i had this happen last week. Had never observed it before. So, I would imagine in close confines it might be more likely to occur.

Dang. What a bummer. So is the chrysalis a lost cause now or should in wait to see what happens?

Wow. I have never seen that or heard of it happening. YIKES. Not a good thing for sure. Was there plenty of fresh milkweed for the caterpillars to eat?

In my case, the chrysalis was a goner. It was obvious that part of the pupa was gone. And, yes there was food available. Apparently a caterpillar that had climbed to the top to molt took bites from the chrysalis after molting. I discarded the chrysalis.

Sandy

There was a lot of fresh mw in their but he chose to stop eating, cross a 17 inch empty stem to this chrysalis that was on the end of it.
Well ill hold onto it to see what happens. Yeah I yelled at the cat like it was really going to do something. Lol

Well, I would have yelled at him too!! Imagine, doing such a thing? Is he nuts? LOLOLOL
Angie

Yeah that's what I yelled. "Dude are u freakin crazy, get off of it" and "im sooooo mad at you". Lol. It freaked me out. So far the spot tht was bitten still looks as the picture does.

Well, thanks for posting about this. I have never seen or heard of such a thing. You hear about some species of bigger cats eating smaller ones within the same enclosure, but I never imagined a Monarch cat eating a Monarch chrysalis.
Angie

A bad seed, I guess. ;) Could he have thought it was a leaf?

ANOTHER ONE DID THE SAME THING! Stupid me! BUT I stopped it just in time.

I separated them into 4 per cage and now they are all separated.

I went to the dollar store and bought alot more of those mesh laundry baskets.
Just about all of them (except 4) are about to form their J.
Normally when I am home I check on them every 10-30 mins.
When the first incident happened it turned into every few minutes. (what a life i have right lol )So just a bit ago I see this dude up on top. I am thinking Ok another one is doing the J and smiled... I walked over to it from the desk and noticed what it was doing. Half of its body was on the chrysalis and the other on the netting. So i gave it a gentle blow and it moved its head and thats when I seen it nibbled on the part where its attached to the netting. wth..
They get fresh food daily, Up to 3 times a day. they eat so much. Ugh! So I dont know whats up with these guys. No sense of yelling at it, sure doesnt work hah.

So weird to me.

alex, if the cat thought that the chrysalis was a leaf, I feel sorry for it...lol what a tough life it will have.

I think the caterpillars tend to smell like the plants they eat. This is a defense against parasitoids but not so much against other herbivores. There must be something else they smell or taste like that also deters herbivores. Whatever it is, this one was missing it. It may be another reason why they try to leave the plant they feed on. I find the chemistry so fascinating! On the other hand, I know the feeling of looking at an animal and thinking "Oh how cute! I just love you! Wait...OMG...WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Sorry you had to witness that,
Elisabeth

I only remember this happening once, when I first started raising caterpillars. A gulf frit chrysalis fell from the ceiling of the cage and splattered, then another cat ate it - gross!! I've never seen a cat eat an intact chrysalis, though. The 'splat' incident was what prompted me to put foam rubber on the bottom of my cages, which I've done ever since, with great results.

As long as I keep FRESH food in the cage for the cats to eat, they leave the chrysalides alone. It's important that the host plant leaves NOT be dried out!

Sherry

That makes sense to me Elisabeth. Because he did get off the 20 min old mw and go over there to it. They are all seperated now. Like each has its own house and food.

So sad that they die because of a fall :( That's a great idea Sherry. I think I'd like to do that too. Both incidents there was fresh mw in there. Both times they got off of it and deliberately went to the chrystalis. I always put the stems in fresh water and cover the cup with plastic wrap so they dont drown. I use a tall shot glass actually.
I've tried the floral foam thing but that gets moldy from the water.

Whats going on with this chrysalis. he was alone

should i be concerned? There is another chrysalis deformed, what to do?

should i be concerned? There is another chrysalis deformed, what to do?

I would remove it from the others. Sounds like something else is going on.

Thanks. I removed both of the deformed ones. The one in the picture is a goner I believe. It looks like an apple after its been sitting around for a little bit after it had a bite taken from it.

The second one started moving when i was removing it. Surprised me a bit because it really isnt any room for something to be alive.