July 27 Good news Bad news....

I have been studying up on raising caterpillars from eggs by watching You-tube videos.  I highly recommend MrLundScience how to raise Monarch series.  He convinced me of an easier way to try to raise my caterpillars from eggs.  I can't do more than a few eggs at a time because when the babies hatch I can't find them on the plant, so he cuts the leaves with scissors and puts the eggs on a leaf on a wet paper towel.  I didn't think that would work but I tried it this weekend, and it was successful!  That's the good news.  The bad news is I then put the babies on milkweeds in my aquarium in water bottles like always, but now I can't find them because they are so tiny!  So I'm not sure if they escaped, ate each other, or if they will grow and then I'll find them in a week or so.  But I also had 3 more hatch today, so I put them in a smaller container on leaves, so I'll see if I can keep track of them.  The other good news is as I was complaining that I wasn't finding any caterpillars that have hatched in my garden I found 2 first instars on the same plant today.  I need to see if I can find some milkweeds nearby that are not so covered with aphids as mine!  Happy hunting! Keep up the good work.