I think it depends on you.
You have to be honest with yourself--Am I feeding and cleaning correctly, so that I won't have injured or diseased butterflies
Am I neglectling other things that real are important (hubby, kids,)
and most importantly--
Am I still enjoying this.
I have found that as the years have moved by and I raised more and more, I had to find other things to do with my butterflies other than just release them.
I give to nature centers and do demo's at the local library and come School time, I have many teachers to come see me.
But it really is something you need to decide for you.
Connie's two cents worth

I second Connie's two cents! :)

And also: do you have enough milkweed (or other host plant available)? Probably stating the obvious there but to have to run out and gather host plants is something not everyone has time for... not that plenty of folks don't do it! ;)

Sandy

I always think of CalSherry in her wee morning feedings (2-3:00 a.m.).

I concur with both responses. Sometimes you just gotta let em do their own thing. That said, you'd think I had raised enough Question Marks this year, but everytime I find more, I bring em in anyway. But, I don't have that many at one time like some of the folks on the forum. My numbers stay relatively within reason for me. That's a number you would also have to decide upon.

Susan

I think I know my limitation, and it's pretty much based on space and containers to keep them in. I have MORE than enough milkweed, and my kids love to help, and we do all the work while daddy is at work. I was just curious as to how the pros decide.

BTW I did go check the milkweed she was landing on, only found one egg, so I grabbed it since it was in a very bad spot that is about to get mowed. But I think I'm at my limit.

Ahhh, Susan. Thanks for thinking of me, I think! ;P

You know, besides brushing out the dog (Chelsea now! who I must say is quite the cutie-patootie, but then again, have I ever had a pooch who wasn't a cutie?) and cleaning & feeding butts (tee-hee!) and taking care of hubby and teaching 31 Kindergartners and trying to get as much reading in as possible, you just make do, right? So, the house is a mess (my classroom, however is NOT) but life goes on and we're a happy little group at our house despite the fact that NO one is allowed in our hosue (well, my mom and her husband and my mother-in-law are the exceptions; sorry MDN and Karen!).

Yeah, when is 'enough is enough?' To me? NEVER! I do say, "Sorry, big guy!" once in awhile, though...when I spot a big cat out in the garden. I do allow a few to complete their lifecycle all on their own BUT I tell you, I do worry because then there's that big CHANCE that if he/she mates, I may have some with OE or whatever!!! I also might get that !@#$% Tachinid Fly parasitizing the little guy and THAT drives me absolutely INSANE (okay, glass of wine? Sure...).

For example, this weekend was mother-in-law babysitting weekend (she's got Alzheimer's and we babysit every third weekend). Today I spent the entire day after breakfast out in the backyard and she sat in Bill's Lafuma chair for most of the day, asleep or watching me while resting under the big beach umbrella. I did some sewing and some butterfly watching and some cat collecting (I just couldn't leave those 1st instars out there for the Tachinid Flies to get), and even collecting a few eggs.

A few days ago I'd found a late instar Monarch munching away in hubby's Plumeria garden. There's this one huge Milkweed that has been growing in there (hubby said to leave it, which I have, and I swear, the plant is HUGE). So, 'Plumie,' as I've called this cat, has been hanging out and eating away. Plumie was HUMONGOUS as of yesterday (I thought for sure he'd pupate by Friday, NOT!) and so today I was out looking for him and guess what! He'd found a place to pupate OUTSIDE of the little garden but on a Plumeria after all.

{{gwi:502765}}

I looked up the Environmental Nature Center this morning on the internet because I thought, "hmmm. I have all these eggs I've been collecting (hundreds) and I know they usually only have a few Monarchs, right? Wouldn't they probably want a few?" so I wrote down their number and will call them tomorrow. I sent a whole day's collection up to Pamela in northern California the other day...

So, when is enough enough? I don't rightly know. I think you have to know what YOUR limit is and what you are willing to deal with without killing yourself or going nuts.

