Congrats, Penny! I have jillions of pipevine swallowtail caterpillars, too, and I'm raising some of them in a cage on the porch.

Congrats, congrats on those monarchs!

Sherry

Keep up the good work on those Monarchs! Those of us here in the North are doing all we can, but we are counting on you South Westerners to get them here for us. Good luck with all your cats.

Martha

Penny
Not sooooo easy task that you are doing, give them care and they return you satisfaction and happiness

I am having trouble keeping up with the pipevine. Every leaf branch etc I touch has small cats on it. It almost too much. If I put some of the cats back I know they will not all make it but I am beginning to feel that way with the hand raised ones too. They are eating 3-4 meals a day. And the frace - let me tell you about frace!!

Penny

Nature has a way of balancing itself out. Such a large population is like a sitting duck for predators which will thin their numbers and prevent loss of host and starvation. Big initial numbers means that a few will make it to adulthood. It's good to have a reserve batch raised indoors in case of the worst, but it doesn't sound feasible in your case to save them all.
I had similar experiences with their cousins the Polydamas and their numbers were self sustaining after a couple of years growth on my Aristalochia vine.

John

My worst experience was with Anise swallowtails. I found the tiny cats on my fennel and they grew and ate like mad and then they died. Each one of them had a tiny worm that turns into a small fly. Penny

Tachnid flies. What a shame. So sorry...
My worst experience was with Polydamas eggs which were laid on my 8" Aristalochia and grew into 10 4th instar cats which starved to death because they ran out of food. I was unable to locate a source in time and I lost every one. The vine came back, but I refused to let it "work" until it was growing up and across the fence and was branching out. Eventually, it was large enough to support hundreds of caterpillars at a time.

John

I'm sure there are 100s on my pipevine and I fear running out. When I saw a mating pair this am, I told them no sex, no sex. This plant does grow wild on the river and I hope they can find their way there. Plus everytime I get a rooted piece I pot it up

Penny

It sounds like your colony is an extension of the River Population.
You must have tapped into an existing colony and this is where all your cats are coming from.
Aristolochia has remarkable regenerative powers if it's mature enough and will rebound. Mature cats will eat down to wood, but Pipevine is built caterpillar tough and will come back from the root if it has to.
Plus any exposed caterpillars will be sitting ducks for insect predators, allowing your plant to spring back and allowing some butterflies thru to repeat the cycle. As for me, eventually it was like I never ran out; I always had cats but not too many, and I also always had enough Pipevine.
One thing you can do is grow more Pipevine to serve as alternating crops. I grew A. fimbriata and ringens (the latter was not so hot) as alternate crops.

John

I'm relieved that many are making the j and getting ready to be pupa. Those are mostly the ones in the house. Their eating is slowing down. I have potted 9 roots I found and plan to put in another area. Just saw 4 doing the dance over Jupiter's beard. I talked to them but do they listen - Penny