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Butterfly Garden

I actually found 10 Monarch eggs today

16 years ago

I found a place on the side of the road near my house that had fresh growing Milkweed so I thought I'd help myself to some-I still have quite a few Monarchs to feed.

Now in the past two weeks I haven't found any Monarch eggs at all-I thought they were done but today I found about 10! I guess it isn't over yet~wow!

I also found about five Spicebush eggs that hatched and are growing nicely. I will more than likely have them until next year i'm guessing..

The nice thing is that from me cutting the Sassafras for the ones I raised over the summer the trees have all new growth. So these guys are getting fresh leaves, and they do love them!

Tomorrow I'm going to post some pictures of the cats I have now..(the kids keep taking Mom's camera batteries and then when Mom wants to use the camera, it's dead.)

Aggie

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Comments (5)

tdogmom
16 years ago
Hooray!

I swear, I keep finding eggs and because I have come home late, I stopped looking. Hubby did say he saw TWO pairs of mating Monarchs. He also saw a pair of GSTs (I did find four eggs of theirs). Oh boy!
butterflymomok
16 years ago
Aggie,

It's exciting to find Monarch eggs! Keeping the cats in food keeps you busy, huh?

Have your SBs taken a while to pupate? It seems like I've been feeding mine forever. The Spicebush looks rather bare and forlorn. But, I have noticed new buds on it.

OKSandy
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Cghpnd, I'm so sorry you're having bad luck. Did they seem OK when you found them? Are there more cats still living? If so, make sure you separate the eggs from them. You probably want to have multiple containers that you can move the cats and eggs to as they grow, and clean the alternate containers with bleach each time you switch them out. There are nasty diseases that Monarchs can carry and pass on to one another. Some people who raise Monarchs insist that each cat should be kept in an individual container. It certainly makes sense to keep small groups separate, so if one container is infected, at least the other groups have a chance to avoid infection. And wash hands and milkweed carefully. Again, some people soak their milkweed in a weak bleach solution and then rinse it thoroughly before giving it to their cats, in case sick cats have crawled over the leaves before they collected them. Sorry to be a bit of a wet blanket, but there is obviously something seriously wrong, and I want the rest of your experience to be positive. Martha
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Thanks - I am in St. Louis. It stays warm here through September, and sometimes into October. Another question - how many leaves will the average cat eat throughout his life? I am now up to 7 cats and 4 eggs, and only have 3 plants. They are about 4' tall with two "stems" each.
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fighting8r, Yes, the Giant Swallowtails definitely are wonderful and so enjoyable to raise. Congratulations on your first eclosure in awhile! Mary, Some might come out this year yet, but I suspect that most of mine will overwinter. I honestly don't know if it would matter or not if you keep them inside or outside, but I keep mine outside from about this time of the year until they come out next year for the reason that you mentioned, so they sense the changing temps and don't come out too early when they shouldn't. Maybe they'd be okay this year yet, but I'd really rather that they wait until next year to eclose if possible. I'd probably raise those two tiny ones inside though until they pupate and then also put them outside. If they're inside in the warm, I think that speeds their growing process...unless you really want them to join you for Christmas. ;-) Cathy
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I'm already past my normal ending time for monarch rearing. I found 6 eggs last week, and they all hatched. At this rate, I'll be releasing in early October, much later for me than usual. I believe my last release was mid September last year, probably about todays date. We normally frost here in mid October, but last year it was a much warmer than normal October. I'm still looking for eggs too, but haven't found any. Normally when they eclose, they don't feed for up to 24 hours anyway, and they can fly hundreds of miles in a day, so if you do end up releasing some very late, they might just be able to make it to a nectar source.
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aggscott
Original Author
16 years ago
OKSandy the Spicebush do take a while, I wonder why? I have had Spicebush cats from the beginning of June! Not the same ones but, a continuing stream of them..I just found three more in the past two days. They will over-winter I bet..
I went on a hike yesterday and finally found Spicebush-all the time I have found the cats on Sassafrass. What a great smell! I knew it was SB the moment I broke the leaf-I put it in the cage with the ones I had and they are eating it up..

I will miss all my little cats when the season ends..I was so happy to find those eggs-that means I'll have cats for just a few more weeks.

Aggie
earthworm
16 years ago
Four monarchs today dining on the flowering sedum along with bees,flies,wasps, and a gorgeous yellow swallowtail butterfly..
I believe they will be headed south for the winter. The orange/black and white monarchs seem to be more aggressive than the lone yellow swallow tail....
caterwallin
16 years ago
Aggie, Congrats on finding the Monarch eggs. I haven't found any for awhile now, so I suspect that they're done for the year at my place. I do have a few BST cats now to raise though for the first time. I hope I know what I'm doing. I'm just going to do what I have done with the Monarch cats except of course feed them rue instead of milkweed. :)
Cathy

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?what to do with this little guy?

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