Update...the female runner was taken by a coyote about 3 weeks ago. My husband has finally fenced the yard! Now down to the male Indian Runner and the female Rouen (who is setting on a clutch of 17 eggs in a new and safer spot) The eggs I brought in to incubate was doing great at 16 days until my pre-school moved the heat lamp. Sadly, I think they all died. It was 110F and I see no more movement or much progress (but can still see the blood veins)

Since she's a wild duck she's a seasonal layer and not really designed to keep laying one clutch after another. Ensure that she's eating a well balanced diet with sufficient protein and calcium. A layer feed and lots of greens should be sufficient. Wild ducks are excellent mothers and nesting/brooding instincts are very strong. Maybe someone else in your area raises ducks and has some fertile eggs your duck could raise. You could sell or keep the ducklings when they're grown.

We found a caterpillar! I was gone for the weekend, and went out this evening to see what had changed over the past few days. I was checking on a butterfly branch that had fallen over and wilted--and there was a tiny Monarch caterpillar! I don't know why it was on a sickly looking branch on the ground when it was surrounded by healthy, young, upright plants. But, now it is in my daughter's pop-up "Port-a-bug." I put some fresh butterflyweed branches in with it and hung it in the kitchen, out of reach of the cats (felines). Hopefully, we'll continue to find more as the season continues, and we'll be able to raise many to adulthood. Wish us luck! Martha

You are confused for some reason, are confusing the issue. Clearly, the OP had identified the Tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta. Do you not believe that someone new to the gardenweb or new to gardening can utilize the internet in a useful manner? I know...it seems to be rare, but I am proud of David. Sphingidae is a large family of moths. They are ALL correctly called Sphinx moths. Our OP plucked the caterpillars from his tomato plants and went to work finding a proper ID. The caterpillars of most (not all) Sphinx moths are hornworms and as a family, can be found on many kinds of plants. They tend to be host specific. Now, Kimmsr.....there are hornworms that feed on Solanaceous plants. I have never seen Tobacco hornworm on anything but a tomato or datura or pepper. I have also never seen nor heard of nor read of any other kind of hornworm (Sphingidae) on those plants. I hope that you have a better understanding, now. It can be confusing, for sure. But understanding the host /pest relationship with this particular moth family is extremely important. One can pretty much ID a hornworn if the host plant is identified....no picture of the caterpillar required. In this instance, we had an OP who was one step ahead of the usual 'newbie '. David used the internet. All he wanted to know is if he planted some tobacco plants would the Manduca sexta lay eggs on those and stay away from his tomatoes.