"Funny Sherry I was wondering the same thing about inbreeding, never have seen any mention of it when reading about captive breeding." When I showed up here almost 7 years ago, I took some people to task about the way they were releasing large numbers of inbred giant silk moths. That went over like a lead weight so I have pretty much kept my mouth shut since then. Ladobe criticized one of our members about it last year but no one followed up on it. The quote was "Besides weakening the gene pool, forced inbreeding produces low egg viability, high malformation risk and so therefore high mortality. Not a good practice." One consequence of moth inbreeding helped cause a shift in USDA policy last month. The USDA no longer regulates interstate shipments of Bombyx mori. Those moths are so inbred they can no longer survive in the wild. I raise relatively large numbers (up to 400 of one type) of Saturniidae every year. I go to great lengths to try to make sure the wild males that my girls mate with are not the brothers or the male first cousins that I released. I also try to make sure my released males and females do not mate with each other. I do this by doing releases at least 10 miles (usually more) from my house and releasing the females and males at least 10 miles (usually more) away from each other. I used to mark my males to make sure they were not finding their way home but quit being that paranoid after years of never getting one back. I release at least 10 miles away because 7 miles seems to be the generally accepted maximum distance that a male Saturniidae can follow a female's pheromones. That said, I have seen a claim that male giant silk moths can follow female pheromones for "nearly 30" miles. YMMV I preface my next statement by saying I have no clue how this guy operates. There is a guy in Ohio that raises 3k-4k cecropias each year. I read that he has been raising them since '86. Something wiped out his cats in 2008 and he had to start over in 2009. I'm real curious if inbreeding affected his setup and I'd like to know what happens to all the moths he doesn't sell (IOW, do they get let go). As for inbreeding butterflies and affecting the gene pool, there is a lot of info/controversy on the net about it because of people raising butterflies for mass release at weddings. One related article I have posted before is linked at the end of this post. Last thought: I know of one inbred butterfly that has been studied a lot: monarchs on Hawaii. I believe around 20% of them are white now. My guess is they do alright because the favorable weather conditions don't put a lot of stress on them. They would probably have trouble with migrating to Mexico and surviving the winters there. Anyway, there is a lot of research out there about them. KC Here is a link that might be useful: All Aflutter

Mary, what type of PawPaws did you get? There are something like 8 different species. I think the ones that grow best where you live are the triloba. I believe that is what Sherry is referring to. These really become trees. About ten years ago I purchased some of them and they have grown quite well on my property. The problem is that they haven't attracted any Zebra Swallowtails. It seems that these butterflies prefer different PawPaws in different areas. I have planted three or four different species of PawPaws since then, but they grow very slowly and have never attracted a Zebra. I've pretty much given up on PawPaws. I do see the Zebra Longwings when I walk or ride my bike in a nearby park. There are many native PawPaws there.

Awww sweet! I'll have to try that next time the spicebush swallowtails invade my parsley patch. Bird have no manners!

Wow, Angie, I'm impressed! I'd say you're one of the few people on here who have gotten to raise Zebra Swallowtails. My trees here have probably finally gotten about as tall as I am and I have yet to see a ZST here at all, but maybe someday. One of the butterfly guys on the BAMONA website had told me one time that there are usually lots of ZSTs that puddle along the river several counties away from here, so you just never know. Even if I never get them, Amber and I get to raise lots of other kinds, so that's nice. So far this year all we've had lay eggs were some American Ladies and a few Black Swallowtails. Oh, and we did just see some Giant Swallowtail eggs on the gas plants, but I'm holding off on bringing them in because I don't have luck with the cats when they're tiny. I used to have 14 rue plants but took it all out but two plants because we're so allergic to it. I didn't have luck with my TMW coming up this year for some reason, so I had to buy some from a butterfly farmer, so thank goodness he had some. The few I have are only an inch tall, which is pitiful for this time of the year. Of course, I'm also into birds, and that's fun too, but we've had to take all of our feeders down because we've had a bear coming around here a couple times a week. It dragged three of our feeders off and totally destroyed the one. One might be fixable if I can figure out how to put it back together. One had lots of holes in the metal but I think it might still be usable. I've been making sure I'm inside before dark because I don't want to run into it. Other people in the neighborhood have seen it and they say it was born last year. It also took down someone else's feeders. I just hope that it doesn't wreck the metal pole feeder setup we bought last year. It was just here Friday night and has mud smeared all over the pole from trying to reach up and get at the bird seed that isn't there anymore, just the baffles because we didn't feel like taking those down too. I'm kind of long-winded because I haven't been getting on here much for various reasons, so I thought I'd tell you what has been happening here. I wish you much success with your Zebra Swallowtails and all of the other butterflies that you raise this year. I hope we all have a good year so the butterflies have increasing success. I'm glad that more and more people seem to be getting interested in planting milkweed for them and even raising them. Cathy