caterpillars eat squash

Pictures from earlier post were yesterday, these are from today. In the morning I saw immediately the milkweed is almost completely barren. The caterpillars have been chewing off the ends of stems, and nearly eaten the two longitudinal zucchini slices I'd given them. They even ate through the skin.

 I tied on two more. A lot more caterpillars are eating it now.

I removed their competition, the tussock moth caterpillar. My youngest wants to try and raise it in the mesh bug house we have.

Later in the day I brought the caterpillars butternut squash, not wanting them to be limited to one food source. A few started to feed on that, as well.

But quite a few were wandering- crawling around in the vinca or the grass. Were they searching for more milkweed? getting moisture from the dew? Looking for a good spot to pupate? I don't know.

One crawled up the retaining wall and wandered around there for a while.

At first I picked them up and moved them back, but I don't know if handling them is harmful. And if they have a reason for wandering off, I should leave them alone.

I was dismayed later in the day to count only thirteen caterpillars, half are gone. I hope they found safe places to build their chrysalis, but it's also possible they got eaten. One of the bigger brown skinks was lurking in the vinca (looked fat and healthy). There's also a large preying mantis hanging out on our porch (my stepson thought it was a "freaky stick insect"). I haven't seen a mantis since this one, so glad it's around (maybe the same individual, grown bigger)- but I think both are predators that will eat monarch caterpillars.

The mantis is bold, too. I tried to get a close photo of its face, and it leaped straight onto the camera, threatening me!