I have them here in good numbers every season but
Don't they have some sort of simbyiotic relationship
Involved in their life cycles?
I can't recall...you could research them...

They are so tiny!!!(I never thought abt trying to raise them):)

DD

What a gorgeous picture! I've never gotten a decent picture of one, just blurry pictures of them with their wings up. Getting a picture of the open wings is fantastic!

I've been seeing more azures than usual around here lately, also. I didn't see them early in spring like I usually do, but I attribute that to the very cold winter and cool spring. Yesterday I saw two males chasing each other, which I had also seen several days before.

I've never heard of anybody raising them, but then I didn't think I'd raise pearl crescents, which I did this year. I've got a LOT of blueberries, both wild and cultivated, wild black cherry, and arrowwood viburnum, no New Jersey tea, and not much dogwood. I imagine they use one of the first three. If I ever find a caterpillar or see a female laying eggs, I'll CERTAINLY try to raise some. I think they're one of the prettiest butterflies we have - if only they were bigger, they'd be better appreciated.

Sherry

I've never raised any, but if I happen to see any azures laying on my New Jersey tea bushes, I'll bring some in to raise. I doubt if I'd go looking over the leaves for the eggs though. They're probably so tiny that my eyes wouldn't be able to see them. I've never noticed anything crawling on the bushes other years, but then again, I don't walk in that area of the yard very often, so the chances of my seeing anything on them wouldn't be very great.
Cathy

I did some more searching and I can't really find any info on people raising them, but I did find some lifecycle info and pictures.

At Mass Audubon they give a longer list of host plants, many of which I do have. It says they usually lay eggs singly in the flowers rather than on the leaves, and then eat the flowers...so they tend to use hosts that are in bloom at the time.

The symbiotic relationship that DD mentioned is that in later stages ants "tend" to the larvae which excretes honeydew for them. The ants presence supposedly keeps the parasitic wasps away. Then they make a chrysalis in a crevice or on the ground.

Considering how tiny the eggs are and that they hide them in flowers which might just look like them nectaring unless you were very close....I doubt egg hunting is feasible! I would think I might be more likely to notice the ants tending to the larvae part. Although from the pictures I found it looks like the ants are almost bigger than the larvae!

I found some really good pictures on this awesome photographers Flickr gallery. He has a bunch of albums of some of the best insect photography I have seen. These links are to his photos there.

Summer azure egg

Spring azure larvae with ants

His main page of albums. There is an album just for blues a few rows down.

At least now I know what to look for, although I doubt I'll ever find any!

Thanks for the information and the link!

If I hadn't read this and saw ants on a caterpillar, I'd probably try to flick them off the 'poor little cat'! I doubt I'll ever find any, but if I do, I'll sure make pictures!

Sherry