Last year, I got my initial start on Monarchs from Linda, who lives reasonably close to me. Some people on the forum have traded or sent their cats to others, especially if they did not have enough food for them.

As long as you have enough host plant food for them, I don't think it would be a problem. Maybe someone else lives in your area - OR - you can check with your nurseries to see if they have any cats they would let you take. A lot of them will. Especially if there is a nursery you frequent. Just ask them - they'd probably be willing to give them up for the sake of their plants!

Susan

Susan, That's great that you could get some Monarchs from Linda. I guess maybe I just happened to get lucky and got them my first year. That was the only kind that I got, but I was happy. I still got to see various types of butterflies. I suppose the cats were on trees in the woods that's beside us.

I wouldn't offer to take any cats from someone if I weren't loaded down with food for them. I'm probably going overboard this year, but I guess I could be doing a lot worse things. :) Ya know, you just gave me an idea! I'm going to ask the nursery if they ever find any cats on the plants. Being that they're in the business of selling plants and not wanting them to look ugly, I'm sure, I kind of suspect that they would kill any cats that they find. Do you think most nurseries would kill them? After all, people aren't into butterflies like we are. If only I could get them to give me a call to rescue any cats that they find. Of course, I guess that would mean that I'd have to buy the plants that they're on if I wouldn't have them here. I'd just hope that I'd already have their host plants here at my place. That's a really good idea that you have about checking with the nurseries. I think I will do that! Yes, there's a nursery around here where I had been going in so much that the one girl recognized me after a few times. I'm sure she wouldn't mind giving some cats to me if she finds any. I don't know how many host plants they sell. I don't think too many, but then again, I'm not down there every week either and maybe some come and go without me seeing them. Last year I bought 6 Swamp Milkweed plants from them and didn't find a single cat on them. It's not that I needed anymore; I was buying the plants to make sure I'd have enough food for my caterpillars here. I think I have caterpillars on the brain because it seems like all I think about lately is butterflies and caterpillars and nectar and host plants for them.

I don't know a definite answer to your question, but I do have some concerns that you might consider. There are so many examples of foreign species being introduce to new areas and causing all kinds of problems--plant species as well as insects and marine and mammalian species. I don't think butterflies themselves would cause problems, but I worry about any disease they might carry and how that might effect the other butterflies they run into. Different populations within one species will adapt to better survive in their local habitat. So, butterflies in one area might be immune to a certain virus or mite, and live with it quite happily. But if you take a butterfly who carries that disease into a location that has never been exposed to it or developed a resistance to it, you could wipe out an entire population of butterflies (or some other plant or animal. I don't like to sound all gloom and doom, but there are very strict rules in some states about transfering any live/organic material across state lines, and even across county lines in some cases. I would encourage you to enjoy the butterflies you are able to attract rather than sending them where they might not belong. We just can't predict when there might be a problem. Thanks for any consideration.
Martha

Yes, that certainly is something to consider. I just figured that it would be okay as long as they indigenous to the particular state and that the state regulations allow it. What you say could be true. I guess it's just hard to tell.
Cathy

I go to Home depot and look for cats on parsley (BST) and butterfly weed (monarch) then I move them onto one plant, buy it and go home. they are happy to get rid of the cats because they defoliate the plants. I don't think HD sprays the herb plants because they sell so quickly (or die of thirst).
an independent nursery near me sprays to kill the cats on their ornamental plants, same reason. I'm sure yours wouldn't mind you "grooming" and removing cats from their plants if you bought a plant or two but it would be an overwhelming job.

It is illegal to send caterpillars, eggs, and butterflies across state lines without the proper permits.

I've only swapped with local butterfly gardeners. I've also bought plants with eggs/cats on them. I'm going to try something new this year and buy some eggs for some butterflies that do sometimes migrate to our area, but not usually until late in the season. I got the recommendation from other forum members who have bought from them. The eggs/cats are reasonably priced and they have some host plants, but the shipping is expensive.

Here is a link that might be useful: Shady Oak Butterfly Farm

Cathy, I have ordered cats from Shady Oak Butterfly Farm
and 100% of them emerged as healthy butterflies, good
luck and enjoy.

Cathy, I have traded cats with others from my butterfly group within the state of CT.

Last year a young schoolteacher gave me 4 Painted lady cats and I gave her three Bst chrsalises and some cecropia cats. But we only live about 25 miles from each other.