Like I said, I do worry about stuff like parasites. Here is something I found today that had me flipping out (which resulted in my collecting the 1st instar cats which I had originally decided to LEAVE outside...ha! Not after THIS find!!)
{{gwi:502767}}

Yeah, this decided it for me! I had to go back and look for ALL the 1st instars and bring them in. Sure, I have them in their OWN container but at least, there's a better chance that they will make it to adulthood (and I'm hoping that a !#$ Tachinid hadn't gotten to them first!).

Do what you can do and stay sane. My husband is used to me and my goofiness. I'm used to his goofiness over his Plumeria so we are a perfectly matched pair. :)

And I have little munchie marks on a lot of my milkweed, but I despair of having enough monarchs to eat it all...

Wanna send me some bigger ones, CalSherry? :) I'm sooo greedy for them!

Yea, I'm like tdogmom. I was going to stop bringing in eggs and cats because I had so many, but then I witnessed the homicide of a little 1st instar by a wasp and now bring in everything. I took a whole bunch of cats to our local zoo which keeps a butterfly house. They were delited to have them. I think I'm going to give them more too.

hello
I just started realy raising cats this year, and I have been back to the nursery several times. I just started collecting BST cats, and when they were small it was fine I have just had 3 more pupate (thats 9 to pupeta in 4 days) and I still have 3 more fatties ready to go, with so many "big ones" it was a bit hard to feed.
now I have 6 2nd instare(I think) and the "fatties" have striped the fennel, and the parsley is looking a little bare too.
and on top of it all, 11 BST eggs just hatched on sunday.
thinking back, I should have started a whole flate of parsley and fennel. not knowing what was in store I only started 2 parsley and 4 fennel. that was gone a long time ago.
but next year I will be ready.
I have only found 5 monarchs, so food has not been a problem for them. (I need to go down to the river to get some fresh milkweed today)
so all in all about 20 cats is about my limit, but once they pupate I'll be out looking for more :)
michelle

I stopped collecting out of my "weed patch" because I'm pretty sure that the virus that got some of my 1st batch came from in there, or maybe it wasn't a virus, maybe they were getting sick from the orchard sprays... Anyways, I decided to only collect eggs/cats out of the main yard, before mowing. Same w/ the milkweed to feed them. It gets cut down once a week, so has less dangers to wash off. I never thought of looking for nature places to donate extras. That's a really good idea. Since they like to lay so many eggs in my yard, I can't keep them all, and really don't want to mow them down.

Sherry, oh boy can I relate! My house suffers terribly during the summer (....and if I'm honest, during the winter, too, I'm just NOT a housekeeper). But, especially in the summer, my energy level is sufficient to raise butterflies and moths and do all that is necessary for their survival. However, that means I don't have time to do much else after my arthritis kicks in and says ABSOLUTELY NO MORE!

I've raised quite a diverse group this year, and for that, I am truly thankful.

Susan

Susan,

We don't even want to talk about the Arthritis right now! Mine has been acting up like mad...we've had this nasty morning fog thing going on and the dampness has about killed me. I hurt my back earlier this year (I'm considered partially disabled to begin with and I've had arthritis anyway) and then all this !@#@$% testing they added in addition to the regular testing for our Kindergartners took a toll on me. I mean, 31 kids is bad enough (no aide) then I had three who were selective mutes so to get them to talk was like pulling teeth (and I have to orally test each child, you know...Kindergartners can't take a test like older kids can...you have to test them each individually! I also have 23 English learners which means I had to give two additional ELD tests to them on top of the other tests...). All the bending over to hear the kids' responses just did me in.

I am just thankful that summer is here. Housework? Ha! Baaah. Not important. Our TV went out two? three? weeks ago. We dragged out my little 19" the other day. A bit of cleaning here and there but not much. Gardening is WAY more fun and relaxing. Here it is, 11:35 a.m., and I'm still in my jammies! :P But, the butts have all been cleaned and fed as has the dog. No rush on anything else now. Just a phone call to find out if that nature center wants some caterpillars...

