Thanks guys. I have plenty of Common Milkweed, but I prefer raising them on Tropical Milkweed. It's like the difference between feeding your children beef jerky or premium juicy steak! I am trying really hard to establish a large patch of Pipevine in my yard. I have a little bit right now, and I am afraid that I will get eggs and not have enough food. I wonder if large plants can be purchased anywhere locally. Hmmmm...... Angie

Also, do hatchlings sometimes skip the egg casing meal and jump straight into munching on leaves instead? I have two cats whose egg casings are still untouched, but they appear to be eating leaves and have little bits of frass underneath the leaves they are on, so I was just wondering if they can survive without eating the egg casing as long as they are eating leaves. thanks

he nibbled just a tiny bit ( you can barely see the little missing pieces on the edges of leaf) and now he is just sitting on the leaf. he looks skinny, and weak, like his skin looks all baggy and wrinkly. but he did molt successfully, because I saw his old skin and head capsule. So strange, he was fine before the molt, and now it seems like he doesn't "like" orange leaves anymore and is looking for something else. I truly think something is wrong with his mouthparts, since he appears to at least try to nibble, then it is like he gets frustrated and starts pacing around again, his behavior is almost exactly like that of cats that are looking for a place to pupate. and he is about 3 weeks old, i think, the other two hatchlings from his "group" died when they were like two of three days old, one hardly ate at all, the other was eating normally and when I went to change his leaf and picked it up, he rolled off, i waited a while to see if he startedmoving again, but he died on the leaf. I guess it is survival of the fittest so to speak, even when they are indoors. I used to keep them separated according to size, but i decided to keep all of the cats in their own individual containers after I had one cat die when trying to molt, I am almost positive that the cat he shared a container with, ate the leaf he was attached to and knocked him off before he molted, even though he had his own new leaf, because he was fine when i checked them before i went to bed that night, and when i woke up he was lying on the floor of container trapped in his old skin, and the other cat was on the leaf eating it, they had shared a container since they hatched, but apparently this particular cat didn't like to share, he is one of the few I have that still "stinks" me when I change his leaf and clean his container, he is super aggressive, most of them seem to be used to me and don't get defensive when I clean and give new leaves, but this one almost EVERY time, sticks his little horns out at me, I dread fooling with his container because i cannot stand that smell, lol. I lost one more cat due to an unsuccessful molt, it was a first instar, not sure what happened but he was all tangled up in his old skin. But the first one I lost due to molting was on his 3rd molt, and completely healthy, so the only thing I could think of that may have happened was that the other cat forced him off of the leaf, but idk, I felt so sorry for him, all that work and time, and he had made it through the more delicate stages and survived. Hopefully this one will perk up, I thought about putting him outside on the tree, it is nice and sunny today, and letting him wander around to see if he finds a leaf that suits him, I have some tulle fabric I can tie around the tree to keep predators from getting him, does that sound like a good idea? thanks everyone!!

In our area the swallows and the dragonflies are having a mighty feast this summer. Rain, Hot and Humid = Mosquitos. I'm very grateful for the hunters! This has been a big year for birds of all kinds here. We are bordered by a creek (eventually feeds into the Chicago River). We have robins through the winter, then all the others come up. I did hear a goose calling overhead last week, though -- early 'tallying' of the flock? Seeing who has reservations for the migration?