People love to raise monarch caterpillars in captivity and set a suitable environment for them. However, some people remain confused about how much air they need and what type of enclosures are best to raise them because the fancy habitats do not provide the natural environment.
Do Monarch Caterpillars Need Air? Monarch caterpillars need air to breathe and take oxygen through spiracles and tracheae on both sides of their body, get energy from the food they eat, and allow proper molting and growth. However, they do not need as much air as the adult butterflies because their activities are limited to eating and crawling short distances. They breathe by contracting and relaxing their bodies when they move and exchange air with the surroundings.
Poor conditions in the wild and abrupt changes around their habitats cause these tiny crawling creatures to die before completing the metamorphosis.
However, the experienced person knows how much temperature and air they need to survive and grow into adult butterflies without problems. Therefore, it is better to understand and learn the basic requirements before raising them in captivity.
Why do monarch caterpillars need air?
They need air to breathe and take oxygen in their bodies, like all living organisms, as they cannot survive without oxygen.
However, the air and oxygen needs are not very high, but adequate ventilation is necessary for their survival.
They need oxygen to get energy from the food and remain active to grow. They cannot live longer in an enclosed environment and need air.
Once, my friend told me that you should choose a mesh cage or enclosure for raising the monarch caterpillars because they need air to keep their bodies hydrated as the moisture in the air helps them avoid dehydration because they do not drink water like the adult butterflies.
Moreover, he told me that an adequate amount of air is essential for molting and growth, and they cannot develop their body parts if they do not have access to oxygen. Therefore, they can move from one plant to another.
They take enough oxygen from the air in the wild or grow in their natural habitat. Therefore, it is better to allow proper ventilation to these little butterfly babies in captivity to ensure their healthy growth, as they grow more rapidly in the presence of oxygen.
How long can monarch caterpillars live without air?
The eggs do not need much oxygen to grow and hatch into caterpillars. Therefore, you can keep them in a plastic container with a tight lid without mesh or holes because opening the lid once or twice daily to clean the container allows enough air to circulate.
Moreover, I searched about the oxygen requirements of monarch caterpillars because I bought some monarch eggs to raise them in captivity.
I asked my uncle about this because he has a large collection of butterfly species in his farmhouse and knows many fun facts about them.
He told me that the tiny caterpillars hatching from the eggs can also survive without proper ventilation or a mesh cage because you will open the lid many times a day to clean or feed them, and they can absorb the oxygen in this little time, as they have small developing spiracles in this stage.
However, changing the enclosure with a mesh one is better to allow more air when they grow, which helps them maintain the temperature and humidity inside their habitat.
My uncle also told me that these caterpillars in the third, fourth, and fifth instar stages need more oxygen than the egg and first instar stages; therefore, it is better to allow more ventilation and air inside the cage for healthy development.
Moreover, the time they survive without air and oxygen depends on the environmental condition, growth stage, and the food they metabolize because they also need oxygen to maintain their metabolic rate.
Do monarch caterpillars need more air than adult butterflies?
Monarch caterpillars need less oxygen than adult butterflies because they do not have wings and take flight.
Their energy consumption is less compared to the adult butterflies. Their prime function in the larval stage is to eat, while the adult butterfly needs oxygen as fuel to fly and find nectar or mates.
Moreover, one of my neighbors studied many facts about the differences in each metamorphosis stage and the requirements of these colorful flying creatures in each life cycle phase.
Once, he told me that the adult butterflies grow and enlarge their body sizes, which causes them to need more air and oxygen than the caterpillars.
They remain on their host plant and move around to hide, camouflage, eat, and crawl from one leaf to another. Therefore, their oxygen requirements are less.
In addition, he said the adult species have more functional and vigorous lifestyles and cannot live in an enclosed habitat.
Furthermore, he also explained the difference in the spiracles size of butterflies and their caterpillars. He said the small-sized crawling caterpillars have tiny tracheae and take less air inside than the adult species.
How do monarch caterpillars breathe?
They breathe through the series of spiracles on their body segments, such as monarch caterpillars, which have nine pairs of spiracles.
One pair is on the thorax, and eight are present on the abdomen segments. I have some monarch caterpillars in captivity, and I specially raised them to study their anatomy to add authentic points to my research on these small and colorful crawling insects.
I closely observed their body to see how spiracles are arranged and came to know that they have oval-shaped small holes on both sides of their body and use different techniques to breathe.
They do not have noses and lungs but use these tiny holes to remove air and carbon dioxide. They move their bodies, and the spiracles open and close due to the relaxation and compression of muscles.
They inhale air by contracting their bodies while crawling, and oxygen molecules enter the tracheae, delivering it to all body parts.
The spiracles release carbon dioxide through cellular respiration when they relax their bodies during motion.
The opening and closing of spiracles also reduce the chances of moisture loss from their bodies because they get water from the food they eat.
How much air do monarch caterpillars need in chrysalis?
Monarch caterpillars enter the pupa stage after larval and form chrysalis around their bodies.
They hang themselves from the trees and other places around their habitat through the silk thread. The chrysalis has tiny holes in it, which help it breathe and exchange air and carbon dioxide.
Moreover, my colleague said he studied in a research paper that some parts of the caterpillars remain intact inside the chrysalis, such as the tracheae, gut, and a few parts of the nervous system.
In addition, he said they use these spiracles and tracheae to take air inside, but the oxygen requirements in this stage are less than the larval phase.
The reason behind this is the lack of movement and food intake in this stage, as they do not eat after entering the pupa phase.
However, they need proper light and ventilation to develop and hatch into adult butterflies. They travel several feet away from the host plant in the wild to find a secure place and suitable environment to pupate. They hang on top of the mesh enclosure if you are raising them in captivity.
What happens if monarch caterpillars inhale more air?
They need an adequate amount of oxygen during their larval stage if you are raising monarch caterpillars in captivity.
Excessive air and oxygen can cause problems in their growth, such as if you put the cage in front of an AC or under a high-speed fan.
Furthermore, my cousin told me that the excessive air around their habitat disrupts lipids, protein, and DNA formation.
He also said it can cause abrupt changes in the temperature around their habitats, which leads to problems in the proper growth cycle.
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