Grow It And They Will Come!

I first saw her at my Liatrus on Saturday.  I thought she was a boy.  Then I saw clearly that she was girl so I stopped to watch her for about half an hour.  She went to the Butterfly Weed and ate for about twenty minutes.  Then she landed on the Common Milkweed in two spots.  I left as I didn't want to disturb her.  Sunday evening I checked the Milkweed and found in several spots what I believed to be eggs. 

I brought a Milkweed leaf with an egg on it to each of the stores on Monday.  We set up a tank for it to grow in.  It is estimated that only about 20% of the eggs laid get to be a butterfly.  Raising them indoors and releasing gives them a better chance to not be eaten or infected.   I left some eggs in the garden to grow.  Now I am afraid to weed my garden as I might disturb them.  On Tuesday morning the egg turned from a cream color to black.
	Tuesday night he came out of his shell and ate the shell.  Then he ate a small hole in the Milkweed leaf.  He was very tiny.  Miranda and some customers got to watch this and said it was great fun.  The egg in Bettendorf hatched the same day.  We have a bit of wet paper towel on the Milkweed leaf to help keep it fresh.  We change to fresh Milkweed at least once a day.  The dry paper towel at the bottom of the cup is to catch the dropings.  We change that every day.  We will give him more room as he grows.
Monday and he has been growing like crazy.  You can actually see him easily now.  Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the Milkweed plant I found him on has been eaten to the stems.  I don't know who did it.  I don't know if there are some older cats feasting or if it was eaten by deer or groundhogs.  I have seen one of this guy's brothers climbing on the second Common Milkweed in the garden.  Hope he gets to finish his growing before that one disappears, too.  Life is dangerous out in the wild.
	Still don't know who ate the Milkweed to the stem.  The good news is that it is trying to save itself.  Sprouting new leaves where the old leaves met the stem.  It may be back and full enough for the next generation.  Whoever wiped out this plant has not yet found the other Milkweeds.
Happy July 4th!  It is two weeks since his mom laid her eggs.  He has grown huge!  He is in his fourth or fifth instar stage now and I expect a feeding frenzy to start in the next couple of days.  How big the butterfly is depends on how much he eats as a Cat.  We have potted up a small Milkweed plant and put it in the tank for him so he always has food and he has the ability to climb and to hide.  He only has a few more days to be a Cat.
	Thursday afternoon.  July 9th.  Our guy  made his big change.  He ate all the Milkweed plant we put in his tank plus some extra leaves I picked for him.  He was very tubby.  He climbed to the screen and formed his crysallis.  He looks very pretty there.  His brother in Bettendorf has not made the change yet.  He has annother brother still in my garden who is still crawling around and eating.  All we have to do now is wait for ten days to two weeks while he does all his work inside his crysallis.  No, I don't really know if it is a boy or a girl until it comes out.