I agree that a big cage is the way to go, Cathy!
I can't believe you've raised so many pipevine swallowtail cats! I usually just raise about 12 - 20 and let the others raise themselves. Pipevine swallowtails do a very good job of raising themselves, better than any other caterpillar - they must really taste terrible to predators.
I put some chicken manure plus a little Espoma and a little lime around my vines and worked it into the soil about a week or so ago. The new growth on the vines was browning around the edges, and the female PVSs weren't laying on it - I noticed today that there is a LOT of new growth on the vines, and it all looks healthy. I think in my area the lime that I add once every year really helps - the soil is naturally acid, and I think pipevines must prefer neutral to slightly alkaline soil, since they usually naturally occur over limestone deposits. I found a few early instar cats and a lot of eggs. I've released all but one of my most recent batch, so I'll probably raise a few more myself. I've noticed that these summer adults are bigger than those that emerge in the spring.

I don't know of any lep that lays eggs on a filament. Red-spotted purples and viceroys create a filament after they hatch, and question marks stack eggs.

Sherry

Sherry, I love Pipevine Swallowtails, but if I ever raise any more, it's going to have to be in the big cage or else just raise a dozen or two in the small plastic containers. I like to watch them because they're kind of comical, and so I had wanted to raise a lot...BUT when you raise a lot like that it really gets to be a grind, and I was resenting that I wasn't getting much of anything else done around here. I'm glad to hear that they can raise themselves. Then I won't feel so guilty leaving lots of them on the vines. The ones that are out there are on their own. As far as I know there are no cats yet, but I think there are tons of eggs on the vines. Hopefully the vines will be enough to take all of them to adulthood. Every time I went outside this week, there was a female flying around the pipevine laying eggs.

Speaking of the pipevine, thank you very much for that information about the pipevine liking lime. It's funny that you said that because today I just sent my husband downtown for some lime to put in my flower beds. A lot of sourgrass comes up in my flower beds/gardens and since I remember reading that it favors acidic soil (which I think ours must be after several years of adding mulch), I want to make the soil here more alkaline. Now that I know pipevines like limestone, I'm going to put some of the lime in the soil around the pipevines.

I forgot to mention that I've had at least half a dozen PVS that couldn't make it out of their pupas. Do you have that problem? I don't include those in my released count. So far we've released 160, and I haven't counted how many are left, but because of the deformed ones I've had, I'm pretty sure our count will be under 200. I'm glad that most of them make it though. It's just that I thought it was strange and a higher than "normal" count of deformed ones.

I brought all of the eggs in that were on the Baptisia australis, including the ones on the filaments, so then I'll be able to see what they turn out to be. I remember someone talking about that kind of eggs some time ago, but I don't recall what creature comes out of them. Maybe I should even move them into a separate container in case whatever it is preys on cats. I've been so busy lately that I haven't even gotten a chance to look in on the eggs/cats. I thought I'd only have the WIDs to raise for now (excluding the PVS that I'm leaving outside), but today when I was taking the flowers off of the rue (if I don't, I end up with lots of little plants coming up in the spring), I found 3 BST cats that are 2nd-3rd instar. I hope they weren't parasitized by wasps. When I raised some a few years back, I ended up with 4 wasps the next spring. I don't know what instar those cats were in when I found them; maybe they were bigger cats than these are that I just found.

I've seen Monarchs here several times this year, but as far as I know, I don't have any eggs on the milkweed yet. I have over 100 tropical milkweed plants in the garden, about 20 in pots, 24 butterfly weed plants in the garden, and about 40 purple milkweed plants that I'm just starting out with this year in 3-gallon pots. I just hope that those will do well in the pots. I've never tried them before. I grow swamp milkweed in pots with no problem. I'm really hoping that these milkweed plants get used this year.
Cathy

What area of PA are you in?
If near Pittsburgh, I guess the one I saw was yours!

@ awgaupp - lol I'm not sure if it was or not. :) I live in central PA actually.

This is a good year for pipevines. We have a ton here in SW Ohio. I released some in my yard and we are enjoying watching them every day now. These are my favorite as caterpillars and adults. They have so much personality. It makes me sad though because whenever we have an explosion of one species, it all but disappears over the next few years.
-Elisabeth

I think the "egg on the filament" you're seeing may be the Green Lacewing eggs. That is what they look like anyway, and they use anything to lay eggs on...not host specific.

Congrats on all your PVS's Cathy! I had tons this year, too. They ate nearly every inch of pipevine in the yard, including tiny little seedlings of my A. serpentaria that had just sprouted around the base of the plant, all the A. clematitis (which is now growing new leaves), A. tomentosa including the new baby one I got from Mail Order Natives, and all the patch I had of A. macrophylla.

I am now trying to collect a few eggs of the American Snout butterfly, but only a few. I've been reading about them, and the larvae will apparently only eat the newly emerged leaf growth, so I must try to provide new foliage a few times a day, because the Hackberry foliage does not hold up well after being separated from the tree. We'll see how it goes.

So many butterflies this year and so little time that I haven't raised any except for the few Hackberry and Tawny Emperors, and one Tiger Swallowtail, that overwintered and came out to eat and play in early spring. I have had tons of BST, Sleepy Oranges, GSTs, and several others, but they have been on their own this year. Once I get all my new plants taken care of, I hope to be able to raise some in late August, early fall. I have seen Monarchs in the garden, but so far, no eggs.

Susan

Elisabeth, Yes, it seems as though almost everyone has gotten PVS this year. I just love them too! I think they have the most personality of the different kinds that I've raised. That's too bad that a species that does so well one year isn't around for awhile after that. I'm hoping that I'll get them, though, next year.

I had seen a Red Admiral here several times this year, first time in several years and I was hoping that it was a female and it would lay eggs on my false nettle, but alas, no eggs to be had. It would have been my first time raising them. Maybe it's just as well since the foliage of the few false nettle plants that I planted here last year doesn't amount to much. That is one species I'd like to raise someday.

Susan, I think you're right about the filament eggs being lacewings! That seems to ring a bell! Thanks for letting me know.

Yes, I'm so happy that I've had a lot of PVS, but now I feel like I have to take a break and raise something else and only a few. With it being so dry here, I've had to carry water jugs up to the gardens further away from the house. The hoses don't reach that far, so the watering makes for a long day. So I don't have a whole lot of time to be raising cats right now. Also, since I don't think my pipevine will be enough to feed all of the cats that hatch out of the dozens and dozens of eggs that were laid (it seems like almost everywhere I look there are eggs), I guess I'll just go about my business and not pay much attention to the PVS as I'd just be fretting about the food running out. If there were somewhere in my state that I could send about half of them to, I would. I don't know which ones were laid on which days, though, so some would most likely hatch en route.

It sounds like those PVS ate you out of house and home, er..garden. My goodness, what a banner year for them!

Good luck with the American Snouts. That's one that I've never seen here. I have several small hackberry trees that I planted hoping to attract them and the emperors. I've already had Question Marks on them last year and this year. Thank goodness that the butterfly seemed to know enough to only lay a few eggs on each tree.

How neat that you had some emperors and a tiger to raise! I've never had emperors here, but I did get a tiger on my poplar tree this year. Unfortunately, it died. :( It was here for quite awhile and then when I thought it was ready to pupate it just up and died. Very sad!

It sure sounds like you get a variety of butterflies/cats there! I know what you mean about time. I wish I could raise even more than I do, but there's only so much time. One good thing about it being so dry here is that the weeds aren't growing very fast, so I don't have to weed as much! lol

Cathy

i have graded pine bark mulch wanted to mulch my pipevines with.is that to acidic for them?