Finding Butterfly eggs is easy to do, if you know how to find them. The most common times to find Butterfly eggs is in the summer (June-August). If you are in a state like Florida or Texas, you can find Butterfly eggs for most of the year.
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Butterfly eggs can be laid singly, or in clusters. Zebra Longwing eggs are laid in clusters of 5-15, and the number of eggs depends on the amount of nectar and pollen that the Zebra Longwing butterfly has ingested.
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Butterfly eggs are usually laid on the underside of leaves, but they can also be found on the frontside of the leaves, the stems/flower buds of the plant, or near the host plant in the case of the Gulf Fritillary Butterfly.
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If you're trying to find butterfly eggs, then you also need to know the host plant that the caterpillars will feed on until the chrysalis stage. Let's think about Monarch Butterflies. They lay eggs on Milkweed plants, so you're going to want to find a patch with a lot of Milkweed (this can be your yard or somewhere close by.)
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Once you find the eggs, put them somewhere where they won't be eaten by predators, or be accidentally knocked. Do not put them in direct sunlight, or they will fry. We like to put them in a 2oz cup before they hatch, and once they are ready to hatch, we transfer them on to a host plant.
Black Swallowtails can be found year-round in southern states. Up here, their first appearance is in the first week of May.
Zebra Longwing eggs are often laid in clusters. This egg was laid singly, on a fresh shoot of Passionvine.
This Gulf Fritillary egg was laid on a dead leaf that had fallen onto the vine about a week ago. It is about to hatch.
Monarch eggs are often laid on the underside of Milkweed leaves, like this one.