taragirl, the same thing happened to me. I was shocked to find they had all vanished one day. They had however all scooted over to neighboring plants and set up their chrysalis shops over there. If you look carefully on the undersides of the leaves, you will find them. The chrysalis are leaf green in color. It is thrilling to see them emerge from the chrysalis

I keep my milkweed in a pot on the patio. When it's time to morph, I have found the cats on the rim of other pots, on the back of my lawn chairs, hanging under a birdhouse, on the shelves on the patio, even on the handle of ny watering can. Can keep my eye on them that way.

Tara,
I am soooo jealous. I have not seen any Monarchs yet. I am west of Charlotte NC.

I put my Monarch cats in kid's bug cage to pupate to protect them from wasps and so I can watch the process.

Good luck.

No need to be jealous -- I still haven't found them yet! I read that they can travel up to 40 feet away from their milkweeds to find a place to pupate. I have been looking everywhere! I have a ton of trees nearby, all types, as well as weeds, grasses, vines, etc.

Does anyone know if they have a preferred plant on which to pupate? Or any other clues? Do they head for shade? Do they head N, S, E or W? How high off the ground do they prefer? Do they choose woody plants over weedy annuals?

Yes, they prefer woody plants over annuals, They'll attache to almost any hard surfaces. Look on a nearby tree, or rock or house...

They will also build their crysalis on the siding of your house. If it is in an exposed spot they stand a good chance of becoming someones dinner. I just lost my first one this way. I knew it was not a good location, but didn't act fast enough to move it to a safer location. : (

So happy to see that my monarchs didn't just get eaten or were carried off by garden gnomes. I looked in a woody Cape Honeysuckle we have and there was one, I'm assuming there are others there I can't see. So glad for this site. Thanks.

I had six big caterpillars yesterday morning, and only two left when I checked again this morning. I saw this site, and then went back out to look around the area. I found two of the missing cats in a potted tomato plant two feet away from the milkweed stand. One was resting on a horizontal wire of the tomato cage and the other was hanging upside down on a small internal branch curled up and looking just about ready to start forming its chrysalis. Both were about a foot off of the ground level of the pot. They were hard to spot though. From Dallas, Texas.

Does anyone have any suggestions on things I could place near my milkweed plants that would give the monarch caterpillars a good place to set up their crysalis? Want to give these little guys their best shot. Thanks!

I am just guessing, but any sturdy garden furniture would provide a good spot to hang. Even better, as they reach pupating size, you could bring them into a paper grocery bag with a pile of fresh milkweed. Tape the bag shut and wait a few days. They will pupate on the bag and you can use scissors to cut around them and place them somewhere safe from predators until they close. You also get a chance to observe the process.

Martha

I’m glad to know I’m not crazy. I come home everyday and look at them. Tonight they were there and then pouf they were all gone. I can’t find them. Hopefully they.re hanging Somewhere safe.

Seven caterpillars crawled a long way from my milkweed - climbed to the top of my garage door sill -and made 7 chrysalises - I cannot find a study that shows that they communicate - but something seems strange about these beautiful creatures! We are in our 80's and have this new great hobby.