It is very gratifying to find this thread still active after four years. Thank all of you for your kind comments. I am glad that you have found the chronicle useful and enjoyable. I wasn't able to rear butterflies for the last several summers, but this year I am making up for the lapse. I am now in my third generation, and I estimate I am feeding around 60 cats in all instars. In addition, about 15 have pupated in the last two days. I have very large three-year old fennel plants that is my main food source, but some of the plants have matured and don't have much edible material left. I managed to deadhead one of the plants after the last generation of cats pupated, and that one still has some green foliage and soft seeds and flowers. I have been gradually introducing flat parsley into the feeding, but I am also finding huge cats on the parsley. Every time I go out to cut food, I find more cats. Once again, I'm starting to worry about having enough food. Tomorrow I'll check the nurseries for host plants and try to get some new growth going (pesticide free) before the fennel and parsley run completely out. geni

In some small measure I think I understand exactly what you mean. I am having one of those bad-back days right at the moment and cannot seem to find the courage to try to find a comfortable position somewhere and not move at all just to stop the pain for awhile. At the slightest tilting of my upper body to the left and to a slightly lesser degree to the right and the pain is beyond description. It literally feels as though I am going to divide at the lower back and be on the ground in two pieces. Now all I need is one of my horrible migraine type headaches and I will probably just put myself out for the day. It is times like this, and sadly they are frequent, when I really wonder what on earth possessed me to put in this extensive garden without having someone install a sprinkler system on a timing device. I know you wrestle with far more life-threatening issues that intrude on you far more seriously than my petty stuff but physically speaking my health in terms of pain and waning mobility started at 52 and it has been a constant battle ever since. But in spite of it, I have gotten so much joy out of being able to fill the hours since then with my dogs, cats and butterflies. So I am very glad you have all those productive years to enjoy over again through your recollections. And I am very appreciative of the ability you have to allow your many forum friends to gain from you and your work. Murray

Hi natal, I called Clegg's, they told me that their citrus trees are treated with systemic inseciticides and pesticides, I actually purchased a navel tree from LA Nursery, they told me it had not been treated with anything, but the two caterpillars that ate leaves from that tree got VERY sick less than an hour later, and they both ended up dying. From what I have learned on this forum, the tree was probably treated before arriving at LA nursery, not at LA nursery, and the nursery worker that I spoke with was probably unaware that there was a systemic insecticide in the soil. I went to Whole FOods saturday, they had plenty of herbs, but no rue. I had not thought about trying Harb's or Naylors, do they sell organic herbs? I will call and check with them tomorrow. Thanks

Dancer, I touch chrysalides as little as possible, so I can't tell you for sure how long it takes for one to become hard. I think it's about a week. I've never heard of rolling a chrysalis - maybe KC has? I've had many that have fallen, I put them in a certain place near the side of the cage, and they stayed in the same place during their entire chrysalis life. They had the same very high rate of successful emergence of a perfect butterfly as those that hung naturally. The more you handle a chrysalis, the more danger there is of accidental injury to it. The length of time it takes to go from chrysalis to butterfly depends on the species. Generally, the bigger the butterfly, the longer it takes, remembering that late fall chrysalides will usually overwinter. The average time might be ?3 weeks? - KC may have studied that more than I have. I never put mine in jars, because of the danger of mold/mildew in an enclosed space that would kill the chrysalis - I don't think that holes punched in the top of a paper towel will allow for enough circulation. Do you have a mesh pop-up laundry basket? That could be used. Or even a strainer over a piece of wood or paper plate. I think cross-circulation is important, at least it is here in the hot and humid Deep South. I seem to remember that once I had a caterpillar a long time ago that had a tiny leak, and the adult butterfly had a slightly bent wing? My memory may be faulty, but at this point, all you can do is hope everything works out. The butterfly needs at least 4 or 5 hours for its wings to strengthen enough for good flying. You can wait until the next day, if the butterfly isn't so anxious to leave, it damages its wings trying to get out. Let the butterfly's behavior be your guide. Sherry