Randy, that's a good many monarchs. No one around here (that I know) has found eggs on the milkweed in the pastures. Are you seeing any other butterflies? I'm wondering if the rains caused us to lose a generation. Last night several of the released Monarchs roosted in the Willow Oak by the butterfly garden. I'm hoping for some hanky panky today. I have 9 more ready to release. I've been taking them out and putting them on the milkweed when I release them. When I'm finished, I will have released over 60. Momma Monarch left me about 150 eggs over the course of a week of egg laying. I gave away quite a few eggs and caterpillars. I gave away chrysalides at the mkt yesterday. I found that if you tape the chrysalis to the inside of a paper bag, the kids can take them home. They can check on the chrysalis and when it ecloses it will come out great. I raised 42 in paper bags and the rest in a container so people could see them. Three eclosed yesterday at market, and you should have seen the people crowding around watching them! It's also good for selling milkweed plants. LOL Sandy

What can I expect if my guys pupated too soon? What kinds of problems will happen? I ask that, because I am wondering why these two fellows seem to be frozen in ready-to-eclose mode. I am assuming they are dead. I am just wondering if this might have been caused by early pupation. I had a mass pupation approx 12 days ago. It was spooky - everyone went at the same time, like a zombie movie. They all had lots of food available at the time they pupated. But they were not the size I would expect for a mature caterpillar to pupate. I have two guys that are just hanging there. We are still in the 10-14 day range. In the past when I have had successful ecloses, they go transparent and the monarch emerges 1-2 days later. These guys turned transparent maybe 4 days ago. I can see the monarch inside. There is absolutely no odor. I thought the Black Death made them smelly. One, however, has a very dry chrysalis. No black dots. Both of them are in isolation. I will give them another day or so, because anecdotally, folks here have said sometimes they will take their time, especially if the weather has been weird. (It has been weird, but they've been inside....) I was just wondering that their apparent demise was the result of their early pupation, rather than a pathology like OE or the Black Death. Regardless of the reason, I am planning to perform the vigorous sterilization that you have recommended.

Susan, I have yet to find out how fast Monarchs pupate compared to others because that's the only kind of cat I've had so far. :( I have pretty much parsley and rue for them and some fennel and two zizias; I didn't have much luck with the seeds that I winter sowed for them. I saw a male BST butterfly here at the zinnias one day a week or so ago but that was it. You say they take their sweet time pupating; I think they also take their sweet time finding my place. Ha. I think I'd really rather wait a few years to see if various types of butterflies show up here on their own than buy them. I don't know, but I just think that I would get more excitement out of it knowing that they found my place on their own. I'm not criticizing anyone who does buy them, but I just think that finding them on my own works better for me (also less expensive). :) Well, I guess I have a long ways to go before I get to the point of having as many as CalSherry, but I guess you never know. I just hope that I can keep my sanity in the process. Ha. I really wouldn't mind raising a thousand if I knew I could handle it and everything else. I don't know if I still found the best way of doing all this. It seems like no matter how I keep the Monarch cats and the plants, a LOT of work in involved, but I really enjoy having them around. I love watching all of the other butterflies too. Yes, with all of those different kinds that you have to raise, maybe it's good that the Monarchs haven't shown up yet. That would really take up all of your waking hours to have all of them at once, but maybe they'll all be there at the same time anyway, huh? I don't know if the other kinds are done laying eggs at your place or not. It sounds like you have a regular production line going there. ;-) One of these days I'll get around to posting pics of my garden. It's not really at its peak right now and besides, I have a lot of things sitting around in the yard right now because I'm still working on it (wouldn't make for very good pics). My pussytoes are doing great! I planted them where we cut down a plum tree and had the stump and roots ground up. It made for a decent-sized area for them (about a 6-ft diameter circle). I didn't know if I put them in the garden with the other plants if they'd try to take over since I read a description of them "forms a thick mat" etc. and I thought just in case, I'll put these where they won't grow into the other plants, just the lawn, so they have their own special place. :) My pipevines are growing nicely, way above my head now, but after reading on here how much the PVS's eat, I'm wondering if they could just feed one or two PVS's. For their sake, I hope they don't show up this year because I want to have enough leaves to feed the cats. I don't even know if where I put them was a good idea or not. We have a cut-off "stump" that we had cut about 20 years ago and we used to have our clothesline attached to it. It's been sitting there just waiting for something, so I thought I'd put the A. macrophylla there; however, I'm not sure that there's enough space for the vines to go just wanting up an 8-ft high little trellis. I hate to move them though now that they got a good start, and besides, I don't know where I'd move them to if they like sun. I'm not sure how you start new ones from these (of course, I wouldn't do digging around them now yet), but I could someday put one (or two?) on a small wire archway that I bought at a craft store yesterday that's going out of business. I'm not sure where I'd put it yet, but that's a project for sometime in the future. I always have projects lined up. When I came home with this archway, hubby had that "What is it this time?" look on his face. Ha. I'll hope that you get the Monarchs but not that you go bonkers taking care of everyone. :) MissSherry, So you never get them in the spring then? Until I read you saying that before, I was always under the assumption that people living in the south would get them before places further north, just like when birds migrate. I've been trying to get purple martins for 19 years, and I know that they start showing up in Florida first and then Texas and those are the first places to have them nesting. I guess that doesn't necessarily hold true for butterflies? Or is it just Monarchs? Or just certain places in the south? Cathy

If it is raining hard, I place them under cover: the underside of a hanging basket or under the passionvines, anywhere they won't get directly wet. A covered veranda is a good choice, they can leave when they feel ready. Mechelle