I ran out of milkweed and cannot get any more. What should I do?

Monarchs are obligate feeders of milkweed, so milkweed plants are their host and they depend on them as their sole food source when they are larvae. If you plan on raising monarchs, it is very important to ensure that you will have enough milkweed for them before you rear them out. If you are not sure if you have enough milkweed, do not raise them. As a last resort, monarchs have been observed eating squash like pumpkin or butternut (organic) in their later instars as a temporary food source until more milkweed has been obtained. This is not a sustainable food source for them. If they are in their last instar, this could be enough to get them to the pupation stage, but squash lacks some properties of milkweed that the larva need. Milkweed produces cardiac glycosides, which the larva is able to sequester as they consume the plant and utilize it for their benefit. This compound protects monarchs by making them toxic and distasteful to predators.