I also transplanted some Baltimore cats from the wild to my plantain. But they occur regularly not to far fom me.

Common sense dictates. As much as I would dearly love to see a GST, I would not import a cat from someone, unless I had seen an adult flying freely here.

We have a colony of PVS about 25 miles from here, but I wouldn't attempt a transfer unless I had a huge host plant ready to be used.

In the fall, I get a few migrant Cloudless Sulphurs, they use partridge pea as a host here, but importing cats or chrysalises in May would disrupt their life cycle here.
Trying to raise eggs that I've found in Sept, would probably not affect their life cycle so much. In fact, the eggs that i collected last Sept of a CS laying on Partridge Pea, did not hatch, even though I saw a male also in the vicinity, I was sure she'd been fertilized, but the eggs didn't hatch.

To sum it up, if they occur naturally in your area, there is probably not much harm in trying to bump up their numbers by importing a few cats or chrysalises from nearby.

Naplesgardener, I guess I could try to save some from a nursery's plants, but there would have to be a limit to it. I couldn't be down there buying a plant or two every week, and I guess that's what you meant by saying it would be an overwhelming job.

tdogmom, Thanks, I wasn't sure. I wouldn't want to break the law.

Dena, Thanks for the link. That's something to consider. I'm just curious for this year if ones that I want will manage to find me on their own. If not, then that's worth looking into for next year, getting them from Shady Oak.

Myrna, Woo hoo, that makes a couple testimonials for Shady Oaks, so I'm sure they're good and I'll save their website in my favorites.

Mary Ann, You're right and I guess I shouldn't mess with Mother Nature by trying to get some here that I haven't seen at all. Of course, I guess I'm messing with it anyway by bringing Monarch cats in in the summer. I'd love it if there were some BC cats somewhere in this area. After I get my Chelone Glabra planted and it grows big enough (next year), I think I'll go around the area to see if I can find any of those cats.

What you said does make sense. I just hope that I can find some of these kinds of cats locally that I would like to have here. Thanks for your input.

Cathy

I've bought from Shady Oak with good success....and am this year going to try to establish good poppulations of ZSAT's...we are at the northern edge of their range, and many native clusters have been wiped out by developement....fortunately, GF's are much more common, but I'm going to intropduce them ealier this year...and I have rescued some native PV from constructions sites which I am relocating to my backyard.....

I'm also going to get some RA's from them!

Cathy, the nursery might be willing to just give you the cats without purchasing a plant. I'm sure they have large numbers on their plants.

The nursery I went to for the Rue plants, said they had tons of black swallowtails earlier in the year on their parsley plants. She said some people wanted the plants and the cats or just wanted the cats. These little herb plants are very inexpensive at nurseries, usually running about $2 a plant in a 3-4" pot. If you already have parsley at home, you won't need to buy but a couple, and move as many cats as you can to the plants you purchase. When you get home, you can put them on your other plants.

Susan

Paul, Thanks for the info, and I think that what you're doing is great. Anyone who rescues cats and gives them a home is more than okay in my book! :)

Susan, I guess I just might have to make a trip to the nursery sometime (of course it's too cold here yet for them to have plants out already) and see what treasures I can find on their plants. I don't mind buying a few parsley plants because I think they're only a couple dollars. Ha, I can just picture me walking out with 2 plants and 1000 cats on them! ;-) You know I'll have the plants for them, that's for sure, so if I find any cats anywhere, they're coming home with me. I'd love to give them a home here and any other cat that I have food for. I'd love to have at least a dozen different cats here at our place, but some will just have to wait until the plants get bigger. I wonder if a butterfly instinctly knows if there's enough food or not? For instance, say I'd plant a Paw Paw tree from a seed and it would only get to be 6 or 12 inches (not very big the first year. I would assume that that wouldn't be enough to even feed one ZST cat. I know that but does the butterfly know that?! I'd be frantic if I would get cats and not have enough here to feed them. I couldn't just let them die! Someone here mention that it's illegal to sent butterflies across state lines without a permit. So does mean that if I couldn't find a butterfly lover in my area who has Paw Paw trees and is willing to take the cats, I'd have to let them die?! Nobody in my area sells Paw Paw trees.

Yeah - I'd wait until you start seeing black swallowtails before you head to the nursery to find them.

Susan