Advice needed on collecting eggs

[Laurie]

I'm new to this hobby, but already slightly obsessed. I have 3 wild milkweed plants. I have found 3 baby caterpillars over the summer, one successfully released as a butterfly, one in a chrysalis, and one died. A few days ago, before leaving for the weekend, I decided to try and collect some eggs. I found four round white things, and wasn't even sure if they were eggs or not, but I assume they were. I put the leaves/sections of leaves on wet paper towels and stuck them in a baggie, blowing them up with air. I came home to find one had hatched! Yay! But the others aren't doing anything and I'm wondering if they rotted. Is that possible? I think I found another egg, and I'm going to try and put the leaf in a florist tube inside a baggie so there's less condensation. The milkweed plant is loaded with ants and now green things that I'm thinking could be leaf-hoppers? They look too big to be aphids. I don't think the baby caterpillars or eggs last long on my plants. Do butterflies lay eggs at a certain time of the day? I'd like to try and catch these eggs before they get eaten.
Any egg advice would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Laurie

[Orangeaid]

Laurie. I would try to get out and look as much as possible , this way you can stay up to date with which plants have had eggs on them and which areas that are the most productive with finding eggs. I find eggs at all times of the day so i think its just about getting out there enough and finding the fresh ones. I have never used the leaf in a baggie method so i cannot answer that one. I usually put all my leaves with eggs on them on wet paper towels in a 14 " round tupper ware container with 3 " high sides and then lay another wet towel on top of the leaves. Then i cover with saran wrap and poke air holes through the top. Then as the cats get big enough i transplant them to the milkweed plants in my cages. Also sometimes it takes longer for eggs to hatch due to temps in your case maybe the egg that hatched first was on the plant longer than the ones that have not hatched . Sometimes they do get black and dont hatch .Hope this helps

[jen]

In response, Dave, Are the eggs you are all putting together in the tupperware container the same age?? I had two eggs on on leaf in a baggie. When one hatched I moved the leaf with the hatched egg, and the one that was still waiting to hatch into a new container. When I came back an hour or so later, the unhatched egg was gone. Is it possible that the tiny cat ate the other one? I guess what I want to know is, If you put all your eggs together and don't move them until they are bigger, do you lose any? Do expect some tinier cats will be eaten by the slightly older cats, if they are all hatching at different times? I once put a one day old cat in with a 3 day old cat, and the little one disappeared! I keep all of mine separated according to when they hatched, but your method seems to be such a time saver! I find myself constantly checking the baggies for hatchlings! Are we crazy people? For instance, right now I have 6 ziplock bags on a tray in my kitchen. Each bag has 2 leaves in it, with one egg on each leaf. I keep checking to see if they've hatched, and when they do, I'll move them to a new butter tub
( which one now hold 5 day cats) That's a lot of moving! Do you find your method easier? It sure sounds it. How many eggs are you putting in at once? When do you move them to plants in a "cage" I seem to be a bit confused on when to make the move from container to cage, if your cats are all different ages. Any advice would be appreciated.
Jen

[Orangeaid]

Jen i have eggs of different ages in together so it may be possible that some are getting eaten in small numbers but with the amount of leaves i put in there ( avg 30 ) it seems that there is a lot of hiding places for the little cats so i think they are doing alright. Seems to me that the bigger cats like to come to the top and the tiny ones stay down low .

[ButterflyLdy]

I collected 26 monarch eggs yesterday. I was advised by an experienced "butterflyer"to use a toothpick to remove the eggs from the leaves because of the leaves drying out. I was able to do this successfully. She recommended that I store the eggs in baby jars and as soon as they turn black to remove the black ones to a fresh milkweed leaf. Do I need to keep the eggs moist? She did not mention this to me.

[jen]

Boy, that seems like a lot of extra work, maybe if you are concerned with conserving milkweed leaves, I would think you might want to remove the egg from the leaf, since it is not going to be eaten for a few days. If the egg is kept on the leaf, and the leaf is kept moist, the little critter can start eating right away! Cut out the middle man, so to speak! I just started this hobby myself ( collecting eggs, that is) I like to put 2-3 leaves on wet paper towells in a ziplock bag, wait till they hatch, then transfer the tiny cats (still on the original leaf) to a bigger container, often with several others that just hatched, still on their original "leaf". This container has a tulle top, held on with a rubberband. When they get big enough, they then get transferred to a bigger cage, with a permanent top to pupate on. This to me seems to be working...
Jen

[Orangeaid]

I would not bother taking the eggs off the leaves. First there is a good chance that some may become damaged or worse and 2nd it seems like a lot of extra work for no reason. Leaving them on the leaves seems like the best thing in my mind.

[ButterflyLdy]

Thanks for the advice, I collected more eggs today - a total of 35 now. I also found 3 cats on my milkweed. I've decided if I see an egg on a milkweed leaf, I'm taking it inside. I see a lot of evidence of eggs and cats, but no actual (or at least very few) cats on the milkweed itself. I believe they are getting eaten by predators. They have a greater chance of survival if the eggs are brought in. I have been doing this for two years now and absolutely love it. I'm a high school librarian, and I take my smaller cage to my library and set up a monarch station there for my high school kids to watch.

Anyway, I took your advice. Put the leaves in a container on top of wet paper towels. Three of my eggs hatched today and as they grow, I'll transfer them to my larger butterfly cage where I have cut milkweed stems in a container with the opening wrapped in foil. I've been very successful with this.

Rebecca