I'm sorry you haven't had any responses. Where are you hoping to find the eggs or caterpillars to raise? The female butterflies will only lay eggs on the host plants that their babies need to eat and grow. So, if you find eggs or cats, you will have found the plants. I would collect seeds from those plants after they finish their bloom cycle, and wintersow the seeds for best hope of germination. Or, more simply, find a nursery that sells the host plant you want, and purchase as many as you can afford and have space for. Hope that is what you were looking for.

Martha

Thanks, Martha! :)

I already found lots of sweetbay at wilkos! :D

Is there a butterfly in Britain called a spicebush swallowtail or are you talking about the American spicebush swallowtail/Papilio troilus? If you're raising American spicebush swallowtails, where did you get the eggs? As far as I know, although sweetbay/Magnolia virginiana is sometimes said to be a host for spicebush swallowtails, they only thrive on members of the laurel family, like spicebush, sassafras, redbay, etc. If you use sweetbay and they thrive, that would be interesting, because a lot of sweetbay grows on my property, but I've never found a spicebush swallowtail caterpillar on any - the only caterpillar I've found on sweetbay was a tiger swallowtail, and that was just once.

Sherry