I had two females today. Found 93 eggs this evening. Will have to help raising all of these. Not enough milkweed.

I am not sure if I saw another female this evening or of the same one looped back through my way. I didn't' have a chance to go look for eggss again, but I will freak out if I find 93! Turned out that the first group was about 50 (I took some to a friend so my enclosure wouldn't be overcrowded). No matter how muchh milkweed you have, there will be enough eggs to strip it all and make you want more.

Oh Sandy, bless your heart. To find so many eggs and know you can't support all of them. Do you have someone close by who can help?

Mary, yes, I do. I gave 80+ eggs to a person who has lots of viridis growing in her pasture. She had not found any eggs yet. Then today, I was visited by another very frail female. I searched the plants and found another 23 eggs. Egg total to date since Apr 1st - 148 eggs. Most likely, I will have to find someone to take some of these as well. Will wait another couple of days to see if I get more. Plants are too small to leave the eggs on them, so that is why I am collecting them.

I wish I had someone to give some eggs to. I collected 60, then brought in some more and my husband and I kept finding more on all our plants -- everything other than the seedlings that have just spouted and I saw a butterfly stop and check those out (looked and didn't spot an egg). And since then have had three days of multiple butterflies laying eggs. I must have hundreds and I know there won't be enough mikweed even thought I have bought more plants to replace what didn't come back after winter -- the butterflies just laid more eggs on those as soon as I got them home.

This is just heartbreaking! I wish there was a project in place to plant acres of milkweed to help with the first wave of migrators flowing out of Mexico. That would help fuel the second generation and insure good numbers moving on to the northern breeding grounds.

Sandy, so happy you have someone to help. How wonderful of your friend to allow the native milkweed to remain in her pasture.

lascatx, this is so sad but nothing you can do other than what you've done. I know it must be frustrating to see. You've made such a great effort to help by planting milkweed and helping protect the little cats to maturity. The real problem is native milkweed has become so scarce.

On a happier note, the eggs left by my poor, frail mama Monarch have hatched so I'm happily back in the nursery business again. Hopefully, her babies will continue the life cycle.

Mary

I want to make a point this year of spreading milkweed. Last halloween, we gave each trick or treater a bag with a flashlight (we started giving glow sticks a few years ago and the kids and parents seemed to appreciate them as they go back into the dark and this was a different take on the idea), some candy and a pack of milkweed seeds with a note and instructions for planting them. I don't know how many got planted, but that was a start. I am making seed bombs to distribute more seeds along the roadways and paths. I cannot feed every cat who winds up here, and the butterflies need a path of milkweed to make their trek north. Does no good if they all get stuck here. I think we should all do what we can to encourage and plant milkweed away from where we live too.

I commenteed about having faded butterflies showing up, but not seeing one tattered. Well, the next day this gal showed up. The one below is one of 28 we released last week. I have one hanging in J hook, two about to hang, nabout a dozen hatchlings in enclosure and will move more soon.

There are groups forming with the explicit purpose of planting milkweed across the land. It is going to take an army to accomplish what needs to happen. I continue to get eggs daily. I was able to obtain some milkweed. My friend took what she could. I am praying that I have enough to raise all the caterpillars. I know of some places where milkweed grows wild, may be hunting milkweed before I'm through. Absolutely crazy year, but drawing attention to the need to plant more milkweed and spring nectar plants!

I don't know anywhere milkweed grows other than my yard, my friend's yard and 3 nurseries I trust to sell safe for the Monarch plants. It's a "weed" so it must grown all over the place.

Sandy, how is your supply of milkweed holding up?

The last of the first group of 27 cats I'm raising are getting ready to pupate and boy, have they required a lot of milkweed. My common stalks now have only the small leaves left as a top knot! They look like young palm trees :-) Don't know if they can survive with so few leaves but I am about to find out. :-) I have faded mama Monarchs here most every day. Some have holes in their wings, all have tattered wing edges and everyone frantic to lay eggs. Like at your house, they've laid eggs everywhere on the few mw leaves remaining. When I harvest leaves to feed, I save the eggs left on these leaves and hope I can manage to feed these few new ones. I have all the new A perennis plants but since I removed the top growth of most of these to use as food, it will take a while for them to recover. We need fields of milkweed growing throughout their flyway.

Mary

I definitely agree that we need to plant thousands of acres of milkweed for the Monarchs. However, I also wanted to point out that other insects survive by eating many of the eggs that Monarchs lay. So, if nature were left to herself, most of the eggs and small Monarch caterpillars would never reach a size where they would consume large amounts of milkweed. So, by collecting every egg we find, we are creating a falsely exaggerated number of Monarchs. Of course, as long as they are at such low numbers, I would never discourage anyone from saving as many as possible. I just wanted to remind everyone that nature creates far more eggs than we're ever meant to survive to adulthood. Nature is a complex, interdependent web of predators and prey, and all are necessary to the survival of each individual.

Martha

Mary, I had to resort to going out into fields and collecting wild-growing viridis. I have made several trips to cut milkweed to bring home for the caterpillars. I am only raising from eggs found in my backyard. When I harvest milkweed, I find other caterpillars on the plants but leave them. I also leave stems and am careful not to remove stems with flower buds.

I am not sure how many I have that have pupated as I've kind of lost count. I have released 7 butterflies as of today. 1 male, and 6 females. And, I will continue to keep track of my releases. I also found 1 egg, and 5 larvae today on plants in my BY.

The good thing, is the milkweed in the yard is getting some growth, so I may be able to provide for the next wave of eggs without having to resort to viridis growing in the wild.