Being a Johnny Appleseed for Milkweed Seeds is fun but being a Johnny Appleseed for Caterpillars is even MORE fun. Wish me luck on seeing if they want the 'pits!

BTW: I LOVE my job with the little Kindergartners. Don't get me wrong. It's the blasted extra testing that I can't stand. I only have three hours a day with the little ones and I think I figured it costs me six weeks' worth of instruction to get all the testing done. THAT'S what I am griping about. :( And for what purpose is all the testing? Someone just want data that is basically useless...

I know this posting is getting lengthy but I have to add my neophyte experience.
I have spent alot of my summer putting together a milkweed patch. Here in Arizona,this is no small feat. Thank you tdogmom for all the advice - it helped alot! As soon as I put in the milkweed, I would find cats. I ended up with 16 cats. My first eclosing ended up with only two legs. I watched him die over a week. I didn't have to heart to kill him, wish I wastoughter! I'm afraid in my enthusiasm to let him go,I folded him back on his chrysalis. It broke my heart. My second eclosing looked like some kind of horror show as the butterfly struggled to get out of the chrysalis over a period of 6 hours and never did.
I knew I needed a break. I decided to finish my milkweed patch but not bring anymore cats inside. Fortunately, I haven't found anymore. I need a break. Raising these precious creatures is not for the weak hearted.
In the meantime, I still have 11 more chrysalis about to eclose. I have a better attitude from perusing the forums on monarch watch and reading others experiences and reactions to raising monarchs. Reading about tdogmoms experience at the nature center and other's with wounded butterflies and caterpillars gives me courage to maybe try again after my heart mends.

bbrenner,
Sounds to me like your Monarchs had a serious case of OE. Bummer.

"When to say 'nuff"?

You should see my backyard and garage.

If Only I could retire.....:)

Last year was my first year for raising butterflies. I started with monarchs and also raised BSTs later on in the summer. With the monarchs, I was spending hours a day cleaning the cages and getting leaves and cleaning them. It got to be a chore and not something enjoyable. And the more eggs and larva I had, the more I would have to go out and get fresh leaves. I was at the point where I tried to find leaves without any eggs because I just had too many caterpillars to take care of but somehow when I got back home and examined the milkweed, I would always find some eggs I hadnt noticed and since they didnt have a chance of surviving without me raising them since I had already removed the leaf, I would then have more caterpillars to take care of. The BSTs on the other hand are very easy to raise. You just throw a plant in with them and they pupate and all is well. I do have to say, the monarchs are much more rewarding to see eclose, perhaps that is because of all the work involved.

To answer your question, as eagerly as I waited for eggs this year, I am going to limit how many I raise. I had five 2 day old caterpillars and went out today to look for some fresh leaves and some more eggs. I found two baby caterpillars and six eggs. I decided that was enough and didnt look at the other milkweed patches. I think 'enough' is when it isnt fun anymore and is a chore. But that is just me, others like Tdogmom manage to raise dozens if not hundreds at one time and can handle it. I cant.

You guys are fanatics! But so am I :) Have tried to cut back but am hopelessly addicted.

Just can't resist "one more cat," especially if I've got plenty of food and a place to raise it.Of course DW says I have way too many,and has threatened to kick me and my "bugs" out of the house :( But I have compromised and keep most of them outside now,either in cages on the porch or in larval sleeves on the plants.
Dan

Well, I am really hopeless. I not only brought in another batch of QMs, but have been bringing in BST eggs and cats on virtually a daily basis.

The PVS cats are getting bigger and bigger. They are not consuming as much food as I was prepared for them to do, though. They do eat a lot, but it seems I have plenty of various pipevine species to go around, and they didn't mind changing from the serpentaria to the tomentosa.

The tomentosa has grown much faster than the macrophylla for some reason. Of course, the macrophylla was planted in the ground late last summer-early fall. The tomentosa is growing in pots and has really taken off. I've had to make little trellises with my bamboo stakes and they are at the top now, so I'm gonna have to figure out something else. Bigger stakes or putting them in the ground.

Susan