WHAT DO CATERPILLARS EAT? Answer. More food given to the Vanessa cardui larvae (caterpiillars) will encourage them to eat more. When this happens do not disturd the caterpillar or pupa for 72 hours till it as dried, hardened and is solid. The Painted ladies eat nectar (of course) ,but if your thinking about raising a few up in a cage, listen to this. thistle. Thistle caterpillar killed by a pathogen (top). may give their caterpillars a certain amount of food, knowing that the Painted Ladies will still be healthy. Only then can you manipulate it. The painted lady, or thistle caterpillar, Vanessa cardui (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) Adult butterfly. Painted Ladies go through a complete metamorphosis of four stages: the egg or ovum, the caterpillar or larva, the chrysalis or pupa, and the adult or imago (Schaffer 1999). Only then can you manipulate it. Painted Lady spring migrations can include millions of individual butterflies when Northern Mexico receives a lot of precipitation during the waning winter months. (Host Plants) ... (caterpillars) eat a lot as they grow, but they do not usually damage plants permanently. Painted Lady Caterpillar Food contains a healthy diet which is irresistible to painted lady caterpillars. Sunflower Insects. Thistle caterpillar feeding injury on Canada thistle. They will soon attach themselves to the paper under the lid, hang upside down in a “J” form and transform into a pupa (without your help) Do not disturb the caterpillar or pupa for at least 48 hours until they have dried and hardened. Thistle caterpillars spin a web, tying up the leaf where they are feeding. and can feed up to 50 hungry painted lady caterpillars. Adult Painted Lady butterflies like asters, thistle, cosmos, sunflowers, blazing star, joe pye weed and ironweed. Painted Lady butterflies feed more often and for a longer time on flowers that they like, with purple flowers and clustered flowers being preferred. Painted Ladies are relatively easy to raise as their caterpillars make conspicuous webbed nests on thistles and other weeds. Related Questions. The … Place rocks among the plants so the butterflies have a place to rest and keep warm. This is our second year raising painted lady butterflies from caterpillars, and it was just as exciting and enthralling for the kids as it was the first time. It takes 7 to 10 days as a caterpillar and 9 to 14 days as a chrysalis before the butterfly emerges (Insect Lore, 2009). may give their caterpillars a certain amount of food, knowing that the Painted Ladies will still be healthy. View of thistle caterpillar showing the stout, spiny hairs on its body. The painted lady, a close relative of the red admiral (Vanessa atalanta), is a very widely distributed butterfly with many host plants in the families Asteraceae and Malvaceae. The flat-topped flowers make it easy for the butterflies to gather nectar and bright colors attract them. Painted Lady Caterpillar Appears The caterpillar hatches during the larval stage, eating its way out of the egg and then eating the shell. We predict that changing the amount of food given to Painted Ladies will affect their pupation rate. Your caterpillars will happily consume this special mixture and grow bulkier. Populate your garden with your own butterflies by rearing them on this food. What type of leaves do painted lady butterfly caterpillars eat? Following are some frequently seen butterflies and a few of their preferred host plants: American [Painted] Lady Black Swallowtail, Eastern Cabbage White Clouded Sulphur Common Sootywing Comma, Eastern Eastern Tailed Blue Tiger Swallowtail, Eastern Fiery … HOW TO CARE FOR YOUR PAINTED LADY CATERPILLARS (LARVAE) The Painted Lady larvae come together in one container and must be very gently transferred one by one to the smaller containers. We predict that changing the amount of food given to Painted Ladies will affect their pupation rate. We’ve … Larva of Vanessa cardui on sunflower leaf with frass and webbing.. Mourning cloak caterpillars, for example, will feed on willow, elm, aspen, paper birch, cottonwood, and hackberry. You may wait up to five days after you receive the larvae when they are larger to do the transfer as there is plenty of food in there with them. Thistle Caterpillar / Painted Lady Vanessa cardui Photo Gallery Thistle caterpillar feeding on soybean leaf. More food given to the Vanessa cardui larvae (caterpiillars) will encourage them to eat more. A single cup weighs about 8 oz. Generalist caterpillars feed on a variety of plants. * When you see red frass balls, the caterpillars have finished eating. Painted Lady butterflies prefer to feed on flowers of a particular structure: clustered flowers (65%) rather than rather than spiky flowers (20%), daisy-like flowers (10%) or large single flowers (5%). Over the next few days, the caterpillar eats through leaves, growing rapidly and getting stronger. When the Painted Ladies are all in an adult form feed them surger water or Gatorade. Wiki User August 02, 2012 8:01PM. Herbivorous caterpillars fall into one of two categories: generalist feeders, or specialist feeders.