milkweed is pretty, easily manageable, and does well in containers. I’ve had accidental luck purchasing these plants from Home Depot where I’ve later found eggs and tiny monarch caterpillars hanging out once I get them home.

Store-bought plants can have eggs or tiny caterpillars hiding on them.

Monarch butterflies lay their eggs on the bottom of milkweed leaves. They tend to choose leaves close to the top of the plant. These eggs will be small, round, and off-white. It isn’t unusual to find plenty of random small, round, off-white blobs underneath milkweed leaves, though, so be sure to familiarize yourself with monarch egg features. I suggest searching the internet for a few minutes to take a look at some pictures so you can better understand the differences.

It’s crucial to check your plants gently before watering so you don’t knock these eggs off. Young caterpillars will drown if knocked into wet soil, especially if they can’t find a way back up to safety quickly enough. If an egg hatches on the ground, the caterpillar could die because it’s unable to find your milkweed plant.

Once you’ve located monarch caterpillars, try not to lose them.

As your caterpillars molt, they will get bigger and bigger. You’d think a fat caterpillar would move like a slug, but you will actually find that these guys can wind up on the opposite side of a plant in the blink of an eye. It’s most important that you watch your larger caterpillars closely, especially if you think they’re getting ready to form their chrysalis.

It’s not uncommon for caterpillars to wander off and “disappear” in search of a place to hang upside down and prepare to pupate. If you opt to leave your caterpillars outside instead of sheltering them in your home, keep an eye on them! It’s imperative that you also check the rims of your containers if you realize one has run off. Do NOT disturb if you see one hanging upside down in “J” formation! But… if you DO catch one wandering around that’s not hanging, simply coax them onto a leaf and place them back on the plant so you don’t lose them.