# Unusual monarch caterpillar shedding

**URL:** <https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/unusual-monarch-caterpillar-shedding/65232>\
**Category:** Nature Talk\
**Created:** [May 16, 2025, 10:00pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/unusual-monarch-caterpillar-shedding/65232 "2025-05-16T22:00:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![barretoa15](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c68b51/32.png) [@barretoa15](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/barretoa15)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2025, 10:00pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/unusual-monarch-caterpillar-shedding/65232/1 "2025-05-16T22:00:38Z")

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I have been recently raising some monarch caterpillars to butter butterflies for my son’s kindergarten class. We’ve had some issues with parasites from the flies, and then I think we may have had a case of OE, when one of the butterflies that had just hatched was found on the ground, and the wings were all dried in a crunched up fashion. I recently have a smaller inter star caterpillar that seems to be shedding in pieces instead of from the head to the rear. I’m afraid this is another sign of a parasite or something going on.

I also caught the teacher’s daughter handling it so I’m wondering if it’s from over handling?

I can’t seem to find anything that looks like this online.

 ![IMG_8928](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/7/a/7a5adb260a7d8eb00deb59f2af0cc1eb623a5ee4.jpeg)

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**Author:** ![afdexter](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/afdexter/32/51830_2.png) [@afdexter](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/afdexter)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2025, 10:39pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/unusual-monarch-caterpillar-shedding/65232/2 "2025-05-16T22:39:39Z")

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Sorry, what is OE?

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**Author:** ![kuchipatchis](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/kuchipatchis/32/12569_2.png) [@kuchipatchis](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/kuchipatchis)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2025, 12:05am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/unusual-monarch-caterpillar-shedding/65232/3 "2025-05-17T00:05:04Z")

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[https://www.monarchparasites.org/oe](https://www.monarchparasites.org/oe)

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**Author:** ![AdamWargon](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/adamwargon/32/44649_2.png) [@AdamWargon](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/AdamWargon)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2025, 12:42am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/unusual-monarch-caterpillar-shedding/65232/4 "2025-05-17T00:42:39Z")

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![IMG_6061](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/f/9/f96d26c4db5102e3e634ab9a16ce03a621d24964.jpeg)

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**Author:** ![squidtk](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/squidtk/32/7385_2.png) [@squidtk](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/squidtk)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2025, 12:47pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/unusual-monarch-caterpillar-shedding/65232/5 "2025-05-17T12:47:26Z")

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The shedding is weird, but it looks to me like it has a virus anyway. Handling animals always has a risk of giving them a disease, but really it could’ve come from anywhere

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/2X/7/7831452cf7f0d653ff1ffd34176334b7ef1b6a17.png) [@system](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2025, 2:17pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/unusual-monarch-caterpillar-shedding/65232/6 "2025-07-16T14:17:55Z")

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