What food does a monarch caterpillar eat?

Monarch caterpillars eat milkweed. Swan Plants are a variety if milkweed. Dogbane and giant milkweed are two other varieties. The family name is Asclepias.

It is true that monarch caterpillars will eat pumpkin although they need some milkweed. Only the larger caterpillars can eat pumpkin though. The caterpillars will not eat any other leaf no matter how hungry. They will rather starve to death than eat a different leaf.

The reason I know all this is that I have raised over 15 caterpillars and I have watched every stage of their life from hatching to making a chrysalis to be coming a butterfly.

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Monarch Caterplillars mainly eat Swan Plants but large ones can survive on pieces of pumpkin.

The above answer is totally FALSE! Monarch caterpillars (cats) eat the Mlkweed plant. The mother lays her eggs directly on the Milkweed, on the underside of the leaf. The cats then eat the leaves. If they eat the leaves of any other plant they will sicken & die.

I can tell you from years of gardening & lots of research that went onto my butterfly garden, that cats do not eat pumkin or the leaves of any other plant other than Milkweed. I would never think of feeding them pumpkin & I have never heard of a Swan Plant. The Latin name for Milkweed is Asclepias, & there are many different kinds of Asclepias. I have pics of Mpmanrch caterpillars on my facebook page, Flowers in Bloom, follow the link:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Flowers-in-Bloom/187266108057173?ref=hl

Monarch caterpillars DO NOT EAT PUMPKIN!! Monarch cats eat Milkweed. If you feed them pumkin, or anything else other than Milkweed, they will sicken & die!!

There is NO truth to what the above poster wrote, "that larger cats eat pumkin but need some Milkweed." That is an untrue, false & ignorant statement to make.

Monarch cats eat Milkweed & only Milkweed. The mother lays the eggs on the Milkweed, & they eat the Milkweed leaves. Not Pumkin or anything else!

Stop coming on here making riduculous ignorant comments that have no basis in fact!!