Another photo of an egg...up close and personal :o) The caterpillars hatched on 032707. I counted ten refugiums (leaf nests) today. Still have another six or so eggs to go. I had to take a quick peek yesterday...so I peeled back the leaf flap. The little guy quickly pulled the leaf back over itself and resealed it with silk!!! This bugger has the face on a mother could love!!! Someone said they were cute...in a turd-like way. Guess I can't say it any better than that. Have a look for yourself. First instar cats Am going to give them another day or so before I take another peek. ~ Cat

Penny, I have mine inside also but I turn the heat on in the mornings to get these old bones and joints functioning as well as possible. I will let you know if mine hatch soon. The nights down here are still cold - low 40's. At least that is cold for me now. I don't know how I survived once survived New England and Indiana winters when I was young. Murray

Very odd things happening with my houses this year. I had bluebirds in one house that laid 5 eggs. For the most part I try to stay away so they don't get spooked. In this case the next time I checked there was one fledgling that I saw but he didn't seem ready to fly away yet. But when I checked 2 days later there were no babies or eggs. The nest was empty. This box was protected with the mesh on the opening. I'm hoping time just flew by and the brood hatched and fledged in my absence! Will the parents start a new brood in the same nest or should I clean the box out for them to start over? I had another box that had activity, 5 eggs layed and a week later no eggs or babies. I fear they were killed since it was an old house from last year and it did not have the protective metal mesh at the opening. I have a nest nearby with the mesh protection. I kept checking and there was no activity or eggs. Then suddenly there was one egg!! I assumed the mom would lay more. I checked for 2 days, still only one egg. The third day the egg hatched with a tiny bald with a little fuzz baby bird. I kept watching from a distance and I did not see the male or female going into the house. I skipped looking inside the box today. I wanted to stay totally away. Tomorrow I will check again. I hope the little guy is okay.... Is it unusual for a female to lay only one egg? I'm thinking that perhaps the pair that were in the other box moved to this box when a predator got their other eggs..... Thus only one last egg to lay??? The box with the one egg is about 20 feet from the empty box. Perhaps this is part of that brood? Can the mom or dad move an egg or did she just lay it in a different box?? I have another box about 100 feet from that one protected with the mesh that some sparrows have taken over. They have built a nest and hang out in front of it on the mesh opening and on top of it but no eggs for well over a month. Perhaps they are the culprits that got the 5 bluebird eggs. Very strange that they built a nest and aren't using it. I know they will build several, one as a decoy or to give the female a choice, but I don't see that they've done that unless they are planning to take over the bluebird box. I will be keeping a watch on that....

Rhonda, I don't always have a constant supply of host plants. I don't have any naturally occurring host plants for giant swallowtails, but I've planted Ptelea trifoliata, their favorite, which giant swallowtail caterpillars ate a few months ago - there are only a few leaves left, and the plants are just beginning to make new growth. I have a little rue for them, but not enough to support many cats. I plan on moving a little bitty P. trifoliata in my shady woods to my garden where I can plant it in a raised bed under better conditions. I also didn't have any natural pipevines, but there must be some fairly close by, because pipevine swallowtails show up here regularly. About two ?months or so ago a beautiful male nectared in my garden, and it was obvious that he had just emerged, being TOTALLY unfaded and untattered. I've planted woolly pipevines in my garden, and it does well, even spreads. Maypops/Passiflora incarnata grows roadside here, it's not hard to find, but I didn't have any on my wooded property, so I planted some in my garden, and it thrives, too. Many host plants grow naturally on my property - wild black cherry, tulip tree, sassafras, the doomed redbay, sweetbay magnolia, and others, but there are many others that I've planted for the butterflies - nearly all of them grow locally somewhere, I often take cuttings or seeds from locals, like false nettles, mock bishop weed, etc. Last year, the milkweed I had in my garden wasn't enough to feed the many monarch caterpillars on them, so I made trips to the local stands of A. lanceolata to finish feeding them. I also ordered and planted some milkweed vines, and I'll be getting some native American milkweeds, some that grow locally, some that don't, to add to my garden - I'm making some changes there. Once you retire and can devote more time to butterflying, you'll probably want to raise some caterpillars. Gulf frits are a good start - they're SO easy to raise! Sherry