Nope, no intervention required. What we do NEED is more people like you who care. :O) Great going!!

I know the feeling!

Anyway, every time I steal some milkweed from our beach park, I am finding yet another dang Monarch egg on some leaf!! Of course, I'll raise them all, LOL!

IS THERE A SHRINK IN THE HOUSE?????

nardaf: Would that be "finding" as in "oh what an unexpected surprise". {{gwi:527922}}

Or would that be "FINDING" {{gwi:530807}}, as in pretty much what I did today... {{gwi:529114}}

I know what you mean! I RAN in to the nursery today to get a couple of Parsley and Fennel plants. I figured I'd put them in a small pot so that when the Anise Swallowtails (your version of the Black Swallowtail) are ready to do their thing, I will have a nice little potted plant all ready in my tent. What do I find????!!! Oh my gosh! I left with EIGHT little pots of plants and I don't even KNOW how many babies! I kept finding MORE on the darned things! Of course, I HAD to check the other plants before I left...and rescue them. I knew what would happen if I left them (the last time I shared my 'find' the gal at the nursery threw the sprig in the trash and I had her get it back OUT immediately!).

Sure, I have a lot of food at home but I just might have to go back for more because at this rate, since a mama AST came by and left me some MORE eggs, I may not have enough food...

*head shaking*

I have the same illnes, but I have gotten to the stage that I am no longer bringing in eggs, only cats that appear to be about a week old. I have about 40 monarchs and 40 BST's that I am raising inside and I'm getting tired of searchng for the itty bitty ones on wilted parsley and milkweed so I'm waiting until they are a little bigger before I bring them inside. I also had an escapee this past weekend so in about 2 weeks, I'm going to come home and a beautiful BST will be flying thru my house. That will be a great surprise for me.

Kathy

It's one of the better diseases to have!
Sherry

Definitely a good disease to have.

Hey Kathy, your BST might go into diapause, too, which means you won't have a butterfly in two weeks... tee-hee!

Hey, IF you do find that goofy pupa, let us know. I'm the doofus here known for having the most escapees, I think. At least DH thinks I have the most escapees in the house...

Tdogmom,

You need to train Chelsea to find those escapees! LOL Since Libby became a caterpillar hunter, I've had less escapees get lost 'cause she finds them and points them out to me.

Weed30, as to being sick, I think it's chronic. My diagnosis is that you won't recover anytime soon!

Sandy

I have a ton of milkweed and no babies as of yet. However, last year when I needed some parsley for the BSTs I had left, I went to the organic grocery store and bought a bunch there. It was too late in the season to go buy the live growing plant, so this worked perfectly. You keep whatever you're not using in a closed container in the fridge and it will last.

Which nursery did you go to? (I'm in St. Louis too.) I think I had some eggs (this is my first go at BF Gardening) but I think the ants ate them! :( I'm 99% sure I have Milkweed babies, though... >:(

Talk about sick! (yeah, right)

This morning I went to my classroom to do a bit more 'work' to prep for the beginning of the school year. As I was ready to leave, I thought I'd check my little planter garden outside the back door. OMdoG! I had EIGHT, count 'em, eight 1st and 2nd instar Anise Swallowtail larvae on my Fennel that I'd planted last week!

When it rains, it pours...I had NO ASTs last year at all. Now? I think I've got around 28 or so all munching away in the downstairs 'nursery' at home. I cannot believe it. I also have those eggs that are just turning colour. I told my neighbor that he's in for a fabulous fluttering soon (well, let's hope they eclose THIS year!).

In my defense, I did leave plants with eggs and cats there. At least one of the women there knew what they were, so I knew they wouldn't be moidered ;)

Shannon00: It's called Bowood Farms, and it's off of Olive close to where it intersects with Washington. Really nice, clean, and attractive place. All of their plants look great, especially impressive at this time of year. They are a bit pricey on some things, but I was fine with $2.95 for 4" pots of good looking stock. I have paid that for the little 2" pots in the past. (some of the parsley was a bit leggy, but the rest was ok, and as mentioned, the fennel was *really* nice.)

I am wondering if all of my current chrysalids and eggs/cats will go into diapause. It seems early for them to do that, but I was certain some would eclose last week, and they're still sittin' tight.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bowood Farms

Shannon, I forgot to mention that there will be a butterfly thing there on 8/23. This is from the website:

Saturday, August 23
2:00 - 4:00 pm - Free
St. Louis' own butterfly guru, "Tom Terrific" Krauska, brings his entertaining approach to the topic of butterfly gardening to Bowood Farms, along with a few examples of butterfly larvae and chrysalises from his own garden in Crestwood. He and Bowood staffers also will have handouts on the best plants for attracting butterflies to your own garden. And Tom will take you on a fun, first-person tour  just as he often does in his own yard -- of butterfly plants amassed in the Bowood courtyard.

I took my kids to the beach yesterday and when we went exploring the sand dunes came back with 10 monarch cats and 9 eggs. We can't even take a break at the beach!

You guys are cracking me up! :-)

I wonder if there's such a thing as BRA - Butterfly Rearers Anonymous? :-)

Deanna

Let's change that to LEPRANON -- Lep raises anonymous. Can't leave out the people who raise moths!